Mukilteo, Washington - The City Of "Firsts" - Scene Of Indian Treaty - M. H (part 2 of 14)

Abler leadership, both civil and military, than that of Gov. Isaac I. Stevens, and his capable cabinet, could not well be imagined. He demonstrated his greatness upon every occasion with unexampled resourcefulness, courage and devotion to the best principles of constructive citizenship.

Indian Wars

Unlike their bronze brethren of the Western plains and the great silvan wilderness of the interior of the continent, the Indians of the Puget Sound country welcomed the first white explorers and settlers with generous hospitality, genuine friendship and kindness, mingled with curiosity and no small degree of awe. They were a happy, gentle, kindly people as a whole, and with an abundance of good food and other supplies always available to them both on land and sea, a most genial climate and a vast unoccupied territory in every direction away from the portages _and village sites of their numerous tribes and sub-tribes, they had no apprehension that these splendid videttes of the god-like white people might ever come in numbers sufficient to hamper them in the freedom of their luxuriant realm. They were a home-loving, simple, contented people, to whom war and its brutalities was abhorrent and resorted to only in defense of home and fireside; usually against the vicious, warlike and piratical tribes of the Northern coast - now distinguished as Southeastern Alaska and Northwestern British Columbia. These Northern marauders, swooping down unexpectedly upon the peaceful villagers of Puget Sound, frequently massacred, plundered, and in some instances, such as in the sad cases of the Samish tribe of Skagit County and the Semiahmoos of Whatcom County, actually annthilated those tribes, year after year carrying away many of the tribe to make slaves of them. |

All these Indians were generally designated as "Canoe Indians," to distinguish them from the meat and root eating hunting tribes of the interior, and the plains or horse Indians of the region east of the Cascade Range. Siwash Indians was the generic term applied by the early explorers and traders to all the Coast Canoe Indians, the word being a corruption of the French word sauvage, or the English word savage.

Plains Indians Hostile

The warlike tribes of the plains and mountains of Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington and Oregon were of a radically different type, and were both physically and mentally superior. At the same time, they were naturally suspicious, arrogant, deceitful and warlike. It was they who started all the important opposition to the white invasion, and in every instance they operated with both cunning and courage. There were two or three noteworthy tribal exceptions to this general characterization, or deportment, such as the uniformly friendly Crow tribe of Mon- tana, and the Nez Perces of Eastern Washington. These warlike equestrian tribes included the Blackfoot tribe of Montana, the Nez Perce and Pend d'Oreille of Idaho, the Spokane, Palouse, Walla Walla and Yakima tribes of Eastern Washington, and the Cayuse tribe of Eastern Oregon, and their territory embraced more than 100,000 square miles, principally composed of fertile prairies, sloughs, rivers, mountain valleys and wooded areas.

These tribes were much more numerous than those West of the Cascade Mountains, and each tribe controlled a greater area of country than any of the Puget Sound divisions. These included the Clallam, Makah, Quillayute, Quiniault and several smaller tribes of the Olympic Peninsula; the Semiahmoo, Lummi, Nooksack, Samish, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Sauk, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish and several other tribes, more or less offshoots of and affiliated with one or more of those named.

First White Invasions

Dr. Marcus Whitman, Congregational missionary of great executive capacity, had established an extensive mission in 1836 near the center of the Cayuse tribe at Wauletpu on the Walla Walla River, had built a flour mill, sawmill and established a free school for the Indians, many of whom he had baptized and thought he had converted. Two years later the Roman Catholic missionaries, twenty-six of them, headed by the astute Father Blanchet, and including such devout and energetic apostles as DeSmet, Balduc, Occolti, Demers, Brouilet, Ravalli, Joset and Sandlois, covered the entire field, establishing many small but effective missions and baptizing many Indians, some authorities estimating that the Catholic conversions by 1840 had reached at least 5,000 in number.

By this time white immigration over the mountain trails had become a usual spectacle of the summer months, and the Indians became generally and obviously apprehensive and suspicious that their ancestral domain must be shared with and possibly usurped by the white invaders. In this atmosphere the Catholic missionaries seem to have had the advantage of the Protestant proselyting of Doctor Whitman, for they lived with the Indians, taught and baptized them, and then proceeded to the neighboring tribe to continue their holy work, confident that their conversions were genuine and permanent; Doctor Whitman, on the other hand, established a settlement of white people, with its accompaniment of civilized agriculture and other industrial activities, and remained in the one central locality. He also ministered to the Indians as a skilled physician, without apparently realizing the age-old obligation he thus shouldered - for the medicine man remained to the Cayuse Indian one having absolute power to kill or cure at will, and mere ceremonies of conversion or baptism in the white man's religion were not enough to blot that superstition from the savage mind.

Whitman Massacre

Distrust of Whitman mission and material purposes seems to have had its inception with the great train of American immigrants, 875 in all, which the courageous Whitman himself piloted across the plains and mountains into the Cayuse country. Less than two years later a Delaware Indian known as Tom Hill, who lived with the Nez Perces, came among the Cayuses and told them that the white missionaries had been followed by hordes of white settlers who took unto them- selves the lands of the Nez Perces. In 1846 a half-breed named Joe Lewis told the disturbed Cayuses that he heard Whitman, Spalding and Mrs. Whitman actually plotting to usurp the lands of that tribe. From that time on, Doctor Whitman's mission was a failure, the Indians believing that he was actually giving them poison in lieu of medicine. In the horrible massacre of November 29, 1847, in which Doctor Whitman and his noble wife, John and Francis Sager, Crockett Bewly, Isaac Gillen, Messrs. Hoffman, Young, Rogers, Marsh, Sales, Saunders and Kimball were most brutally butchered, Mrs. Whitman was the only woman or gir] who lost her life. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn escaped to the willows at the gates of the Hudson's Bay fort, but the cowardly McBean, who was in charge of that post, refused to aid or admit them, although they eventually succeeded in reaching a place of safety, after suffering intensely from the bitter cold.

McBean later despatched a messenger conveying to the Hudson's Bay Governor, James Douglas, the news of the tragedy, stupidly instructing the currier "not to communicate the fact of the massacre to the white settlement at The Dalles as he passed, thus leaving them, too, exposed without warning to the fate that had befallen Waiiletpu." Governor Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company immediately sent messengers with all speed to inform Gov. George Abernethy, of the provisional government of Oregon, of the tragedy, and at the same time despatched Peter Skeen Ogden with an armed force to the scene of the massacre. Mr. Ogden at once called a council of the Cayuse chiefs and denounced the outrage. He demanded the delivery of the forty-seven white captives taken in the raid, mostly women and children, and succeeded in ransoming and liberating them; ransoming as well Rev. Spalding and party who arrived as captives with a party of Nez Perce warriors, and all were delivered to Governor Abernethy on January 10, 1848.

Cayuse War

On the evening of the day the news of the massacre was received in Oregon City, December 8, a great mass meeting was held and the Oregon Rifles company of volunteers was organized, with Henry A. G. Lee as captain and Joseph Magone and John E. Ross as lieutenants. The Hudson's Bay Company provided arms and ammunition on the credit of the members of the Legislative Committee, and by January 21, the volunteer company reached The Dalles fort, thus shutting off invasion of the West coast for the winter. The Cayuse war which followed was both sanguinary and brief, with the several companies of Oregon volunteers usually triumphant. Before midsummer of 1850 the Cayuse warriors were ready to admit they were no match for the straight-shooting, hard-fighting frontiersmen. Late in May a deputation of five Cayuse chiefs arrived at Oregon City and proposed a conference with Governor Lane. They were thrown into prison, and on June 3, 1850, all were executed, although many people doubted their guilt, the chiefs themselves protesting their innocence of the Whitman murders, and declaring that there were but ten Indians in the massacre party. But these summary executions put the fear of death into the Cayuse hearts and peace again reigned. |

Yakima Indian War

The years immediately succeeding the Cayuse war witnessed no open outbreak on the part of any of the tribes, although distrust and apprehension of the white travelers, traders and settlers throughout Eastern Washington was quite evident, and the more observant white men long anticipated that this unrest would result in a more or less general uprising, inasmuch as such tribes as the Spokanes, Nez Perces, Cayuses and Yakimas were along some lines in alliance. During these few years of comparative peace, there were, however, numerous plundering raids upon settlers and posts by small parties of warriors, and numerous isolated murders of white traders or settlers.

In 1853, when General Stevens became the first governor of the new Territory of Washington, he conferred with the chiefs of the various tribes East of the Cascades and proposed to purchase their lands, or such areas as they might be willing to sell to the government of the United States, to which the chiefs were understood to have quite generally agreed. The result of this conference was to be later confirmed by actual treaties. As time passed, however, month after month, and immigrations of whites continued to pour into and through the country, these Indians began to regret their promises. Learning of these changes of sentiment, Governor Stevens sent his trusted aid, James Doty, to consult the leaders of the affected tribes, in January, 1855, before proceeding with final treaty negotiations. Doty succeeded in obtaining the promises of the Yakimas, Walla Wallas, Nez Perces, Cayuses, Spokanes and smaller tribes to meet with Governor Stevens for that purpose.

Treaty Of Walla Walla

Kamiakin, chief of the Yakimas and one of the ablest native leaders of the period, chose a point in the Walla Walla Valley as the place for the conference, on the south side of the site of the present City of Walla Walla. Joel Palmer of Oregon was appointed by the Federal Government to act with Stevens in these conferences, the two commissioners arriving at the council grounds on May 20, 1855. Many stormy sessions and parleys were held, but on June 11, 1855, all the chiefs signed the treaty, including Kamiakin of the Yakimas who had steadfastly opposed selling or surrendering the ancestral lands of his tribe up to that time, and who obviously signed with great reluctance. Fully 4,000 Indian warriors, all mounted, fantastically painted and decorated with savage finery and with much spectacular display, witnessed these historic councils. KKamiakin frankly said that he signed the treaty purely in the interests of the security of his people, and not because he agreed with its terms. Up to the close of the meeting of June 9, Commissioner Palmer had insisted upon one large reservation for all the tribes in common, but on Monday, June 11, he receded from this drastic condition and agreed that there be a separate reservation for each tribe. This removed the chief objection of most of the chiefs to the signing of the treaty.

However, it is believed by historical writers of note that, with the exception of Chief Lawyer of the Nez Perce tribe, this treaty was signed without conviction, in order to gain time, because the tribes were not ready for a war against the whites. Both Looking-Glass and Joseph, war chiefs of the Nez Perces, Kamiakin of the Yakimas and Peupeumoxmox of the Walla Wallas were evidently insincere in signing the treaty, as later actions indicate, but Lawyer, a most powerful influence with the Nez Perces, remained true to his word. After the Walla Walla council, Stevens proceeded to final treaty conference with the Spokanes and Coeur d'Alenes, after which he crossed the mountains into Montana to treat with the Flatheads. His return to Puget Sound the following January was a most daring and perilous expedition, though before leaving Spokane bound eastward he had assembled a company of forty-eight hardy miners and prospectors returned from the Colville country, who remained with him throughout most of his hazardous journeys going and returning. But while he was absent in Montana formulating the treaty with the Blackfoot tribe, war had broken out, headed by Kamiakin and the Yakimas, who were in a measure supported by both the Walla Wallas and Cayuses, as well as warlike bands of the Spokanes. The Nez Perces, under the influence of the wise Lawyer and of their influential white brother, William Craig, whose wife was a Nez Perce and who had resided among them for many years, remained friendly.

Mukilteo Treaty

Before journeying East of the Cascades to hold final conferences with the tribal chiefs to conclude treaties, Governor Stevens had succeeded in concluding treaties with the Indians of all Western Washington, the last of which was that known as the Point Elliott treaty of January 22, 1855, the general council for which was held at Mukilteo, Snohomish County. This treaty was ratified under date of April 11, 1859. It was signed by chiefs or chosen signatories for the tribes subscribing, as follows: Chief Patkanim for the Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes; Sealth (Seattle) for the Dwamish and Suquamish tribes; Chief Goliah for the Skagit and Samish tribes, and Chief Cowitshoot for the Lummi and related tribes, including the Nooksacks. The treaty names no less than twenty-two distinct tribes of Indians, and included "other allied and subordinate tribes," whose chiefs, head men and delegates participated and concurred therein.

The Puget Sound Indians involved in this treaty were almost unanimous in their acquiescence and pledged their word to abide by its provisions, a pledge that they did not later violate, although certain phases of the pact were later found to be impracticable and were accordingly amended to the satisfaction of the Indians, who were to be paid $150,000 in the form of annuities for their lands, and to retain certain described areas of land conveniently situated for the permanent homes and use of the several tribes.

In addition to these tribal reservation tracts, Article IIIf of the treaty made provision for a large general reservation in Snohomish County, as follows: "There is also reserved from out of the lands hereby ceded the amount of thirty-six sections, or one township of land, on the northeastern shore of Port Gardner, and north of the Snohomish River, including Tulalip Bay and the aforementioned Kwilt-sehda Creek, for the purpose of establishing thereon an agricultural and industrial school, as hereinbefore mentioned arid agreed, and with a view of ultimately drawing thereto and settling thereon all the Indians living west of the Cascade Mountains in said territory. Provided, however: That the President may establish the central agency and general reservation at such other points as he may deem for the benefit of the Indians."

Outbreak Of War

The first intimation that the Yakimas were preparing for war, which Chief Kamiakin planned to delay starting until the opening of winter, came several weeks after the signing of the Walla Walla treaty. Special Indian Agent A. J. Bolon, while on his way to join Stevens at the Spokane council, stopped at The Dalles and from there undertook a side trip to confer with Kamiakin, who lived in the isolated valley of the Ahtanahm near where that stream joins the Yakima River. He had met Chief Gearry of the Spokanes on the Dalles trail, and was informed of war rumors by him. Bolon had his conference with the shrewd Kamiakin and started on the return to The Dalles. When he did not return in due season to The Dalles, Agent Nathan Olney of that station sent an Indian spy to investigate, and he returned with the news that Bolon had been murdered on the trail on the order of Kamiakin, by the chief's nephew, Qualchien, son of Sub-Chief Owhi. This was confessed to the spy by Kamiakin himself, and was confirmed in a letter to Olney from Father Brouillette of the Ahtanahm Catholic mission, whom Bolon visited before departing on his return journey to The Dalles, who added that war had been the chief topic among the Yakimas ever since the signing of the treaty.

This was the signal for a long series of cowardly murders of lone or very small parties of whites east of the Cascades, many of them prospectors heading the stampede to the newly discovered gold strikes in the Colville country near the north boundary of the territory.

In the absence of Governor Stevens, Acting Governor Mason promptly requisitioned troops from Forts Steilacoom and Vancouver to proceed to the disturbed country east of the Cascades, and for the protection of Governor Stevens and party. Major Rains, in command at The Dalles, sent a detachment of eighty-four men into the Yakima country under command of Brev.-Maj. Granville O. Haller, the equipment including a mountain howitzer. This was the same Haller who, in May, 1855, had avenged the horrible butchery of a whole immigrant train party, including the women and children, leaving only one small boy alive, at an isolated point west of Fort Hall, in August, 1854; at this fiendish massacre one mother was compelled to witness the torturing of her children to death over a slow fire. Haller had captured and hung many of the perpetrators of this outrage, and then returned with his force to The Dalles.

On his way toward Ahtanahm Haller's little company encountered the enemy in force, and after several sanguinary battles, was compelled to retreat to The Dalles, from which fort he had marched on October 3, 1855. Major Rains at once sent a message to Acting Governor Mason of Washington for two companies of volunteers and to Governor Curry of Oregon for four companies. Indian Agent Olney wrote similarly and most urgently from Walla Walla to Governor Curry, informing him that practically all the Indians north of the Columbia and west of the Spokanes and Nez Perces had taken the field openly against the whites, and a large force was required to effectually subdue them, and the winter was the right time in which to accomplish it.

Sound Indians Friendly

Meantime the capable and wise Chief Kamiakin of the Yakimas, in cooperation with Chief Peupeumoxmox of the Walla Wallas, had not been idle. He had sent courriers to the chiefs of tribes within 300 miles on either side of the storm center, urging them in flaming language to rise against the invading whites. These messengers had already done their work among the Indians of the Puget Sound country before open warfare began on the trail to Ahtanahm, but few of the influential Indians of the Western tribes could be thus roused to action. Instead of falling in with Kamiakin's ambitious scheme for a ruthless uprising, most of the wise chiefs of Puget Sound at once conveyed the information to the leading white men of their vicinity. The white men of the Puget Sound country had been fair and friendly in their dealings with them, and they had few if any grievances.

When the news of the Haller campaign reached the people West of the Cascades, the settlers immediately realized that a general war with the Indians, at least with the mobile tribes of the plains, was well under way. On October 30, Major Rains marched from The Dalles into the Yakima country with 700 Regulars, and was joined en route by Major Nesmith with four companies of Oregon Volunteers. Kamiakin, however, was too wary in the presence of such considerable force, and the expedition yielded nothing but minor engagements, the Indians always escaping pursuit on their fleet horses. |

Many of the miners who had stampeded to the Colville country near the headwaters of the Columbia, were killed by the hostiles when they attempted a return to Puget Sound. The sturdy pioneers of the Puget Sound country hastily erected blockhouses of heavy timbers, enclosed by strong stockades built of split logs arranged in the form of a solid wall, the timbers standing upright in the ground like fence posts. Two of these were erected on Whidbey's Island, the largest being near Coupeville.

Fortunately, Chief Patkanim and his allied head men of the Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes, were too wise to be misled by the ambitious schemes of the wily Kamiakin and the crafty Peupeumoxmox, and they calmly assured their white friends and neighbors of the peaceful and friendly decision of their people. So that throughout that historic period of bloody turmoil and nerve-testing apprehension and terror, no overt acts of any kind, so far as known, were committed against the white people by the Indians of this district.

At the beginning of the Indian outbreak in the Puget Sound country, Col. Isaac N. Ebey of Whidbey Island raised and commanded a company of volunteers, enlisted at Fort Townsend, and in November, 1855, Chief Patkanim guided the colonel and his company up the mouth of the Snohomish River, and it was then that Col. Ebey decided upon the little island at the head of Ebey Slough as the site for a blockhouse and stockade for defense and as a refuge for the settlers. Captain Horton of the Schooner A. Y. Trask, towed by the iron steamer Traveler, Capt. John E. Burns, brought the company over from Fort Townsend, and the soldiers at once proceeded to cut logs and erect the blockhouse and stockade, a large and strong structure. The Traveler, doubtless the first steamboat to enter the Snohomish River, was later wrecked at sea. Col. Ebey and his company remained at this original fort, named Fort bey, until their term of service expired in the spring of 1856, when the Northern Battalion, composed of Captain Smalley's company of Port Townsend, Capt. Samuel Howe's company of Whidbey Island and Capt. R. V. Peabody's company of Whatcom, was organized, Col. Ebey's men largely enlisting in Smalley's company, and Ebey returning to Whidbey Island and to his duties as collector of customs for Puget Sound; he was murdered by Northern Indians at his Whidbey Island home in the following year. J. J. Van Bokkelin of Fort Townsend was elected major of the battalion, which abandoned Fort Ebey in the spring of 1856, proceeded up the river to Snoqualmie Falls, built Fort Tilton opposite the present site of Falls City, followed by the erection of Fort Alder on the south bank of the river above the falls and Fort Smalley on Snoqualmie prairie, and later a smaller fort on Rattlesnake prairie. These frontier volunteers brought with them the first yoke of oxen to enter the Snohomish Valley, killing the animals for food after building the forts. When the battalion was disbanded at the close of the war in the late summer of 1856, many of the men returned to the Snohomish Valley country, having been impressed by its wealth of resources, and were aniong the first permanent settlers.

After the Indian war, the little island blockhouse remained for a time as a solitary reminder of those melancholy days, but no attempt was made to preserve it, and it fell into decay, or some of the timbers were utilized for other and more peaceful purposes, so that when the writer first visited the scene in the late sixties, nothing remained but a few timbers of the original foundation. A little time after the Indian scare, Albert Robins settled on a homestead claim on the west side at the mouth of the slough and on the river shore, and David Humphries, a young Englishman who was cooking in a logging camp, took the opposite land on the east side of the Ebey Slough, just across the water from the little island. In recent years the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway built its line across the slough at its mouth and across the center of the island upon which the historic blockhouse had stood guard during the most critical period of Snohomish County pioneer settlement.

Acting Governor Mason early in October called for the organization of a company of eighty-seven volunteers from Clark County and a similar company from Thurston, to report to the commanding officers at Vancouver and Steilacoom and be under regular army direction and command; they were required to supply their own arms and ammunition, but the sloop of war Decatur and the revenue cutter Jefferson Davis, then on the sound, complied with a request to supply these first volunteers. Capt. Gilmore Hays organized and took the field with the Puget Sound Mounted Volunteers, promptly reporting for duty at Fort Steilacoom. On October 21, Gilmore's men were sent to the White River Valley, between Seattle and Steilacoom, to join Lieut. Slaughter, who had returned from an unsuccessful attempt to join the forces in the Yakima country. A company of rangers was then quickly organized, reporting for duty October 23, and Mason called for four companies of volunteer reserves, one each from Olympia, Vancouver, Seattle and Cathlamet, and Major Rains, who had been campaigning in the Yakima country, was named as brigadier-general of the Washington Territory forces for the period of the war, with James Tilton as adjutant-general. Oregon raised several companies commanded by Maj. J. W. Nesmith to cooperate in the campaign under Rains in Eastern Washington.

By this time the white military leaders knew who were in command and planning the campaigns of the Indians, both east and west of the mountains. In the Yakima and Walla Walla region the chiefs heading the hostile warriors were: Kamiakin, Peupeumoxmox, Owhi, Qualchien, Te-I-As, Umhowlish and others. Kamiakin, however, early in the campaign despatched the Yakima war chief Owhi and his treacherous and fiery son, Qualchien (who had cruelly murdered Indian Agent A. J. Bolon on the trail and then burned the bodies of both horse and rider), with a large force to join the Puget Sound Indians under Leschi of the Nisqually tribe in the White River Valley. The cunning plan of both Kamiakin and the upper Puget Sound chiefs was to draw the armed forces of the whites into the Yakima country before striking the first major blow to wipe out the white settlements of Puget Sound.

Among the leading spirits of the few tribes in the Southern Puget Sound country who heartily joined in the plans of Kamiakin and Peupeumoxmox to drive out or exterminate the white settlers were Leschi, a capable and warlike chief of the Nis- qually tribe; Chief Kitsap of the Dwamish tribe, Tecumseh, Nelson and Quiemuth. But many of the small Puget Sound tribes remained sincerely friendly, while most of them were not on speaking terms with neighboring and more or less competing or actually hostile tribes, all of which was fortunate for the little settlements of white pioneers.

Chief Patkanim Defends Whites

In Snohomish County the situation was singularly favorable to the few white people who then occupied a tiny area near the mouth of the Snohomish River, as well as to the more numerous settlements on the neighboring Whidbey Island. Chief Patkanim, who ruled the Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes, was not only genuinely friendly to his white neighbors, but at the outset of the troubles exhorted and convinced his old men and young warriors that it was their duty to do everything in their power to protect and defend them. Indeed, Chief Patkanim of Snohomish alone, of all the friendly leaders of the natives of Puget Sound, seems to have speedily prepared to take the field, not against the well nigh defenseless men and women of the little white settlements in his d/qhee (home land), but actually to initiate defensive war against the hordes from the Yakima country. Chief Patkanim's effective and memorable activities at this critical time, the late autumn of 1855, are best described by the venerable Seattle pioneer and historian, Clarence B. Bagley, in a section of a series of historical articles from his reliable pen published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer more than thirty years ago, as follows:

"The Indians on the west side of the Cascades were divided into numerous small tribes, and not the best of feeling existed among them toward each other. This served as a great protection to the whites, for the movements of the hostile Indians were watched and reported to the settlers in the earlier stages of the troubles, and later a considerable fighting force was recruited from among the friendly Indians, who performed effective service.

"Pat Kanim was the most active of these. He formed a conipany of warriors from the Snoqualmie and Snohomish tribes, and they were well armed and provisioned by the whites. They started from Holmes Harbor, Whidbey Island, and went up the Snohomish and Snoqualmie rivers, and when a few miles below the falls learned of an encampment a short distance above, which they approached quietly and surrounded, making captives seventeen men. Three of these turned out to be Klickitats, who had been endeavoring to persuade the others, who were of Pat Kanim's own tribe, to join the hostiles. This chief tried all the captives, released his own men, and hanged two of the others, whose heads were cut off and sent in to the whites 'as a guaranty of good faith' on the part of Pat Kanim.

"The third hostile turned traitor, and gave a great deal of important information of the whereabouts and plans of his hostile brethren. These friendly Indians next attempted to surprise Leschi and his band of hostiles in the night, at their camp on White River, but the barking of a dog prevented them. Pat Kanim approached within speaking distance of Leschi, who said to him: 'I have understood you were coming to attack me, and I am prepared for you. I think I will have your head before tomorrow noon.' To which Pat replied: 'I don't know, but I think before that time I will have your head.' Pat Kanim then went back to his party, made a proper disposition of his force, and early in the morning commenced the attack.

and there he attacked them. A sharp engagement ensued, and Kanim drove the hostiles back upon their main body at the forks of the river. The fight lasted ten hours, and resulted in the death of eight of the hostiles, but Kanim's party got only two heads, the other dead bodies being on the opposite side of the river. Leschi's force greatly outnumbered Kanim's, and when the latter found his ammunition was running short he withdrew. He continued to do a great deal of valuable work in the matter of scouting and fighting until the war closed."

Patkanim Memorial

In memory of this native son and heroic leader of his peace-loving people in the defense of the white pioneers, the people of Snohomish County who were thus aided to live in friendship and security in this prolific land, have erected near the center of the business district of their capital and metropolis, at the center of the intersection of California and Wetmore avenues, a gigantic story or totem pole, with handsomely hand-carved symbols in a series from base to summit, which upon its pedestal bears a plate of heavy bronze containing this comprehensive memorial to the noble chief whom all loved and respected :

Chief of the Snoqualmie, Snohomish and allied tribes. Signed on January 22, 1855, the treaty which ceded to the United States all the lands from Elliott Bay to the British line. As captain of Indian warriors he fought for the white people.

Snohomish Volunteers

Snohomish County's little settlement was too small to provide a company of volunteers, either in the beginning of the trouble in 1855 or in the following spring and summer, in which the Yakima Indians suffered their final and crushing defeat. Several Snohomish County pioneers, however, enlisted in other volunteer companies, at Whatcom, Port Townsend and Seattle, and campaigned and fought gallantly throughout the war. In fact, Snohomish County settlers were represented in all the six volunteer companies enlisted in the Puget Sound country, including the first force organized in the village of Seattle, with Edward Lander, as captain in command, Arthur A. Denny and D. N. Neely, first and second leutenants, respectively, and Dr. H. A. Smith as company surgeon. Dr. Smith after the war settled upon what was known as Smith's Island, at the mouth of the Snohomish River, where he and his family resided until late in the 60s, when he removed to the waterfront district north of Belltown, Seattle, and his name is preserved in that of Seattle's chief ocean shipping harbor, Smith's Cove. He was the first practicing physician to locate in what is now Snohomish County.

Among the forty-two volunteers enlisted at Whatcom by Capt. R. V. Peabody and who formed the little Company H, was James Long, who was well known by the earliest settlers of Snohomish County after the war.

Charles Sebert went to Port Townsend and enlisted in Capt. Alf. A. Plummer's Company J, composed of twenty-seven men. Mr. Sebert was one of the early

Robert Smallman, who settled on a homestead at Tualco and whose widow is still living at Monroe, had the distinction of enlisting and probably serving during the campaign in two different companies, first enlisting in Capt. D. Smalley's Company C, forty-eight men, and later appearing on the roll of Capt. Isaac N. Ebey's Company I, eighty-four men, enlisted on Whidbey Island and at Port Townsend.

Francis Dolan, also a valiant member of Smalley's Company C, settled in the Snoqualmie Valley near the Snohomish-King County line after the war.

James Riley, who settled on the tide flats and upland near the mouth of the Snohomish River and lived there for many years, served in Capt. Wm. H. Wallace's Company D, fifty-eight men, enlisted at Steilacoom.

Capt. Geo. W. Beam's Company I of the Second regiment, forty-five men, included two muscular volunteers afterwards prominent among the early settlers of Snohomish County. One of these was Henry McClurg, who settled on a claim near the present site of the city of Monroe, and who was perhaps the most active and constructive of the early county superintendents of schools. The other was Patrick Doyle, who also after the war became a prominent early settler of Snohomish County.

Col. Isaac N. Ebey, the founder of Whidbey Island settlement, was active in arousing the settlers of the island and vicinity from the first warning of a general outbreak, and he organized the largest volunteer company that appears of record, recruiting the volunteers from Whidbey Island and the adjacent mainland, and then rounding out the enlistments at Port Townsend, where his command of eighty-four determined men was mustered into the service of the Territory and designated as Capt. Isaac N. Ebey's Company I, First Regiment of Washington Territory Volunteers for the Indian Wars. Of this historic company, Francis Dolan settled in the Snoqualmie River Valley, and S. D. Howe later distinguished himself as United States Indian Agent in charge of the Tulalip Reservation. As many of the names of the men of Whidbey Island appearing on the roll of this Ebey Company are familiar to pioneers of Snohomish County who are still living, the entire muster roll of the company is here reprinted from the official records:

Leschi Warriors Brave

The White River Valley and the vicinity of Seattle were the chief battle scenes of the war in the Puget Sound Country. Practically every able bodied white man in Washington Territory was under arms, and many thousands of misguided but ably captained Indians were on the war path. The bloody clashes in the White River Valley demonstrated, however, in actual experience that the Puget Sound Indians under Leschi were superior in downright courage when facing United States regular soldiers to their boastful and more spectacular, as well as more ruthless, allies from the Yakima plains. Leschi himself told Indian Agent James G. Swan, while holding the latter as a prisoner, that they had a poor opinion of the regular soldiers as fighting men. This opinion was no doubt due, as in eastern Washington, to the stupid and stubborn attitude of the department commander, Major General Wool, Fort Vancouver, who, even before the outbreak of hostilities invariably sided with the Indians as against the white settlers and especially the volunteer troops of the Territory, at one time, indeed, giving Colonel Wright orders to disarm and send them home.

Of the downright courage of Leschi Nisqually warriors the Puget Sound Courier said editorially: "It is in vain that we look for a parallel case of bravery in the annals of Indian warfare, as that of Leschi and his band going so openly almost under the guns of the fort (Steilacoom), which proves that we have sadly underestimated the courage and daring of the Indians on the Sound." Mr. Swan was taken prisoner by surprise and in the most friendly manner while at his post at the little reservation on McNeil's Island. When Doctor Tolmie of the Hudson's Bay Company Post at Nisqually permitted the soldiers to take the steamer Beaver with thirty soldiers aboard to rescue Swan, Leschi allowed his prisoner to go aboard the Beaver on his word that he would return, and later permitted him to go to the Fort at Steilacoom on parole, suggesting that if the whites would send Swan to him as a messenger he would talk to him, and go into council about the war. Leschi assured Swan that he had been driven into the war, and confessed that he intensely hated Col. Michael T. Simmons, Indian Agent for the Territory, and would not confer with him under any circumstances. All this took place three weeks prior to the eventful general assault upon the village of Seattle. Upon his return from Steilacoom without credentials as such messenger, Mr. Swan was left alone unharmed, and Leschi and his warriors departed to continue the war. Of this singular episode the Puget Sound Courier said:

"Mr. Swan's conduct is deserving of the highest praise, as by remaining on the reservation his influence tended greatly to counteract the evil consequences of Leschi's visit, by keeping the friendly Indians from being led astray. Well would it be for us if those who have had dealings with the Indians had kept their word as did Mr. Swan, who would not, after being taken prisoner, break his parole to them.'' And Clarence B. Bagley comments: "It was indeed an in- stance of heroic courage as remarkable as rare. Leschi had been the head of the Indian uprising. His Indians had robbed and slain for months, and were still on the warpath. It must be remembered that the attack on Seattle occurred three weeks afterward. Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Swan, like his Roman prototype, went back to his death, it might be, rather than break his word to an Indian, and in turn that Indian showed rare magnanimity toward a foeman so completely in his power."

Gov. Douglas Sends Aid

The new Territory was greatly aided in its preparations when, on November 15, 1855, Territorial Adj.-Gen. James Tilton in a letter to Governor James Douglas of British Columbia, then a Hudson's Bay Company province, requested arms and ammunition for the volunteers. Governor Douglas, admitting he had only 100 stands of arms altogether, at once despatched the steamer Beaver with fifty rifles, ten barrels of powder and a corresponding supply of ball. The moral effect of the presence on the Sound of both the Hudson's Bay steamers Beaver and Traveler was also noteworthy, and probably in a measure aided many wavering Sound Indians to stand by the whites.

Owing to the heavy timber and undergrowth, the soldiers and volunteers were at considerable disadvantage in the White River country, where the fighting was all in ambush or under cover and the Indians were much more intimately familiar with the country than any of the whites. The gallant Lieutenant Slaughter was shot and killed from ambush while in conference with other officers, and many other dauntless soldiers were thus picked off, without much chance of retaliation. In eastern Washington General Wool suspended operations in Novegnber, 1855, to give him time to plan a campaign; he was apparently the only considerable white man of the time remaining unaware of the elaborate and long-continued preparations for the war, until the actual war was under way, when he was wholly unprepared to meet the situation. Even when the first blows were struck and the Eastern Washington plains were aflame with hostile, murdering and pillaging warriors, he declined to send a detachment of troops to escort Governor Stephens and his little treaty party from Montana and Idaho through the theater of open warfare back to his Territorial capital. He had truckled to the pride of the scheming war chiefs of the eastern country and had guaranteed that no whites would be permitted to settle in that region, and soon after that these warriors had raided his forts, stampeded and stolen horses and livestock and overwhelmed and murdered detached parties of General Wool's "friendly" soldiers. Volunteers of Washington and Oregon had to bear the brunt of the fighting when war came, and to their valor, resolution and sacrifices must be given the major share of the credit for successfully terminating the war late in 1856. And these hardy, practical pioneers were convinced that the misery and suffering, bloodshed and desolation of this little war should have been crushed at the outset in October or November, 1855, had there been alert, capable and sympathetic leadership of the regular troops at headquarters in Fort Vancouver.

White River Massacre

Likewise the awful massacre of the White River Valley settlers was made possible when Acting Governor Mason accepted the treacherous assurances of the hostile warriors that they were friendly, and then went to Seattle and persuaded the terrified White River settlers to return to their homes, as he knew positively that the Nisqually Indians were all "friendly." He had, upon hearing that the White River settlers had fled from their homes, obtained an escort of soldiers from Fort Steilacoom and visited and conferred with the Nisqually hostiles in the White and Green River valleys, the wily Indians having told him they were friendly and that they thought the settlers foolish to desert their homes. Mason accepted every word of this as gospel truth, and proceeded to Seattle. He also held a conference with Captains Gansevoort and Sterrett of the United States sloop of war Decatur and requested them to take the Decatur away, as all the Indians were friendly, there was no danger, and the presence of the armed vessel might cause the Indians to become suspicious and alarmed. Fortunately, these officers did not favor any such action, and were able to prevent the absolute massacre of the Seattle settlement by a thoroughly planned assault of more than 1,000 armed warriors. When Captain Sterrett caustically informed Lieut. Arthur A. Denny of the Seattle volunteers, Denny said, according to Bagley: "I have no power to prevent your leaving us, and if the people who have come here for safety return to their homes they will be murdered in a fortnight." Captain Sterrett then declared he did not know whom to believe, but he would stay with his ship "and find out for himself."

A number of the families returned to their homes in the White River wilderness. The fact that 200 regulars were now at Fort Steilacoom and were cooperating with volunteers in the White and Green River valleys, helped to reassure them. The volunteers, divided into small parties, patrolled the country as far east as the summit of the Cascades and north to the Snohomish River, and south to the Chehalis, and they had many skirmish battles, in one of which Lieutenant McAIlister and Pvt. M. Connell were killed.

Mr. Bagley's story of the White River massacre follows: "On the morning of October 28, 1855, the Indians took advantage of the absence of the military from the immediate vicinity of the headwaters of the White and Green rivers, and by a sudden attack surprised and murdered nearly all those who had returned to their farms a few miles above the present town of Kent. They killed William H. Brannan, wife and child, George E. King and wife, H. H. Jones and wife, and Simon Cosper. It was also reported that a young boy was captured, whom the Indians treated kindly and said they intended to make a chief of him when old enough. (Leschi so informed Mr. Swan.) If this was true, the child must have died soon afterward, as there is no record of his having been returned to the whites. A man named Cox and his wife and Joseph Lake were attacked, but escaped and gave the alarm as they fled down the river for Seattle. * * * Joseph Brannan, a brother of William, was one of the deadliest shots in the country where nearly every man or boy was a crack rifleman, and it was a matter of current talk for many years that he had taken bloody revenge upon many of the savages who had helped to kill his brother.

"Old Curly,' an old friendly Indian, at the risk of his life, saved three little children of the James family. He brought them to Seattle, where they were affectionately cared for until opportunity offered to send them to their relatives in the Eastern states. Capt. C. C. Hewitt and a company of volunteers hastened to the scene of the tragedy to bring in the dead - there were no survivors. An Indian named Kitsap, the elder, (claimed by the Indians to have been the lineal chief of the Dwamish Tribe) after whom Kitsap County was named, gave the warning to the settlers along the Puyallup River and they fled to Fort Steilacoom."

Seattle Attacked

The well-planned attack upon Seattle, gallantly and effectually repelled by Captain Gansevoort of the Decatur, who had succeeded Captain Sterrett on December 10, was intended to be launched at 10 o'clock on the morning of January 26, 1856. Duwamish Jim, a friendly Indian aiding the whites, attended the final conference of the hostile Indians, who were headed by Owhi of the Yakimas and Klickitats and Leschi of the Nisquallys, and kept the Decatur commander promptly informed of their plans. Captain Gansevoort's force consisted of a few less than one hundred and fifty sailors and marines. In the evening of January 25, Lieutenant Phelps noticed unusual activity at Old Curley's Camp of Dwamish Indians; they were hastily leaving with all their belongings in their canoes. Replying to a question as to the cause, the old woman shouted to Phelps, "Hyu Klickitats copa Tom Pepper's house!" (Many Klickitats at Tom Pepper's house.) Phelps reported the news to Captain Gansevoort, who immediately ordered a shell fired into the house designated. The deafening report of the heavy deck gun was immediately followed by the warwhoops of more than a thousand hostile warriors, who had been divided into small detachments, each of which had as its objective a definite house in the little settlement. The assault upon the settlement was thus precipitated many hours ahead of the time scheduled by the chiefs, and practically all the inhabitants were able to flee to the security of the blockhouse, or were taken aboard the Decatur, or the bark Brontes which was at anchor a little south of the Decatur.

The guns of the sloop of war at once answered the warwhoops of the savages, and with such good effect that only two white persons are known to have lost their lives in this misguided engagement. The Indians were afraid of the big guns of the warship, and refused to expose themselves to the marines who were ashore for a hand-to-hand engagement, or house-to-house fighting with the warriors. All the next day and night this hide-and-seek warfare continued, and then the Indians departed thoroughly discouraged, but taking with them all the portable property of the settlement they could carry. The two white men shot and killed were Milton Holgate, age 17, an uncle of C. H. Hanford, later United States district judge for many years, and Robert Wilson, a stranger in the settlement. This was the final disheartening blow to the hostile Indians in the Puget Sound Country. The weary Yakima and Klickitat braves within a week afterward crossed the mountains to their own country, and their disillusioned Puget Sound allies returned to their several tribes. Leschi was later tried and hung for treason.

The important fighting in the Indian war of 1855-1856 was nearly all done by regulars and volunteers against the mounted warriors on the plains of eastern Washington. There were numerous engagements, the final and most decisive of which resulted from the attacks upon small detachments of Colonel Wright's regulars at and in the vicinity of the Cascades, Columbia River, in which the Yakima and Cascade or Cayuse Indians committed cruel deeds and made off with much' government property. These rousing experiences incurred the vengeful wrath of the competent Colonel Wright, who from that time on proceeded with a terrible and effectual campaign of retaliation, in which he was ably supported by

Lieut. Phil Sheridan, who joined him with forty men from Fort Vancouver, and who captured an entire war party of the Cayuses, tried them for treason in violation of their treaty and executed a number of them. Up to this time the most effective campaign against the hostiles had been by volunteer companies headed by Lieut. Col. Benjamin F. Shaw.

But the war in eastern Washington persisted desultorily until the early summer of 1858, when several Colville miners were murdered, and the settlement there petitioned Colonel Wright to send a force from Fort Walla Walla for their protection. About the same time, the deceitful Tilcoax of the Coeur d' Alenes, whose protestations of friendship Colonel Wright believed, organized a raiding party and made off with much Fort Walla Walla property.

Lieut. Col. Edward J. Steptoe was despatched in May from Fort Walla Walla with a small battalion to the Colville Country, but was intercepted by a superior force of hostile Nez Perces and allied warriors, overpowered and forced to retreat under the greatest difficulties experienced by any troops at any time during the Indian campaigns of the Northwest. The beaten soldiers eventually reached the fort, in two divisions under escort of a mounted band of friendly Nez Perces.

Maj.-Gen. Newton S. Clarke, who had succeeded Wool as Department Commander, upon receiving the report of this disastrous expedition, ordered Colonel Wright to immediately organize a force of 600 men, proceed into the Spokane country and punish the Indians with severity sufficient to settle for all time the question of sovereignty. Up to this time these hostiles had refused to permit any white people or soldiers to pass through their territory. Colonel Wright marched with his troops on August 15, and on September 1 fought the great battle of Four Lakes, followed by the awful slaughter in the final and decisive battle of Spokane Plains, September 5, which forced the warring chieftains to unconditional surrender for all time. Prior to this last sanguinary battle, the war chiefs had vainly tried to hold council as to terms of peace with the white commander, but Colonel White refused to parley and demanded unconditional surrender, which he won by force and gallant fighting. This was the first use in Indian warfare of Minnie rifles, afterwards an important infantry arm in the American Civil war. Many Indians were killed, and the principal war chief, Kamiakin, was wounded. On September 8 most of the horses of the fleeing Indians were captured, the best of them kept and the rest shot.

Hostiles Surrender

Col. Wright summed up the campaign at the conclusion of his extended detailed report as follows: 'The war is closed. Peace is restored with the Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes and Palouses. After a vigorous campaign, the Indians have been entirely subdued, and were most happy to accept such terms of peace as | might dictate. Results: (1) Two battles were fought by the troops under my command, against the combined forces of the Spokanes, Couer d'Alenes and Palouses, in both of which the Indians were signally defeated, with a severe loss of chiefs and warriors, either killed or wounded. (2) One thousand horses and a large number of cattle were either killed or appropriated to the service of the United States. (3) Many barns filled with wheat or oats, also several fields of grain, with numerous caches of vegetables, dried berries and camas, were destroyed or used by the troop. (4) The Yakima chief, Owhi, is in irons, and the notorious war chief Qualchen was hanged. The murderers of the miners, the cattle stealers, etc., (in all, eleven Indians) were hanged. (5) The Spokanes, Couer d' Alenes and Palouses have been entirely subdued, and have sued most abjectly for peace on any terms. (6) Treaties have been made with the above-named nations. They have restored all property which was in their possession, belonging either to the United States or to individuals. They have promised that white people can travel through their country unmolested, and that no hostile Indians shall be allowed to pass through or remain among them. (7) The Indians who commenced the battle with Lieutenant Colonel Steptoe, contrary to the orders of their chief, have been delivered to the officer in command of the United States troops. (8) One chief and four men, with their families, from each of the above-named tribes, have been delivered to the officer in command of the United States troops, to be taken to Fort Walla Walla and held as hostages for the future good conduct of their respective nations. (9) The two mounted howitzers abandoned by the troops under Lieutenant Colonel Steptoe, have been recovered."

Maj.-Gen. Newton S. Clarke, commander of the Department of the Pacific, United States Army, at Fort Vancouver, who at first was inclined to adopt the policy of his predecessor, Major-General Wool- - a distinguished soldier of the war with Mexico in 1846 - -had completely reversed that policy, and now sent a report to Washington actually supporting the Indian treaties negotiated by Governor Stevens, and whose confirmation Congress had indefinitely suspended because of the strong and persistent opposition of General Wool, who charged these ten Indian treaties with entire responsibility for the Indian wars in Washington and Oregon. Upon receiving General Clarke's urgent recommendations, Congress at once reconsidered the treaties, hastening to confirm them all by unanimous vote, all the same day. It is obvious that, if these treaties were the cause of the Indian uprising, it was on account of this prolonged delay in fulfilling the promises of the United States contained in those treaties, promises agreed to by the Indians in 1855 and not confirmed at Washington till 1859; it was the mysterious delay of the white chiefs in making good their pledged word that filled the simple Indian mind with distrust and suspicion, and finally with anger and warlike hatred.

Northern Indian Raids

During the war between the Indians and white people of Washington Territory and for several years immediately following that struggle, the fierce and piratical Northern Indians were more active than ever in their raids upon exposed settlements of whites or small Indian ,villages along the shores of Puget Sound and among the islands. They were both crafty and warlike, and would come into the Sound suddenly and without warning, in large war canoes, each carrying from 40 to 70 armed men and traveling at a speed equal to that of ordinary Puget Sound steamboats of the present time. Numbers of these Northern Indians found employment during the Indian war period in the lumber camps of the Sound country, but the Territorial Legislature then passed a law prohibiting the employment of any Indians not residents of the territory, with a view to minimizing the danger of raids from the northern tribes. When ordered out of the country, many of these defied the authorities and had to be sent away by force of arms. Thus, a party of Northern Indians working at the Port Gamble mill and logging camp defied the officers, and a naval vessel had to be requisitioned and had to open fire upon them, killing several Indians, including one of the chiefs.

Murder Of Colonel Ebey

In revenge for this bloody affair, the Hydahs sent a war party to Puget Sound, delegated to make suitable reprisals and to bring back the head of a white chief of corresponding prominence among the whites as the Hydah chief killed at Port Gamble was to the Hydah nation. This war party operated stealthily, making its investigations among the island settlements. Some of them approached Thomas Hasty, while he was at work in a field one afternoon on the Whidbey Island farm of Col. Isaac N. Ebey, and engaged him in friendly conversation. They seemed anxious to know if Colonel Ebey was really an important leader among the whites, and Hasty proudly replied, in Chinook, that Colonel Ebey was indeed "hyas skookum tyee' - a very powerful chief.

That same day William Jarman, known as "Blanket Bill" because he had, in 1848, been ransomed from the Nootka Indians by Governor Douglas of Victoria for thirty-two Hudson's Bay blankets, paused on his way in carrying messages between Forts Bellingham and Steilacoom, to warn Colonel Ebey that dangerous Northern Indians were in the vicinity. But Colonel Ebey was personally acquainted with many of these Indians, and considered them his friends, according to Jarman. .

On that night, November 11, 1857, these Indians went ashore, shot and killed Colonel Ebey, cut off his head and took it with them as a trophy to their northern homes. The captain of one of the Hudson's Bay Company steamers a few days later recovered the entire scalp, which had been removed from the skull, and returned it to the bereaved family. Many other vicious depredations followed, all of which the Northern Indians claimed were in retaliation for the bloody affair at Port Gamble in 1856. However, these raids, too, became more and more infrequent at the beginning of the '60s, since which time there have been no serious troubles with any of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest. And the tragic death of the distinguished and beloved Colonel Ebey remains unavenged.

ELECTION OF 1860 - SNOHOMISH COUNTY ORGANIZED - LEGALIZING ACT - CENSUS OF 1861 - FIRST COMMISSIONERS MEETING - FIRST COUNTY ELECTION - FIRST TAX LEVY- - -CENSUS OF 1862 - GOVERNMENT IN 1863 - FIRST COURT HOUSE - ELECTION OF 1865 - STILLAGUAMISH PRECINCT - FIRST LOCAL OPTION - LOWELL AND SULTAN PRECINCTS - SESSIONS OF 1871I - MURDER OF CHARLES SEIBERT - COUNTY FINANCES IN 1875 - OFFICERS IN 1876 - -CENTENNIAL RESOLUTION - CENTENNIAL HISTORY - PARTY POLITICS IN 1876 - ELECTION OF 1876 - COURT HOUSE MOVED - EVENTS OF 1877 - -CENSUS OF 1877 - COUNTY BOUNDARIES CHANGED - HAPPENINGS OF 1878 - CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION - ELECTION OF 1878 - COURT HOUSE MOVED AGAIN.

In preceding chapters has been told how the region to be known as Snohomish County was first settled by the hardy woodsmen and traders of the great Northwest. The years had been few since their first coming, but they had endured much and accomplished more. While every hour of every day must have been occupied with the gigantic task of carving homes for themselves in the great wilderness of woods, these pioneers did not lose sight of, nor interest in, the inalienable right of free Americans to govern themselves. Doubtless, through the deep arches of the cedar and the fir, they visioned the happy homes that were to come and saw the smiles of womankind and heard the soft laughter of children. And they knew that to secure and hold these: blessings it was necessary for them not only to harvest the huge timber, to build shelter and to clear the land so that the wonderful combination of soil and climate might multiply a thousand fold, but that they must also establish and maintain an orderly, law-abiding government.

Election Of 1860

Even before they took steps to become a separate unit in the commonwealth of Washington Territory, and while all that is Snohomish was a part of Island County, these pioneers did not neglect their right of suffrage, and in the decisive campaign of 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected President, seventeen of them cast their ballots and had them forwarded to the county seat of Island County, at Coupeville. There is no record that these votes were received and counted, but the righteous intent was there, and the names of these first voters of Snohomish County form a roll of honor worthy of a first place in its history. They were: E. C. Ferguson, Charles Short, William Hawkins, Francis Dolan, George Allen, H. McClurg, Benjamin Young, Hiel Barnes, Salem Woods, Patrick Doyle, John C. Riley, T. P. Carter, Z, F. Wheat, A. J. Bailey, John Cochrane, Andrew Johnson and Jacob Summers. Some of these men proved but transient citizens, and the recording of this vote is the only mention made of them in the history of Snohomish County. Others were destined to play a large part and to be among the real builders of the commonwealth.

It was almost immediately following the casting of these ineffective ballots, and perhaps for that very reason, that twenty citizens, under the leadership of the indomitable E. C. Ferguson, signed a petition to the Territorial Legislature asking that the mainland be cut off from Island County, and that the new county be named Snohomish, after the broad and generous river along whose banks the little settlements clustered. Unfortunately the list of these "charter members" of Snohomish County has been lost. This was due to the fact that even before the signatures of the scattered settlers could be secured and the petition forwarded by canoe to Olympia, the Legislature had acted and Snohomish County was born.

It was on January 14, 1861, that Snohomish became a county in its own right, free to work out its own destiny and to carve its name high upon the roll of the rich and prosperous counties of America. The sublime audacity of youth, the abounding faith and vitality of the pioneer, the high courage of the West could have been shown no more forcibly than in this act of the Washington Territorial Legislature, which took an area as large as a New England state, populated by less than two-score men - and no women - and made it into a self-governing unit of the commonwealth, even before it was known that that privilege had been asked.

The enactment by which Snohomish County was created is couched in the dry language of a legal document, nevertheless it 1s the very cornerstone upon which all the history and all the identity of the county are builded, and its formal phrases should be preserved. The text 1s as follows:

An Act

Section 1. The boundaries of the County of Snohomish shall be as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of the County of King, being at the point where township line north of township No. 26 strikes Puget Sound waters, thence running due east, by said north line of Township 26, to the summit of the Cascade Mountains, thence northerly, by the said summit, till it strikes the easterly continuation of the eighth standard parallel, thence due west, by the said parallel, till it strikes the channel of the waters near the mouth and southward of the Skagit River, thence by the channel, running eastward of Camano (or McDonald's Island) and through Port Susan Bay, and leaving Gedney's Island (later Hat Island) to the east, thence southerly to the place of beginning.

Section 2. The county seat of satd county shall be and remain at Mucokilteo (or Point Elliot), in said county; Provided, That a majority of the legal voters of said county may locate their county seat at any other point in said county at the next general election.

Section 3. The following named officers of said county are hereby authorized and empowered to fulfill the various duties authorized by law, after being duly qualified ; to-wit: Sheriff, Jacob Summers; county commissioners, E. C. Ferguson, Henry McClurg, John Harvey; auditor, J. D. Fowler; judge of probate, Charles Short; treasurer, John Harvey; and they shall continue to fulfill the said duties until the next general election and their successors become qualified. Passed

Lyman Shaffer Paul K. Hubbs

And thus, by a single act of the Legislature Snohomish County was given a name, boundaries, a complete set of county officers, and a county seat fight. It is said that Snohomish County had its birth in politics and was created through the desire of Western Washington to increase its representation in the Legislature to preserve the balance of power as against the eastern portion of the territory. If this be true, Snohomish County has been true to its birthright, for politics have played a large and continuing part in its government and history from that day until this.

Census Of 1861

Many years later, E. C. Ferguson, who was the leading spirit in the new county, had preserved what purported to be a census of the legal voters of Snohomish County in 1861. This list was incomplete and seems to contain only the names of those who lived in the vicinity of Cadyville, or Snohomish City. In its Centennial edition, published July 8, 1876, the Northern Star, printed at Snohomish, gave a census list of 1861 containing different names, evidently of those who lived in the vicinity of Mukilteo and Tulalip. These two lists, which give the occupations and in-some instances the ages of the settlers, may be taken as giving almost a complete record of the men who formed the first electorate of Snohomish County. There were no white women in the county at this time. Inasmuch as the first decade of the history of Snohomish County was made by these men; as they built the first homes, felled the first trees, cut the first trails, established the first businesses, organized the first schools, planted the first seeds, both in the soil and in the minds of Snohomish County, they are entitled to this printed monument to the pioneers.

The following, made up of these two census lists, is then an almost complete enumeration of the white men who resided in this region when Snohomish County was created.

Those listed as farmers were: H. McClurg, George Kelsey, George Rouse, Henry Beachman, Benjamin Young, J. Bott, George Allen, William Hawkins, George Walker, F. Fisher, John Richard, Jacob Wilson, Charles Short, Samuel Howe, John Harvey, J. P. Voisard, Charles Thompson, A. Davis, and James Long. Others were: James Hayes, blacksmith; Francis Dolan, cabinetmaker ; George Saunders, carpenter; William Pollard, sailor; E. T. Cady, machinist; E. C. Ferguson, carpenter; John Alexander, carpenter.

The most striking thing about this list is that with the exception of "P. H. Ewell, Shingleweaver,'"' no mention is made of any man as engaged in logging or lumbering.

[NotE] - John Harvey who was one of the county commissioners named in the act of the legislature creating Snohomish County, was a native of England and was one of the "Argonauts" arriving in California in the latter part of 1849. In 1852, he located a claim on Lake Washington, but the troublesome Indians made it unpleasant for him and he worked in lumber camps and mills until 1860, when he located on the site of the farm opposite Snohomish City now occupied by his son Noble G. Harvey. He died November, 1886, at the age of 57 and was buried in the Snohomish cemetery.

Samuel H. Howe was English born and served in the Crimean War of 1853-54. He was discharged from the service in 1856. In 1857 he came to the Pacific Coast with the Royal Engineers and was engaged for a short time assisting in the location of the boundary between Great Britain and the United States. In 1858 he crossed the line into this county, locating for a time at Port Madison. He came to the Snohomish River in 1860 with John Harvey and they located adjoining claims. Mr. Howe after getting somewhat settled, sent for his sweetheart, who made the long trip around the Horn, and they were married in September, 1867, at Port Townsend where he had gone to meet the ship bringing her. They raised a fine family of five children, but the dread scourge of diptheria took them away from them in 1878.

First Commissioners Meeting

Within two months after the county was created, on March 12, 1861, the first meeting of the county commissioners was held at the store of Frost & Fowler, at Mukilteo. The three commissioners, Ferguson, chairman, McClurg and Harvey, were present. The very first business transacted by the board was to receive and accept a petition for a road "from Snohomish to Woods Prairie." Henry Mc- Clurg, George Kelsey and Salem A. Woods were appointed viewers and ordered to meet on March 15. The second action was on the application of J. D. Fowler for a license to retail liquors in small quantities. This was not granted as the board decided it had no authority to issue licenses for less than the full amount of $300. It is safe to say that until very recent times, at least, two-thirds of the time of the county commissioners has been devoted to these two perplexing questions; roads and liquor licenses. Other acts of this first meeting were to approve the bonds of Jacob Summers, sheriff, and Charles Short, probate judge, and to appoint Salem A. Woods, assessor; J. D. Fowler, treasurer; C. M. Stilwell, justice of the peace for Mukilteo precinct, and E. C. Ferguson, justice for Snohomish precinct. The minutes were signed by J. D. Fowler, auditor.

The second meeting of the board was still more businesslike. It was held on May 6, 1861 and again the first business had to do with roads, the report of the viewers being accepted. There was evidently new light as to the license question for Frost and Fowler were licensed to sell liquor at Mukilteo for one year, for $60. Ferguson and Cady were licensed to maintain a ferry across the Snohomish River, the fee being $2, and the rates were fixed as 121% cents for foot passengers ; horse and carriage, $2; man on horseback, 50 cents; pack animal, 50 cents; wagon and team of horses or oxen, $1.50; sheep, hogs or goats, eight cents per head. Salem A. Woods was allowed $20 for making the first county assessment; he was also appointed sheriff, upon the resignation of Jacob Summers.

It was at this time that the county was divided into two precincts: one at Mukilteo, the election to be held at the store of Frost & Fowler, with C. M. Stilwell, P. H. Ewell and J. D. Fowler as election judges; and the second at Snohomish, the election to be held at the home of E. C. Ferguson and the judges to be chosen by the electors. The first county scrip was issued at this time to pay the bills of the commissioners and other officers.

There is no legal record of the election which was held in July, 1861, at which time new officers were elected and the county seat was removed from Mukilteo to Snohomish. [In later years, E. C. Ferguson described it as a "bitter campaign" and that, although "Mukilteo was the largest town in the county," Snohomish won by the close vote of 11 to 10. Mukilteo was undoubtedly the larger for it had a store and post office, all in one, while at Snohomish no mention is made of any other building than the home of E. C. Ferguson. But Ferguson seems to have been a host in himself, for he was not only a county commissioner and justice of the peace, but the postmaster of Snohomish. His original commission, signed by Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General under Abraham Lincoln, adorns the walls of the Snohomish post office today. Mail came by steamer from Seattle to Mukilteo and was sent on by any chance traveler, by canoe to the Ferguson residence up the Snohomish River. According to Mr. Ferguson, one day an Indian in a canoe brought a large, official envelope containing the commission. "Hurrah for the Postmaster!" shouted Ferguson when he opened it, but his enthusiasm was dampened when he read the instruction, "you will defray the expense of carrying the mail from Snohomish to Mukilteo out of the proceeds of your office and send balance to this office." As the "proceeds" had to come from about three letters a month sent out by the settlers, Ferguson had some difficulty in carrying out these instructions, but the two postmasters worked together, getting the mail carried as opportunity offered, without cost, and at the end of the quarter the net, and gross, proceeds of the Snohomish post office were duly forwarded to the department at Washington. The proceeds amounted to twenty-seven cents.

The third meeting of the county commissioners, or the Commissioners Court, as it was called, was held at Snohomish, at the Ferguson home. Harvey and Mc- Clurg were present and Harvey was elected chairman, drawing a two year term, while McClurg was to serve three years. Ferguson was the newly elected auditor and clerk of the board. He had forwarded his bond and oath to Fowler, the first auditor, at Mukilteo, but while Fowler had duly sent the books and papers to the new county seat, he had not returned Ferguson's bond, but this formality was waived for the time. Harvey had been elected treasurer, but had failed to qualify. To remedy this he was appointed treasurer, whereupon he qualified and gave the required bond. This first meeting at Snohomish, was held on November 4, 1861.

The first sale of University lands in Snohomish County was recorded February 7, 1862. This deed set forth that whereas Congress, on July 17, 1854, had voted two townships of land to be set aside for University purposes, and whereas by act of the Legislature, January 1, 1861, Daniel Bagley, John Webster and Edward Law had been appointed as the Board of University Commissioners; by David Bagley, chairman, they sold lots 2, 3 and 4, section 7, township 27, range 4 east, amounting to 225 acres, to Andrew J. Pope, William C. Talbot, Josiah P. Keller and Charles Foster (Puget Mill Company), for the consideration of $337.50. This deed was entered by E. C. Ferguson, county auditor, and is the first official mention of the Puget Mill Company in the county records, and one of the first indications of the opening of the great logging and milling industry. This land was located about four miles southeast of the present city of Edmonds. A second sale by the University Board, to Andrew J. Pope, was recorded October 29, 1862, transferring 61.54 acres in section 18 of the same township, a mile northeast of Edmonds, for $92.31.

The records of early county government are meagre and incomplete. The books at the courthouse do not give the canvass of the first elections; sometimes not even the names of the men elected. Not being county officers, the names of those elected to the Legislature are not mentioned in the record, and, according to Prof. E. S. Meany, the accepted authority on all questions relating to Washington history, no record was printed of the proceedings of several of the earliest sessions of the Territorial Legislature. Such are the handicaps of one who would deal with historical facts rather than with vague and often contradictory reminiscences. History becomes then a mosaic of fragmentary data out of which must be constructed the picture of the past.

First Tax Levy

But two sessions of the commissioners court sufficed to transact the business of the county in 1862. The first meeting was in May with the full board, which consisted of Harvey, McClurg and Fowler, in attendance. Two road petitions were received; the liquor license to Fowler & Frost was renewed for one year, the price being raised to $70 and a new license was issued to E. H. Thompson, for six months, for $25.

The tax levy for the county began with the very modest sum of four mills. This was to cover the entire expense of territorial tax, county government, courts, roads, bridges and schools. It was a veritable millenium for the taxpayers, albeit they did not think so at the time, any more than they do today. One-fourth of the tax was ordered set aside for the "court fund." The report of the auditor was read and filed and he was allowed $8.77 for the purchase of the first record books of the county. Other bills allowed were: Salem A. Woods, assessing county, $28; P. H. Ewell, conveying prisoner from Mukilteo to Port Townsend, $15; J. D. Fowler, attendance on court, February term, 1861, $11; commissioners, per diem and expense, H. McClurg, $9.20, J. D. Fowler, $6.80, John Harvey, $6. The sum of $3 each was paid to H. McClurg, F. Dolan, Peter Voisard and George Rouse, as election judges, and E. C. Ferguson was allowed $27.50 as county auditor. The resignations of Charles Stilwell as justice of the peace, and of Salem A. Woods as sheriff and assessor were accepted, although it was provided that Woods should serve until the next general election. At this session, also, the old road districts were annulled and new ones created.

The board did not meet again until November 3, 1862, several months after the election; so long after, in fact, that it seems not to have been deemed necessary to make any record of the vote, although Samuel Howe, George Walker, William Hawkins, F. Buck and J. A. Gilliland were allowed $3 each as election officials in Snohomish Precinct and J. M. Smith, A. Davis, P. H. Ewell, J. D. Fowler and G. Sanders received like amounts for their services at Mukilteo precinct. J. M. Smith was paid $15 for bringing the election returns from Mukilteo to Snohomish.

As assessor, Salem A. Woods took a census of the county, in 1862. This list contains the names of the forty-four residents, with their ages and places of nativity. The oldest was P. G. Landerville, fifty-eight; and the youngest, P. H. Ewell, twenty-three. Of these men twelve were under thirty years of age, twenty-four were between thirty and forty; six between forty and fifty and three were over fifty. The average age was a little over thirty-three years. There were no white women and no white children in the county.

Census Of 1862 Name Nativity Age

Thirty years later, July 25, 1892, a list was printed of the surviving pioneers of 1862. This list contained the names of Frank Dolan, Wm. Hawkins, James Hayes, George Saunders, J. D. Fowler, E. C. Ferguson, John Cochrane, George Kelsey, George Walker, P. J. Fields, H. McClurg, S. A. Woods and Charles Taylor. None of these men survives in 1926.

It will be noted that but three of these pioneers were born west of the Mississippt River; twelve were of foreign birth and twelve were born in the state of New York. There was no German and but one Swede in the county. There were but six who were born west of the Alleghany Mountains. Surely this was a cosmopolitan population which was to bring the civilizations of the Old World and of the Eastern states to the wilds of the Northwest. |

Government In 1863

The new and at that time most remote settlement of the United States seems to have been but little affected by the progress of the Civil war. Doubtless great personal interest was taken, quite probably on both sides of the contest, as men from both North and South were numbered among the pioneers. The effects of the war must have been felt in the stamp taxes imposed and in the higher prices of some commodities, but the early settlers transacted but little business of the stamp requiring kind and their purchases were confined to simplest necessities. Snohomish County was obliged, however, to pay a direct tax to the United States Government, in 1863. This amounted, for the county, to $20.86 and it had to be provided for by an added tax levy. The minutes of the commissioners for May 4, 1863, show that the tax levy was increased from four to seven mills, as follows: territorial tax, one mill; schools, 2; county, 3; court, 1. It was explained that the increase in the county tax was made to meet the direct Federal tax and it was "ordered that the direct tax for 1862 be paid out of the money now in the treasury and that the amount be assessed in the roll of 1863.'' The expenses of the county, allowed at this session amounted to $120.19; as follows: S. Howe, as sheriff, $2, as assessor, $30; John Harvey, treasurer, $7.45; E. C. Ferguson, auditor, $39.60; EK. S. Dyer, clerk district court, $9.14; P. H. Ewell, commissioner, $18; John Harvey, commissioner, $6; Henry McClurg, commissioner, $8. Following the July election of 1863, J. E. Clarke filed his bond as auditor and took the oath of office before Charles Short, probate judge. Fred L. Dunbar also filed his bond as the newly elected sheriff. This bond, for $2,000, was signed by Jacob Livingston, William G. Bradley, George Greenwood, M. J. Fassett, James C. McKay and J. D. Tullis, and was attested by J. E. Clarke, recorder; it was rejected, however, by the board at its regular session held at the home of E. C. Ferguson, November 2, 1863, the record reading "the bondsmen -not being considered legally responsible." Although there is no record of the action, the bond must have been accepted, for on February 27, 1864, J. D. Tullis filed notice of his withdrawal from it. Sheriff Dunbar evidently failed to function as an officer, for on April 2, 1864, there was a called meeting of the board at which time James Widdoes was appointed sheriff, but he "being present" declined to serve. The clerk was then ordered to notify the coroner to give bonds and enter upon the duties of sheriff "that officer not having conformed to law in regard to bonds."' Again, in August, 1864, there was a called meeting at which the sheriff was "ordered forthwith to proceed to assess the county and return the roll; that duty not having been performed, the county having no sheriff at the time specified by law." The assessment was finally made by Charles Seibert, for which service he was allowed $50 at the November session. The delay in making this assessment resulted in delaying tax payments and forced the county to go on a credit basis, with its scrip below par, a condition which persisted for many years.

First Courthouse

It was at the November, 1863, session that the commissioners took the first action looking towards a permanent home for the county offices. E. C. Ferguson had erected a store and hotel building at Snohomish, and according to the minutes, "a contract was entered into with E. C. Ferguson for the use of a building for county offices at the nominal rental of $5 for one year." At the same time the auditor and treasurer were authorized to furnish "suitable and economical"' desks for their offices and to present bills. They were also allowed $10 for stationery. At this session the bond of George Walker, treasurer, was approved, and E. If. Thompson was appointed justice of the peace for Snohomish.

The growth of the county was witnessed by the fact that at the called session, April, 1864, Qualco precinct was created at the forks of the Snohomish River and a precinct was also established at Ebey's Slough, the polls to be at Runnells camp and the election officers to be McDonald, Runnells and Spithill. Other election officials were N. B. Fowler, M. H. Frost and B. F. Chalker at Mukilteo and John Harvey, Charles Short and George Walker at Snohomish.

J. M. Smith and Salem Woods were the commissioners present at the sessions held during 1864. They increased the tax levy to nine mills, including territory 2 mills; schools, 2; and county, 5. They also imposed a poll tax of $2 on each male citizen, for road purposes. This tax raise was quite necessary for bills allowed at the November, 1864, session amounted to $284.42.

Although the records are silent as to details, there seems to have been some trouble as to county government in 1865, for at the May session, after granting liquor licenses to Entwistle, B. F. Chalker, Frost and Fowler and E. C. Ferguson, and increasing the tax levy to eleven mills, the board, Woods and Smith being present, proceeded to take the reports of the auditor and treasurer "from the table," and "on adjustment" the funds in the treasury were found to be $175.55, this sum including $84.89 in the school fund and $13.94, "county funds on hand to date." The minutes of this session were signed by E. C. Ferguson as ''clerk pro tem," and, in June, as deputy auditor, Ferguson filed a certificate to the effect that "E. C. Ferguson received the highest vote for auditor." This was attested by George Walker, treasurer, James Widdoes, coroner, and sworn to before W. B. Sinclair, probate judge. In November the bill of Ferguson as deputy auditor from April 24, to June 16, and as auditor, from June 16 to October 1, 1865, was approved by the board, and it would appear that J. E. Clarke did not serve after April 24, but, as he wrote at the bottom of the minutes of one session of the board, adjourned "Siniae Diae."

The trouble as to the assessment rolls continued to perplex the board as is shown by the order, dated May 8, 1865, "that the tax roll for 1864 be delivered to the treasurer with the roll of 1865, and the treasurer shall receive the taxes on said roll without the addition of any percentage to the original of said tax levy, and it is further ordered that when said tax roll of 1864 be delivered to the sheriff for collection it shall contain in addition thereto the same percentage as is contained in the roll of 1865, and no more."

Election Of 1865

For the 1865 election, Ebey Slough Precinct was made to include all settlers "from the head of the slough to the mouth of the Snohomish River, the polls to be open at the house of Bagley and Tullis; H. L. Bagley, George Saunders and J. D. Tullis to serve as judges. For Mukilteo, M. H. Frost, H. McClurg and David Williams (a newcomer) were named as judges, but Qualco and Snohomish were allowed to name their own election officials. The result of this election, of 1865, was the choice of Franklin Buck as a county commissioner, Charles Seibert as sheriff, W. B. Sinclair, probate judge and E. C. Ferguson, auditor. The canvass of the vote was not spread upon the minutes. The creation of new precincts and the growth of the Snohomish settlement made it necessary to appoint additional justices of the peace and accordingly Leo Smith was appointed for Ebey Precinct, W. H. Waite for Qualco, while Snohomish was given two justices, S. Howe and Peter Voisard being named.

ties near the mouth of the Snohomish River. In 1863, H. A. Taylor and H. L. Bagley established a store, hotel and bar at the mouth of the Snohomish River, on the east side. In March, 1864, Taylor gave a bill of sale for his one-half interest, including store building and merchandise to Robert H. Lawrence, who, in turn, gave Taylor full power of attorney, so that he evidently remained in management of the property. These documents were attested by M. H. Frost and J. J. Vanbokelin, the early Indian fighter and well known pioneer of Whidbey Island. In this instrument the property is described as being located at "Habolum," and this long forgotten name must find its place in history as the first ever given to a settlement at the mouth of the Snohomish River, antedating Lowell or Marysville or Riverside or Everett or any other. The county is to be congratulated, however, that this name, "Habolum" was not perpetuated. In September, 1865, Bagley sold his half interest, including hotel, storehouse and two dwellings to J. D. Tullis, for $1,000, but this did not include one dwelling and "land for shipyard" which was leased to Bagley until February 1, 1866, and Bagley bound himself not to sell merchandise or liquors on the premises of Bagley and Tullis for five months from September 12, 1865. Later Tullis sold to P. C. and C. H. Preston for $1,800, and it was this settlement and trade center which called for the establishment of the new precinct which, mercifully, was called Ebey and not Habolum.

The acts of the commissioners as to the all important matter of roads have been purposely omitted from this chapter that the subject of roads may be treated separately, but with these omissions the record of county government is very meagre. At the May session, 18606, Salem A. Woods, Frank Buck and M. H. Frost were in attendance as commissioners. They fixed the levy at five mills for the county, three for schools and three for the territory and also imposed a special tax of twenty cents on the $100 for road purposes. They also allowed E. C. Ferguson $5 for a copy of the public lands located in Snohomish County. H. A. Smith was the new member of the board elected in 1866.

Stillaguamish Precinct

In May, 1867, the voting place for Ebey Precinct was changed to the home of Peter Miller and a new precinct, Stillaguamish, was created. The election officers for this new precinct, the establishment of which was the first recognition in county government of the growth of settlement along the Stillaguamish River, were Harry Marshall, George Neville and O. S. Kellogg.

Other precinct officers were: Mukilteo, Dennis Brigham, B. F. Chalker and McNab; Ebey, A. B. Harding, H. A. Smith and W. McDonald; Snohomish, M. L. King, F. Buck, C. Taylor; Qualco, Salem A. Woods, W. Waite and Charles Harriman. Sinclair was county treasurer at this time and Seibert, sheriff. The tax levy took a jump, reaching fifteen mills, as follows: county 7; territory 314; schools 214; roads 2 mills. The relations between the commissioners and the sheriff were not entirely satisfactory and in the election of 1867 a new name appeared upon the official roster; that of Benjamin Stretch, as sheriff. He was destined to be the most popular, the best liked (and the most heartily abused) man in Snohomish County during the succeeding ten years, with the possible exception of E. C. Ferguson. These men worked together and for a long time thoroughly dominated the politics and government of the county. Sheriff Stretch was finally beaten, after many strenuous attempts, but the power and prestige of Ferguson did not wane until the new and powerful influence of Everett dawned on the political horizon. Another strong man who appeared at this time was Charles Harriman, who was chairman of the board of commissioners, the other members being Nat Fowler and P. J. Fields. The new auditor was W. G. Bradley, George Walker continued as treasurer, and Mr. Ferguson contented himself for the time being with the office of deputy auditor.

First Local Option

Besides the appointment of Charles Short as coroner and W. B. Sinclair as probate judge and the granting of a liquor license to William Romines at Fort Ebey, the only important act of the commissioners was the issuing of the following order - the first in anywise restraining the liquor traffic - "That the auditor issue no more licenses for retail liquors unless the petition is signed by a majority of the adult white inhabitants of the precinct in which the house is located. All licenses granted by the auditor in vacation shall be subject to the approval of the commissioners."

This was virtually a local option law and, while possibly it was not the intent of the order, did not confine the petitioners to the male inhabitants. There were, however, but few women in the county, even at this time, public opinion favored liquor sales and the order by the board had little practical effect save to take some authority from the county auditor.

The rapidly increasing valuation as settlers came in and logging operations developed, put the county in somewhat improved financial condition by 1869, but by that time there had developed a sharp difference in the value of coin and the greenback currency. This entered into county financial operations, as was shown by the order of the board that the "'auditor should charge the treasurer with $1,158.16, said amount being considered equal to $868.62 coin, the amount paid into the treasury by Hugh Ross, administrator of the estate of Peter Cronin." This sum was to be placed to the credit of the county fund and the treasurer was ordered to redeem all warrants issued prior to November 1, 1869. This was the first call for the redemption of county warrants. The treasurer was further ordered, after December 1, 1869 to "pay all county warrants if there be funds in his hands belonging to the county." He was to be permitted to pay in coin at seventy-five cents on the dollar, if agreeable to the holders, but "no orders shall be paid in coin at face value at the expense of the county." The board at this time was composed of Charles Harriman, chairman, P. J. Fields and P. C. Preston. E. C. Ferguson was the newly elected auditor; Ben Stretch had been elected sheriff, having been previously appointed to that office. John Barrett was probate judge, W. B. Sinclair, treasurer; Robert Barrett, the newly appointed coroner, and William Daniels and George Walker were new constables at Snohomish.

Another thing which aided the finances of the county, if not its morals, was the increasing number of liquor licenses. At the November, 1869, session eight such licenses were issued, the amounts ranging from $75 to $300 and totalling $1,300. The amount of the individual license seems to have been left to the disa

The year 1869 witnessed the first considerable appropriation by the county for the support of the poor; $90 being allowed for this purpose. Preston precinct, with the voting place at the home of George W. Preston, was created during this year, but the petition of H. C. Hale for a new precinct at Tulalip, was refused.

The precincts and election officers for 1869 were as follows: Qualco - Andrew Johnson, John Cochran, Salem A. Woods. Snohomish - George Kelsey, Peter Voisard, John Little. Ebey - Charles Siebert, W. Cilly, R. Hilton. Preston - H. A. Smith, Dennis Brigham, O. S. Kellogg. Stillaguamish - Willard Sly, Daniel Marvin, T. S. Adams.

The tax levy for 1869 was fourteen mills, no road tax being levied, but in 1870 the levy was raised to seventeen mills, three of which were for road purposes. The cash in the treasury, May, 1870, was given as $698.42.

Lowell And Sultan Precincts

Two new names appear in the list of precincts for the election of 1870. Ebey Precinct was transferred to "Lowell," at the home of E. D. Smith, and Sultan Precinct was created with the store of Dow and Company as the voting place and the officers, James Hulce, James Harris and Thomas Kennedy. The voting places were: Mukilteo, Frost & Fowler's; Stillagaumish, home of George F. Kyle; Snohomish, home of E. C. Ferguson; Qualco, home of W. H. Waite. It was in this year, 1870, that the first commissioners seal was purchased, as well as the first seal for the probate court of Snohomish County.