AUTUMN1966

Published Quarterly By ThePacific Cozuntly Historical Society

State of Washington

VOLUME 1NUMBER 3

Cf he Sou'westerA Quarterly Publication of the Pacific County Historical Society, Inc .

A Non-profit OrganizationSubscription Rates $2.00 Annually-Payable in AdvanceAddress: P. O. Box 384, Raymond, Washington 98577

Application to mail at second class postage rates is pending at Raymond, Washington 98577

Mrs. Harold C. Dixon, Editor

Jack Laughlin, Editorial Adviser1966 OFFICERS

Mrs. Nina Wolfenbarger, President

Frans Johnson, Vice-presidentMrs. J. G. Walker Jr ., Secretary

Mrs. Addie Shay, TreasurerDIRECTORS

Victor Monohon

Mrs. Lewis HawkesMrs. A. K. Alexander

Mrs. J. G. Walker Jr .

Tony Zile

MUSEUM COMMITTEEMrs. Ed Buell, Co-chairman

Mrs. Harold C. Dixon, Co-chairmanMrs. Nels Olsen, Secretary-Treasurer

Mrs. John Heintz

Mrs. A. K. Alexander

Mrs. Addie Shay

"Any person interested in the history of Pacific County may be enrolled asmember upon receipt by the secretary of the first payment of dues ." ($1 .00)

South Bend Journal Print

The Cover PhotographChief George A. Charley is pictured in ceremonial head-dress and

holding the hand-forged knife inherited from his father, "Lighthouse"Charley Ma-Tote, who said it was a gift from Captain Robert Gray. Heearly exhibited the traits which marked him as a leader of men, andperformed many deeds of valour in assisting the North Cove LifeSaving Service .

Well known from the Columbia River to Port Angeles, he wasactive in Indian Affairs. As guardian over twenty-eight families, heinstigated work projects for the benefit of his people and made 'sure thechildren attended the schools for Indians .

Regal in stature and bearing, he was always a popular orator atpioneer gatherings .

On December 17th, 1935, while fishing alone with a dip net atthe mouth of the Quinault River, a giant breaker swept him out to sea .When the body was returned by the surf, impressive services were con-ducted by the Reverend Joseph Hillaire of the Lummi Tribe, in theShaker Church at Taholah, following which he was brought "home" tohis beloved Shoalwater Bay for interment in the little cemetery on thereservation .

(The negative for this picture was supplied by Lucille Wickberg Wilson ofThe Ark, Nahcotta, Willapa (Shoalwater) Bay .)

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Shoalwater Reservation CentennialFrom Carcowan Through the Charleys - 100 Years

Extinguish Indian title to land west of the Cascades ! Move allIndians east of the mountains! Then donate the land to settlers'These were the plans of Samuel Royal Thurston, the first delegate

to Congress from Oregon, and an Act of Congress dated June 5, 1850,provided for the negotiations of treaties to accomplish this aim. How-ever, it soon became clear that the Western Indians would never agreeto removal from their hereditary habitations. In their report, the Com-missioners of Indian Affairs stated that the move was "opposed witha resistance qualified only by their want of strength" . Negotiatorsthen offered small reserves on tribal lands, and on this basis nineteenagreements, known as the Anson Dart Treaties, were made and sent tothe Senate on August 3, 1852 . Though approved by the President,none of these were ever ratified by the Senate .

The Shoalwater Bay area was designated as the reservation sitefor the surrounding tribes, and the treaties provided that all must,within one year's time, congregate here ; failure would result in the landbecoming public domain open to settlers . The fact that not one whiteman was, on August 9, 1851, residing here may have motivated AnsonDart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon Territory, to selectthis site. This situation was changed a few months later with the burn-ing of the oyster schooner ROBERT BRUCE, for after this more settlerscame to join the "Bruce Boys" ; these arrivals demanded protection bythe Government against what they termed unpleasant incidents of tres-pass on the part of the natives !

The Indians were confused by it all . As the years passed and theyreceived no money, goods, schools, mills, doctors or anything elsepledged by the Treaties they signed in good faith, their suspense anddisappointment resulted in distrust and suspicion . They could not con-ceive of a situation where the Indian head men could be held strictlyto the terms of a solemn agreement while the negotiating agents pro-fessed inability to carry out their pledges . Matters came near the boil-ing point several times, resulting in troops being stationed at FortChehalis (Westport) ; sales of liquor was a major problem. The resultof all this is an amazing collection of letters and documents, some ofwhich will appear in later issues of this publication .

The following letter, written by Giles Ford, was date-lined ChehalisPoint, W.T., May 2nd, 1866, and addressed to W . H. Waterman, Esq .,Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Washington Territory

"I have visited Shoalwater Bay and examined the spot that theIndians wish reserved for them . It is peculiarly adapted for a homefor them, being situated in close proximity to good fishing, hunting, and

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grazing grounds . And I would recommend that it be immediately reservedfrom Sale . I have designated the proposed reservation on the enclosedplot by double red lines . No part of it is claimed by the whites, althougha donation land claim was located by' R . J . Milward, but was never provedup upon . My charges for this service is twelve dollars in currency,$12.00. If there should be any one appointed soon to take charge of theseIndians I would respectfully recommend Geo . W. Brown for the position .He resides but a short distance from the proposed reserve, is a good re-liable man, friendly and popular with the Indians, and has long beenengaged in trying to put a stop to the liquor traffic among them ."

Another, from W. H. Waterman, dated Olympia, W.T., June 1st,1866, addressed to the Department of the Interior, Washington, D . C . :

"I herewith inclose a letter from Giles Ford, Esq . together with amap showing the situation of the land referred to by him as the tractdesired by the Indians on the Shoalwater Bay . These Indians, said toconsist of some 30 or 40 families, have always lived upon the Beach andsubsisted upon fish, clams, oysters, and sea animals . They are unwillingto abandon their former habits of life and turn their attention to agri-culture. They desire a place upon the shore where they can fix theirhomes, without being exposed to be supplanted and driven off bywhite men. This tract which they have selected is a sand beach yieldingsome grass for the pasturage of their horses but of little value forcultivation, and it is my judgment that reserving it for the use ofthe Indians would work no injury to white men but would have a tend-ency to promote peace between them and the Indians and would securethe contentment and well being of the latter . I therefore beg leave re-spectfully to recommend that the tract of land selected by Mr . Ford anddesignated upon the inclosed map be reserved for the use of the Indians ."

These letters and the map which is reproduced on the center pagesof this publication were forwarded by the Secretary of the Interior tothe President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, on September 18,1866, noting "it will be seen that the land indicated upon the incloseddiagram is vacant and I therefore recommend that you direct the landin question be set apart for the purposes mentioned ."

The President's executive order, in all its eloquent simplicity, isreproduced on the back cover of this publication .

The leader of the local bands at the arrival of the first white menseems to have been Carcowan (or Kakahwan) . His son, Tleyuk, wasdeprived of the right of succession by Governor Stevens, who tookfrom him his paper and "tore it to pieces before the assemblage" at theTreaty Grounds, according to James G. Swan in "Northwest Coast" .Chinamus was murdered by a white man near Chinook on August 4,1865 and then "Coolidge" became chief until blindness "deposed" him .

Light House Charley Ma-tote, who received his appointment asHead Chief of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe August 10, 1876, was the last

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of the old-time chiefs. His credo : White men could run their affairstheir own way and he would run the Indian affairs ; this he did untilhis death by drowning on the Columbia River .

Endorsed onto Light House Charley Ma-tote's chief's "paper" isthis notice

"The authority hereby granted to the above person now deceasedis hereby given to his son George A . Charley until a new paper is issued .

Puyallup Agency, Wash.

Edwin Eells (Signed)Nov. 29, 1889 .

U.S. Indian Agent

George A. Charley dropped the Indian name of Ma-tote and tookhis father's given name for himself, his wife Caroline (Matil) andtheir twelve children . He was one of the last of the local Indians to have

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Chief George A . Charley of the Shoalwater Tribe poses withhis wife and four of their children . Roland Charley, right inrear row, succeeded his father as Shoalwater chief .

the flattened skull which indicated royal lineage. Upon his death, his+ son, Roland, was recognized as the tribal leader . Since then others have

been designated "Chairman", including Roland's daughter, MyrtleCharley Landry, and more recently, Dennis Baker, Roland Charley'sgrandson .

Now the Shoalwater Reserve has reached the age of 100, butthe past few years have again brought frustration and heartache . Thereis talk of "termination" and of "division of property" . But the Indiansthemselves still "desire a place upon the shore . . . without being ex-posed to be supplanted and driven off by white men" . They believethat the TRUE spirit of the Executive Order of September 22nd, 1866should prevail, tempered by the Indian aspirations of 1966 .

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Toni Alexander's StoryLast of the Northwest's Ox Team Loggers

Had my father not ducked out of the ranks of Queen Victoria'sGuards as he marched along behind her carriage, my story would havebeen different . He had tried to buy out of the service and failed, soone day as the guards were marching past an American ship ready tosail for New York, he side-stepped into the crowd and boarded thevessel as a stowaway.

Andrew Alexander, the youngest of four sons and a daughter, wasborn in Kirkcubright, a small town in a southwestern county of Scot .land. For a boy who had two brothers and a sister in Canada, life asan apprentice to a sheep farmer seemed unenduringly dull, so he ranaway and joined the British Army, serving in India during the BorderWars and in Ireland during the Finian War, before being assigned,

on account of his height andbearing, to the elite service .How he managed to desert infull dress uniform he neverfully explained, but after threedays at sea, a sailor found himand provided food and civilianclothing ; of course he was putto work for his passage .

Arriving in New York, hestruck out for Ontario, Canada,penniless and afoot . Workinghis way, hopping a freightwhenever possible, and usingany other means of transporta-tion that presented itself, hefinally reached Albany, N . Y . .

Andrew Alexander and his son, Tony, By this time he was 19 yearsstand in front of the pioneer family home old! Awhich still exists in old Willapa .

sympathetic lady ofwhom he asked employment,

upon hearing his story, loaned him train fare to Ontario, which he wasable to quickly repay with grateful thanks .

Bent on reaching the American West, Andrew and his brotherheaded for Idaho, where they cut piling for the railroad bridge acrossLake Pen d'Oreille ; they cut ties which they floated down the ColumbiaRiver to Pasco, Washington with a crew of men following in canoes .By this time he had become an expert axe man, learned to drive logs,

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handle a canoe, and many other useful skills . From Pasco they set outwith William Moore, on horseback, for Seattle, where they signed upfor chopping down Redwoods for Carson, the timber baron of Eureka,California .

Working their way North, the year 1876 found them at Cathlamet,Washington, employed by a logger named Jim Miller . Their boss, TomIrving, being an expert ox-teamster, Andrew learned the care andtraining of oxen, and followed this line of work from then on .

When father reached Pacific County in the early 1880's he said"This is Paradise!" and put his roots down deep . Finding exactly whathe had been searching for, he chose 160 acres through which WilsonCreek flowed. It adjoined James S. Wilson's homestead ; his friend,William Moore, claimed the land beyond . Here father built a cabincleared land, logged, and made a home . In 1885, he went back to Scot-land to visit his parents and the brother who had always lived at home .He met and courted a Scottish lass named Maggie Kelly, who came to

Getting set to move Donkey at Willapa in 1903 . In the picture, left to right, areEd Walden, Bert Whitcomb, Warren Paulding, Andy Alexander, Tony Alexander .

Astoria in 1886 where they were married . He made a good choice, forshe was a fine Christian woman, faithful wife, and wonderful Mother .

I was the second son, Anthony Kelly, forever after known asTony. My older brother was named Andrew and always called Andy .We grew up and learned to work with Papa, as we called him . He

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taught us well - to swim, pack supplies on pony-back to surveyingparties, cut down trees, and to drive logs . He was strict with us andmany a time we felt the weight of his disapproval, but at no time wasever unjust, so we grew up knowing that nothing worth having comeseasy, and that hard work and responsibility go hand in hand .

My father bought several blocks of land in Willapa, had a housebuilt, and moved off the ranch to town in 1898 . I was nine years oldthen, which seems an early age to start working, but we did, with ourfather, and by the time we were sixteen could do a good day's work inthe woods. Of course we went to school during the winter, sometimes forthree months and later for six months . There was a great turnoverin teachers in those days ; none stayed long in one school .

When my father sold his ox teams in 1905, he was concerned fortheir well-being, so I went along to care for them and grease skids .From then on, I was on my own, working in different camps until Iknew how to do most everything . I even learned to high climb and rigspar trees. Donkey engines were being used, railroads built, and moremodern methods adopted . For many years, though, the creeks andrivers were the means of delivering logs to market . One good freshetcould move a whole year's cutting if there were enough men to work onthe drive. Sometimes the water would stay up for three days if the raincontinued .

In 1911 I went to work for the Sunset Timber Company on MillCreek as a chaser ; soon became rigging slinger, and before the sum-mer was over, was tending hook . This job was pretty good, being nextto foreman . For nearly twenty years this was my base of operations,as I lived in camp most of the time, except for shutdowns . I was woodsforeman for 10 years until that great stand of timber on Mill Creek waslogged out in 1928. Headquarters were moved to Willapa, where theWilson Creek timber was being logged off . A railroad was built up theCreek to the timber and hauled out on flat cars. C. C. McLean wassuperintendent at that time. Weyerhaeuser bought out the Sunsetsoon after the 1929 depression hit the country ; this changed the wholepicture for me . From then on I had small jobs and did a little gyppologging, until, in 1930 I became foreman for the Case Cedar and ShingleCompany on lower North River. After two more years of depression,this company folded, later to be revived, but I had moved on to workindependently.

I took a contract of logging export timber on Smith Creek for twosummers, using a cat and 9x10 steam donkey . The logs were trucked out .I logged at PeEll one summer, using a cat . By this time the war wasspreading and I was logging selected spruce and old growth fir onlower North River, where there were four sections of old growth sprucefor airplane! construction . One raft of 142 logs scaled 578,000 lineal

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feet. According to Captain John Whitcomb it was the largest raft to betowed to Raymond or South Bend ; his tug, TRANSIT, did the job . 1logged this timber into the river, using only -one cat . Men were hard toget and prices were low, so I decided to retire to a farm on Hammers-ley Inlet, near Shelton, Washington . I thought my logging days were

over, but I sold the place in1948, after which my wife and Itraveled for a while, spendingone winter in California . I look-ed over the timber around Eure-ka, always a logger at heart .

We came back and built ahome next door to my sister inWillapa and all the while look-ing - somehow it is hard toretire from so active a life ! By1952, I was back logging again- at the mouth of Smith Creek .Since there was no road, we hadtwo work boats and rafted thelogs right there . It was mostlyscrubby tideland spruce andhemlock. We had a camp atthe mouth of the Creek withmodern conveniences-came totown on weekends. We were

Jack Hatchard, left, and Tony Alexander Ilucky in getting good men, andshown in 1909-tall men in the tallest took out 10 million feet beforetimber country. Famed for tall stories. we were through . It was a catlogging show, but we did have one donkey on high ground .

This ends my story of 53 years of logging. Many experiences, whichI can't relate here, went into making a most interesting and rewardinglife. I've done all kinds of logging ; hand logging, ox-team, donkey engineand cat logging, as they came . High lead and all methods of handling,moving donkey engines, grading roads, filling swamps for a road bed,and building dams and ponds, and dredging were all learned as apart of "loggin'." The men I learned from, and worked for, are gonenow - but they figured BIG in the woods of the Northwest.

I just might add that this story would have been considerablylonger except for severe censorship of my "bull punchin"' language bymy wife, Beulah, who has recorded my narrative .

(Note : Tony Alexander still is logging . His eyesight is failing buthis mind is sharp and clear . He regales visitors at his home in old Willapa .with stories of early day woods exploits in colorful and lucid language .)

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Map of the 1860's showing the Tokeland-North Cove area . The Shoalwater

Tribe's Reservation is outlined. See lead story this issue about Shoalwater Centennial .

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Pacific County Census, 1860The year 1860 marked the reorganization of Pacific County, the

main change being the addition of two tiers of townships to the north .Bruceport, which had for several years been the county seat of

Chehalis (now Grays Harbor) county, was now a part of Pacific . FortWillapa at this same time also came under the jurisdiction of thegovernment at Oysterville .

The following portion of the 1860 census shows the citizens whowere receiving their mail at Bruceport .

FREE INHABITANTS IN PACIFIC COUNTY, WASH . TERRITORYENUMERATED BEGINNING JUNE 11, 1860 BY ROBERT H. ESPY

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House No.

Name Age Sex Occupation Birth Place

1 . Wilson, George W . 29 M House Carpenter

OhioWilson, Anna E . 30 F VirginiaWilson, Orlando R . 8 M IllinoisWilson, Mary V . 5 F Wash. Terr .Wilson, Frank E . 3 M Oregon Terr .Wilson, Eugene 0 . 1 M Wash. Terr .

2 . Anderson, Charles 32 M Tailor I Sweden

7.

Unoccupied houses Nos . 3, 4, 5, and 6 .

BelgiumRoss, John 34 M Oysterman

8 .

Hanegara, WilliamWikle, M. L .Fisher, Charles

Riddell, John

262923

24

MMM

M

OystermanOystermanOysterman

Oysterman

MaineHolland

North Carolina

Connecticut

12 .

Unoccupied houses Nos . 9, 10, and 1.1 .

ConnecticutGriswold, Miles S . 33 M FarmerParker, Gustaf W . 24 M Oysterman Gothenburgh

13 . Unoccupied

14 . Barstow, Charles 37 M Blacksmith Connecticut

15 . Pope, John 32 M Sailor EnglandPope, Catherine 27 F IrelandPope, Mary J . 1 F CaliforniaNelson, Frank 31 M Boatman SwedenJohnson, George 32 M Sailor NorwayGarretson, Francis 33 M Oysterman New York

16. Unoccupied

(1860 inhabitants receiving mail at Fort Willapa, Oysterville,and Astoria to be listed in future issues of THE SOU'WESTER.)

The County Jail at OystervilleThe walls of the jail near the Oysterville Courthouse were six

inches thick, made of laminated 2x6's put together with spikes . Thewindows were equipped with heavy bars . Afterwards a steel cell wasplaced inside the structure .

The key to the old jail is in the possession of Charles Nelson ofNahcotta .

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17 . Winant, Mark 33 M Merchant New YorkWinant, Jasper 18 M Oysterman New York

18 . McKinney, John 33 M Oysterman New York

19 . Johnson, James R . 55 M Physician ConnecticutJohnson, Hannah A . 28 F PennsylvaniaJohnson, Mary A . 6 F PennsylvaniaJohnson, Lydia A . 3 F Wash. Terr .Johnson, Helen M . 10m F Wash. Terr .

20 . Francis, Joseph J . 27 M Seaman New YorkFrancis, Sophia 17 F Prussia

21 . Saunders, William 27 M Sailor Sweden

22. Brady, Charles 46 M Oysterman Mass .Brady, Ann 45 F IrelandPaulding, Edwin 15 M MissouriPaulding, Lucy 13 F MissouriPaulding, Hiram 24 M Oysterman Missouri

23 . Stewart, Charles W . 39 M Farmer New YorkStewart, Ophelia

(Indian)25 F Wash. Terr .

24 . Unoccupied

25 . Vail, John 58 M Farmer New YorkVail, Jane 38 F OhioVail, John, Jr. 3 M Wash. Terr .

Jack 25 M Sailor England

26 . Wilson, J. S . 39 M Farmer Penna .Wilson, Julia 34 F New YorkWilson, David S . 12 M IowaWilson, Franklin B . 6 M Penna .Wilson, Stewart L . 4 M Wash. Terr.Wilson, Fayette S . 2 M Wash. Terr .

Readin' `nI 'Ritin'Written in the spring of 1940 about the old South Bend School

built in 1871 .To consist of 4 installments

THIRD PARTBy Arthur E . Skidmore

The waters of the river ebbed and flowed . Tides came and went .Days stretched into months, months into years . My childish dreambecame a reality and I began teaching . As a preliminary, I was

obliged to pass before the County Board of Education a written examin-ation covering eight common-school subjects and the Theory and Art ofTeaching. For this I was awarded a certificate which permitted me toteach for one year .

For a long time salaries remained at twenty-five dollars a month .My first contract was for a three-month term . After the organizationof the districts no board could contract with a teacher unless the amountof salary stated was in the County Treasury to the credit of that district .Upon receipt of the contract the County Treasurer sent the money to theclerk as best he could, usually by mail carrier or some other traveler,who in turn, handed it to the clerk or to a neighbor, and no money, sofar as I have heard, was ever known to go astray. As each month endedthe teacher was paid in gold without warrant of any kind . Mine wasmost often brought to me by the children of the clerk or someone passingby the schoolhouse door. Salaries jumped to forty dollars a month whenteachers were obliged to pay ten dollars for permanent board .

Some teachers continued to board around in certain districts . I amconvinced that this plan had its good features and results . The teacher

was brought into direct personal contactwith the home life of each child of thedistrict. This gave her a better chance tounderstand the pupils . Many times herpersonality and influence brightened thehomes . She was the social center andhelped to pass away the long winter eve-nings with songs, games and other amuse-

She was often called upon to act as nurse for a sick child or,parent of the district. Doctors were scarce and in some parts of thecounty two or three days were required for one to reach a patient'sbedside. The teacher at such times was expected to be an all-aroundperson, doing with nothing to do with and bringing assurance andcomfort to relatives who were worried and concerned . The whole family

ments .

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thus derived much benefit from those teachers who labored in the homesas well as in the schools .

The rowboat was no longer such an absolute necessity . Trailsthrough the forest lengthened, reaching from one end of the district tothe other. They were more often than not muddy, narrow paths wherethe light of day penetrated but feebly and where no sound was heardexcept the cry of the jay disturbed by the intruder plodding along .These paths often led through swamps or lost themselves in cattle trailsalong the fields .

From my first month's salary I supplied myself with a pair ofrubber boots and a raincoat, so was well protected as I started out eachmorning before full daylight with my bundle of kindling under my arm .On stormy winter mornings I found a cold and dismal schoolhouse, buteven though the stove invariably required time and patience, I alwaysmanaged to have the room warm and comfortable by the time the childrenarrived. It fell to my lot to repair the broken windowpanes and makeother minor repairs, but I was glad to do this .

I always believed in a pleasant interior for the sake of the childrenas well as myself . On the first Friday evening I took some lime and mixedit with water. Early the next morning I began and whitewashed thesomber walls and ceiling. By the time 1 was through, the floor waspretty well white-washed, too. I bought some house lining at a veryreasonable rate for window curtains . A neighbor woman fixed themup at the top and bottom in the customary manner of curtains . I putpictures around : Washington Crossing the Delaware, Abraham Lincoln,and such scenes as I could lay my hand on. The change was noticeable .One day old Joel Roberts came along . He had four children in schooland stopped a moment to see one. He stuck his head in the doorway .

"Why," he said, surprised, "you got it all fixed up . Looks like a pal-leein here."

The old sidewall desk and backless bench had disappeared, theparents having built desks adapted fortwo. They were all different shapes andsizes and far from beautiful, but theywere very comfortable . School life wasimproving.

I was one jump ahead of Mr. Dodgein the matter of drinking water, too .I never allowed them to throw the re-mainder from the dipper back into thepail. My water bucket in time gaveplace to a tin tank in the hall which I

filled with fresh water daily . The children pushed a small bulb, the waterspurted up, and they drank without the use of a drinking cup .

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There was need for a better and more commodious blackboard .Some used green cloth was tacked taut upon the wall for this purpose,but I painted long smooth boards with black paint and found this verysatisfactory. This new blackboard was more than an ornament : weused it. The multiplication tables continued to be a snag, the greatestmathematical difficulty, but we worked problems on the board forvariety as we drilled upon them . Applying the tables gave more induce-ment to study. We stressed mental arithmetic, and that needed neitherboard, slate nor pencil . They enjoyed rapid addition and subtraction . Itwas a pleasure to hear them recite their oral arithmetic, giving a fullanalysis of problems . omitting no step whatsoever. The County Superin-tendent, visiting one day, complimented them upon their ability to thinkand work rapidly . When they allowed mental arithmetic to slip from theschools, I feel it was a great mistake .

Every week we had a new "memory gem" on the board . Big andlittle, all learned the same one. These were always of a high-class se-lection and one could not help but profit by them . Ofcourse some children were touched more than others .Though many people have wonderful minds and highambitions, it is true that circumstances prevent theirability from being known .

"Full many a gem of purest ray sereneThe dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear,Full many a flower is born to blush unseenAnd waste its sweetness on the desert air ."

Gray's Elegy

I never gave the analysis until they had learned the quotation andgleaned what meaning they could . Even then I depended upon the fullsignificance coming to them in their manhood and womanhood . Not longsince one of my students, with a family grown and married, told me atthe school reunion up the Valley that she continued to receive help fromthose "memory gems" . Here are some more examples

"Beauty is but vain and doubtful good ; a shining gloss that fadethsuddenly ."

Shakespeare"Now that I have a sheep and a cow, everybody greets me good

morrow."

Benjamin Franklin"I regret that I have but one life to give for my country."

Nathan Hale"Habit is a cable . We weave a thread of it each day until it becomes

so strong we cannot break it ."

Horace Mann"By diligence and patience, the mouse gnawed through the cable ."

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"Our Dumb Animals" was a paper published in Massachusetts whichcame monthly. Under its direction we organized a humane society . Weheld Friday afternoon programs in which they read their original storiesof kindness to animals, reported instances they had noticed, or told ofkindly acts they had themselves performed . We used such books as "BlackBeauty" and "Beautiful Joe" in connection with this work. I alwaysfigured that anything to the good helped out in the long run .

Once a month we held rhetoricals . I believe they helped develop anappreciation of good literature . They brought out the children and madethem more self-possessed . We dramatized poems and other selections .It was difficult for some to throw themselves into it naturally, whileothers were very apt . Parents always visited these rhetoricals innumbers : nothing gave them greater delight than to see the childrenperforming in a creditable manner .

About the Origin of the Shoalwater Tribe

WASHINGTON HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

VOLUME IV, No. 3, Page 186

As told in 1913 by Isaac H. Whealdon

A long, long time ago there was no peninsula or bay or Indians,but one day there came from the siah cold illahee (far cold country) abig canoe with a hundred warriors with their klootchmen and papooses .They tried to enter the Columbia, but hiyu winds, hiyu skookum pewake,yako charco copa (but great strong winds prevented an entrance) tothe Columbia, so they paddled ashore just where the hill and rocksterminate at the south end of what is now the peninsula. Here theymoored their big canoe, tying the stern to the rocks at the south andanchoring her bow to the north . Caching their paddles and other thingsin a cave in the rocks, they took the old Indian trail for the Columbiaand what is now Old Chinook .

After many moons they returned, charco miami, halo kanim . Yakananich okok kanim yaka clatawa keekwulee icta tenas sandspit. No,there was not a sign of their canoe, only they found a little sandspit witha clam bed, and the ocean on the west . A few small pine trees grew ontop. At the east were some bushes with hiyu olallies of a bright redcolor. These were cranberries. A little farther out to the east, tenassiah mitlite tenas chuch. This was only a little water, but 'tis nowWhealdon's Pond, or Black Lake . When the Indians saw this they builta house on their sand-sunken canoe and their children grew and multi-plied. As the tribe grew, so grew the tiny sandspit and a little bay wasformed which became a mighty water .

So from the big canoe grew the peninsula and the bay, and fromone hundred Indians grew the Shoalwater Tribe .

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on-L La1 n1d %.Zd ~4, 1cci T :ill ff'tt c , Ic

uuI

The Amable Petit family arrived in Chinookville on the 8th ofSeptember, 1866, in a two-masted schooner which none of thoseaboard knew how to sail against the wind ; hence, they moved only

with the out-going tide or when the wind favored them . Much of thetime they were anchored or tied up to the bank waiting for the tideto turn . It took them over a month to make the trip from Portlandto Chinookville .

With Amable Petit were his wife, Amelia, and their seven childrenHerbert, Adele, Catherine, Esther. James, Joseph, and Henry ; threemore sons, Frank, Paul and David were born in Chinookville . Mrs .Petit's parents, Alexis and Marianne Aubichon, and her sister, Philo--men, with her husband, Mr. Perkins, also came with them from theirhome in Butteville, Oregon for the trip .

Mr. Petit had moved his family from eastern Washington to Port-land during the summer of 1865 . There he bought the business of theman who had a contract to furnish cord wood for certain steamboatsusing it for fuel . In this deal, he got a two-masted schooner in whichto carry wood . In the meantime, Amable Petit bought a house and fourlots fronting Guild's Lake, from Captain Couch . This site is not farfrom the present Union Depot in Portland .

He was doing well in the wood business when his daughter, Cath-erine, came down with malaria . In a short time the other children con-tracted it ; the family suffered from chills and fever all winter andfinally their mother came down with it, too . A doctor told them thatthe climate near the lake did not agree with them, advising a move tothe Coast .

Amable Petit sold his home and lots, packed his schooner withenough groceries to start a store, and left on a trip which was a verypleasant experience. When anchored near a farm, someone often cameout to the schooner to ask what they were peddling! But they boughtfood from the farmers living along the river, in one place corn, inanother chickens, fruits, and other products .

There were many sailing ve -,sels on the Columbia in those days, bothAmerican and foreign . The large ones usually had a little steam tugnear to help turn the vessels in tight places . The Petit schooner had tokeep near the shore when the vessels turned and tacked . Many canoesloaded with Indians were seen, the men dressed in bright colors, thewomen with bright headbands and beads braided in their hair, andwith faces brightly painted . One canoe stopped beside the schooner and

58

the man steering raised his paddle before his face, the edge towardhim. The three men on the schooner went to the side of the boat, raisedpaddles in like salute and called "KLA-HOW-YA, TYEE" . After visit-ing for a while, Amable Petit presented them with a sack of flour, andthen both boats moved on . The Indian canoe was a large dug-out witha high prow.

The largest vessel they met was a big ocean liner, the ORAFLAMME . It was a sternwheeler which passed them near St . Helens .When they reached the lower river they met the BEAVER, a littlething chugging along. Much of the freight carried on the river wasmoved on large scows, but just east of Tongue Point they rememberedpassing a French brig .

A heavy storm hit them east of Point Ellice, and they went ashorenear Knappton, spending the night in the deserted farmhouse belongingto Job Lamley. The wind being down by morning, Amable Petit andPerkins, his brother-in-law, took the small boat and rowed aroundPoint Ellice to Chinookville . Here they hired a man by the name of LaBelle to sail the schooner around the Point, where at that time thewaves beyond were sometimes like those on the ocean beaches .

They found few whites and many Indians at Chinookville . Thetravellers were glad to get ashore and sit on the driftwood . AmeliaPetit watched the unloading of the schooner for a while, and thenbegan to cry ! In the meantime, Amable Petit hunted for a house hecould buy. He found a one-story shake house 20x20 which belonged toFrancois Laframboise which he bought for five dollars ; as the Petitfamily moved in, Laframboise moved out into another little house .

Mr. Petit sold what groceries he had and then engaged in thefish business . He had a seine and salted the fish in large tanks . The fishwas sold later to the sailing vessels which came into the river at Astoria .

The adventurous members of this pioneer family making the peril-ous journey to Chinookville have all departed this earth . The locationof the old village has been washed away by the ebb and flow of thetides ; but there are those who remember and are observing this monthof September, 1966, as the Centennial Anniversary of the coming ofthe Petits to Pacific County .

-MILDRED COLBERTDaughter of Fred and Catherine Petit Colbert

Of Portland and Ilwaco

Grateful acknowledgment is given to Ralph Antilla of the firm ofAntilla & Kolcz, Raymond, for reproducing and preparing old printsfor use in this publication . Mr. Antilla furnishes his skills and materialswithout charge to the Society .

59

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A location on the highway to Chehalis, near the summit of theCoast Range, was called Pluvius by an early homesteader who testilyobserved that it had rained cats and dogs for 362 consecutive days andrecalled that it "was most damnably cloudy ," the other three . But hestayed on and on, seeming to delight in cursing and reviling the place .

Though once listed in the U .S. Postal Guide, there appears tohave been no official postmaster ever appointed, or any actual postoffice ever established . There was once, however, a railway station,for the Northern Pacific Railroad records reveal

"This place was named by Mr . E . H. McHenry, former ChiefEngineer of the Northern Pacific . The name is from Jupiter Pluvius,the Roman God of rain, and is due to the fact that it rained incessantlyduring the construction of the line of the Yakima & Pacific Coast RailRoad. The station was established in 1892 ."

Oregon historian and author, the late Stewart Holbrook, once re-ported that he could find not one single sun dial in Pluvius!