Prescott, Washington - An Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of Washington

An Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of Washington

Prescott was founded in the year 1882, at the time of the extension of the O. R. & N. Railroad from Walla Walla northward. It v.as founded on land owned partly by Charles Buck, and partly by Mr. Eleanor. The town site was first occupied by Rev. H. H. Spalding ill 1859. There he lived until 1862, when he went as Indian agent to Lapwai. The most important event in the history of Prescott was the erection in the year 1883, by H. P. Isaacs, of the great North Pacific Flouring Mills, at that time the most extensive flouring mill in the state.

Prescott has become a well built and attractive village of three hundred inhabitants. There are four stores in the place, of which the proprietors are Mr. Ibberson, Messrs. Watkins and Holmes. Mr. Johnson, and Mr. McSherry. These stores do an amount of business entirely di.sproportionate to the size of the town, for the surroimding country is prrfsperous and fairly well settled, and its trade is very heavy.

There are two churches in Prescott, a Methodist and a Presbyterian. The schools of Prescott have de.servedly been a source of pride to the people of the place. The school is under the charge of Prof. John Woods, and his assistants at the time of this publicaion are Mr. Rogers and Miss Malone.

Iijsturv Of Walla Walla Couxty

anil the varidus simps necessary to ihc ungning of such a tmvn. "'rhe village hlacksniith" is also notable as one nl' the leading; politicians. This is Mr. janies llaviland. Another notable character is Mr. John Geyer. elected in 1900 as a member of the Washington legislature. Still another of the most famous inhabitants of the vicinity of Prescott, as well as one of the most honored of the old-timers, is Mr. Pettyjohn, who lives on a farm six miles west of the town. Lie is distinguished as being nut only one of the genuine, whole-souled ])ioncers of the epoch, but as being the father of more human avoirdupois tban any other man in AX'alla W'alla county. The average weight of the male members of the retlyjohn family is said to be about two hundred and sixty pounds, and of the female members about two hundred pounds.

A vast and fertile wheat belt extends on all sides of Prescott. Perhaps the most fertile of all the tracts in the immediate vicinity is Whetstone Hollow, northeast of the town.

A very extensi\-e belt of land lying northwest of Prescott anil including the somewhat broken hill country as far as Eureka tlat, was largely, until within two or three years, government land. The imi)ression up to that time was that it was too dry for successful grain raising. The generally heavy rains of recent seasons turned the attention of settlers to the possibilities of this great region. It has now become settleil, thousanils of acres have been broken up, and thousamls of l)ushels of wheat have been produced. I'^uiher to the cast, upon the road extending from Prescott to Lyons ferry on Snake river, are a number of old established places which have long been noted for their large grain production. In the center of the great area lies the J^Ialloy ranch. Both up and down the Touchet river from Prescott are manv well known and Drogressive places. Among these may be namc(l the following: Those of Messrs. Brown, llanson, Hayes, I'lathers. Bowe, Romines, Sharp, Barnett. Pettyjohn, I'ttcr and Hart.

After this examination of Prescott and its \icinit_v. we will resume our places in the cars and by a journey of a few miles tind ourselves at Bolles Junction. I'^rom this point a branch road of the Oregon Railway & Navigation C'ompan\- extends to W'aitsburg and Dayton.

Continuing on upon the main line we t'md ourselves ascending the Alto hill. This tract of country, although quite elevated and somewhat broken, is of the most fertile soil, and prtnluces immense quantities of grain. The grade from the summit of this hill down to Starbuck has long been a "terror" to railroad men. it averages over a hundred feet to the mile. Several serious accidents have occurred upon this portion of the road. It was largely the danger and expense of this hill which led the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company to build their line from Riparia directly down Snake river to W'allula. Having reached Starbuck, we tind ourselves within the confines of GarlieUl county, and hence our journey through Walla Walla county is ended.

Jf we should examine our journey with a maj), we would find that the two railroads cross each other at Walla Walla, and between them cover pretty completely the different portions of the county. We shall see evidence of the idea elsewhere expressed that Walla Walla is essentially an agricultural county. ^Nlany interesting features of agricultural work would appear to the traveler, should he make his journey in the harvest season. Among other comparatively recent harvesting machines, is the immense combined harxester and thresher. This was formerly used largely in California, but the general impression was that the ruIHng hills of Washington would be unfavorable to its use. Recently side hill harvesters have been devised, which are apparently adaptable to almost any region. It has been found moreover that even the common harvesters, like the Holt, can be worked advantageously on moderately rolling land. The Holt Company are now making one especially for side hill work. One of these great harvesters presents a strange appearance to one unaccustomed to them, with its thirty-two horses, its driver elevated upon a seat twelve feet above the ground, and its grain sacks filled to be thrown off and picked up by the wagons which follnw. In favorable places the harvesters have cut and threshed as much as seventy acres of grain in a day, at considerably less cost than would result from using a sei)arate header and thresher.

In completing this journey through Walla Walla county we can see that although it has not had extraordinary rapidity of growth, it has advanced steadily to an enviable place among the counties of this great state.