From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Found in The Seattle Telegraph, Nov. 13, 1894, p. 8:

THE COUNTY BOUNDARY

 Twelve Men in Judge Humes’ Court Define It.

 ILLEGAL WHISKEY TRAFFIC

 Defendants Take Refuge Behind Technical Bulwark and Escape Penalty for Their Crimes — Some Groundless Fear That the Verdict May Affect the Election Count of Martin Creek and Wellington.

 “A jury in Judge Humes’ court yesterday acquitted Pat Cunningham of the charge of illegally selling liquor at Wellington, a small town on the Great Northern railway, away up in the Cascades, just at the foot of the west side of the switchback, apparently on the ground that Wellington is not in King county. A great sensation was caused by the verdict, as the greater part of the now famous Martin Creek precinct is situated on land that the jury in this case decided to be part of Kittitas county, to the east of King. It seems that last June the county commissioners discovered that a thriving business in wet goods was being done up in the Cascades, which was not bringing in any revenue to the county and they complained to the sheriff, who sent his deputy, W.B. Woolery, up to investigate the matter. Woolery found a couple of saloons running wide open, and arrested the owners, charging them with selling liquor without a license. Yesterday morning he testified to that effect, and was followed by Nathan Beman, deputy county auditor, who swore that no license had been issued to the parties, and the prosecution closed.”

“Charles F. Fishback, counsel for the defense, then called A.B. Palmer and W.L. Sanders, who had been members of a surveying party in that part of the country. They testified that Wellington is in range 13 east, township 27 north, and that the code of Washington designates the southeast corner of township 27 north range 11 east as the northwest corner of King county, which will leave Martin Creek and Wellington in Kittitas County. The jury were only out a short time before arriving at their verdict. The general opinion among lawyers is that jurors have a natural disinclination to convict men charged with such offenses and seized this straw on which to bring in a verdict of not guilty, and that on any more important case the verdict would never be sustained.”

“The truth of the matter, according to those who know, or claim to know, is that the legislature meant to set the boundary line of the county on top of the mountains curving far to the east.”

“When the verdict was brought in, the prosecuting attorney moved to dismiss a similar case against James Manson, which was granted by Judge Humes.”

“While the verdict has the effect of releasing the men charged with the crime, it cannot be taken as having any effect upon the recent voting in those precincts, or in any way disturbing the results of the election. It is the belief of prominent lawyers that on appeal such a conclusion or contention would not hold for one minute.”

“Charles Anderson, the surveyor who has made repeated surveys in that part of the country involved, says he knows in which county Martin Creek and Wellington are, and yet, strange to say, he refuses to give up any information he has on the subject. A number of newspaper men met him on Second street yesterday afternoon and asked him if he made a survey of the country. ‘Yes, I have made it,’ he said, ‘and know where it lies as to counties, but I am going to keep quiet about it for a while; I won’t say anything now about it.'”

As it happens, I found in the Washington State Library’s impressive cartographic collection a copy of Anderson’s new map of the county of King, State of Washington from O.P. Anderson & Co., a surveying firm that perhaps employed the Charles Anderson quoted above. The map dates from 1894, the same year as the trial. In this map, Wellington is very clearly in King County, near the point where it borders Snohomish and Kittitas.

The town of Wellington later became infamous in 1910 when an avalanche wiped out a train and killed over 90 people.

Judge Thomas Jefferson Humes, a Mark Twain lookalike, later became Mayor of Seattle, driving reformists crazy as he was tolerant of the city being wide open as the gateway to the Klondike gold fields.

 From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Wilson Creek, a small settlement in east central Grant County had a newspaper called Wilson Creek World. It ran from 1907-1943, and WSL has issues from 1913-1938 available on microfilm (which you can request on interlibrary loan).

The Wilson Creek World contained mostly agricultural and local social news. At the head of the title you can find the motto: “The Land of Diversified Farming : Home of Prize Winning Throphies [sic].” But the issue for January 27, 1915 had a fanciful cartoon that made me take notice. A train conductor is announcing a stop to his passengers, “Abraham, Lincoln!” On the wall is a “Map of Lincoln and Washington states.” The western half is Washington, with Seattle as the capital. The eastern half is Lincoln with Wilson creek crossed out and replaced with “Abraham” as the  capital city.

The single-panel cartoon’s caption:

The Way the Trainman will Announce Us Then

“According to the Spokane Chronicle of Tuesday evening, Senator Hutchinson has placed before the United States senate a bill to divide the state. If this step is taken we suggest that our town be called ‘Abraham’ instead of Wilson Creek, and that we be given first attention when the selection of capitol is made. This valley with its scenic hills would surely be a beautiful location for a legislative center.”

The idea of forming a new state east of the Cascades is actually older than the State of Washington itself. Michael J. Trinklein, in his book Lost States : True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made It  (2010), starts with the premise, “Idaho makes no sense,” and then goes on to describe the long history of attempting to create a new state in a region where Spokane would serve as the commercial hub.

In many of the proposals, the new state is called “Lincoln.”  Trinklein writes, “It’s worth noting that the proposed name of Lincoln hasn’t changed despite dozens of plans spanning more than a century. I’m not sure why. It’s not like Honest Abe ever felled any trees in the region. Besides, a state named Lincoln would cause a big license plate problem. All the Illinois plates that say ‘Land of Lincoln’ would be really confusing if there was another land of Lincoln.”

When I was a librarian at WSU in Pullman in the mid-1980s, a proposal was floated around and endorsed by several city councils in the region to create a 51st state carved out of eastern Washington, western Montana, and northern Idaho. Depending on where you lived, the vapor state was called “Washidamont,” “Montidawash,” or “North Idaho.” The idea continues to this day.

Senator Richard Ashton Hutchinson (1853-1921) was a colorful character and Democrat who had represented the Spokane area in the State Legislature either as senator or representative since 1891. In Rogues, Buffoons & Statesmen by Gordon Newell, the author wrote the senator “had earned the name of ‘Slippery Dick’ as a result of his ability to evade voting on bills that might compromise him …” This nickname would set Hutchinson off on a “crescendo of rage.” Newell includes a footnote, “Historical note: This was several years before Richard M. Nixon was born.”

Creating a new state was apparently an ongoing Quixotic quest of Hutchinson. When Don Brazier wrote about the 1915 Session in his History of the Washington Legislature 1854-1963 he mentioned, “As had become customary, Senator Hutchinson of Spokane stirred up a controversy with the introduction of a joint memorial calling for the creation of a new state, Lincoln. It was to consist of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.” The issue was so tied to Hutchinson that it was mentioned in his funeral notice: “He was one of the active proponents of dividing the state and forming the new state of Lincoln from eastern Washington and northern Idaho.”  (Mr. Brazier’s amazing book is available both in hardcopy and digitally from WSL)

Although the State of Lincoln has yet to become reality, the idea of a presidential city/state did come to pass in west central Grant County in 1957 with the incorporation of George, Washington. A friend of mine had a grandfather who lived there in the 1960s, and when my pal would ask the operator if he could make a collect call to George, Washington, the operator would hang up, thinking she was getting a prank call.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Although this article found on page 3 of the Feb. 24, 1905 issue of The Marysville Globe wasn’t exactly local in nature, it had the potential to have a local impact.  Plus it was interesting. So I decided to track down the story behind the story.

By 1905 Washington State was a decade and a half old. Olympia had already survived numerous attempts to be replaced as the capital city beginning with the formation of Washington Territory in 1853. The Legislature had left the old wooden capitol building, holding their last session in that structure in 1903.

The foundation had been built for a new legislative building in the mid-1890s, roughly on the same site of the present dome, but an economic downturn halted construction. John Rogers, the Populist Party governor who served from 1897-1901, felt it was more prudent to buy the Thurston County Courthouse and convert it to a legislative meeting place. So in 1905 the Legislature met for the first time in what is now the home of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in downtown Olympia. This would serve as the State Capitol Building for over two decades.

The Olympia Hotel, a grand structure that stood just southwest of the present Sylvester Park, burned to the ground on Nov. 16, 1904. By some accounts, this was the real State Capitol Building, where deals were made, laws were decided, and lobbyists reigned supreme.

One of those lobbyists was a gentleman named George Stevenson. More on him later.

This was the setting for the following pair of articles, printed next to each other:

CAPITAL REMOVAL

 HOUSE DECIDES IN FAVOR OF TACOMA

 Voice Was 55 to 36 in Favor of Removal, 3 Being Absent or Not Voting Unless Vetoed by Governor Matter Will be Voted On by People of the State

“Olympia, Feb. 18.–The capital removal bill has now passed both branches of the legislature and unless vetoed by the governor will be placed before the people for their approval or disapproval. The bill was taken up by the house as a special order at 10:30 yesterday morning, was read, the rules suspended, and the bill placed on final passage, adopted and passed. Ayes, 55; noes, 36; absent and not voting, 3.”

“A motion for a reconsideration of the vote will be made.”

“The passage of the bill was bitterly opposed by Booth and Todd of King county, as well as by the Thurston county delegation.”

“Mayor Wright of Tacoma, who appeared before the committee a few nights ago, offered on behalf of Tacoma to present to the state for capitol site purposes Wright park, now a city reservation worth at least half a million dollars, and containing 60 acres.”

“Mayor Wright also offered to provide in Tacoma suitable temporary quarters for all state officers, for the supreme court and state library to be used free of charge to the state until such time as a new capitol building is completed.”

GOVERNOR AGAINST IT

 Said He Will Veto Capital Removal Measure

 “Olympia, Feb. 20–The story is currently here and generally believed that Gov. Mead has stated to his personal friends and political advisors that he will veto the capital removal bill.”

“‘I do not believe the state should further saddle itself with such a burdensome debt at this time,’ is what the governor is quoted as saying.”

“Notwithstanding that there is a question whether the governor has the power to veto the bill, there seems to be no question in Gov. Mead’s mind regarding his authority on the matter.”

Now, back to George Stevenson. He was a campaign manager and lobbyist who had convinced the Tacoma area timber and real estate interests that moving the capital campus to their home region would be mutually beneficial. Although Stevenson was able to persuade the Legislature, the newspapers of the state rose up against the idea. One Olympia newspaper ran a cartoon of Stevenson feeding an overstuffed swine named “Tacoma.”

Gov. Mead vetoed the bill, thus ending the last attempt to move the Legislature out of Olympia. Historian Gordon Newell humorously describes Olympia’s subsequent call for a two year economic boycott of Tacoma, and Tacoma’s gesture of apology by sending down boatloads of citizens and dignitaries, and the resulting reconciliation in his wonderful book, Rogues, Buffoons & Statesmen.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The following article was found on page 1 of the April 7, 1905 issue of The Weekly Commoner, a newspaper in Colfax, Washington:

A NOVEL PARTY

 Colfax Ladies Turned an April Fool Joke

“One of the most novel and amusing parties in the history of Colfax was held last week at the residence of Mrs. Leon Kuhn, and thereby hangs a tale. Mrs. Kuhn had issued instructions to a number of her most intimate friends for a party Saturday afternoon. All unsuspecting they arrayed themselves in their best gowns, and repaired to the Kuhn residence. When they arrived they found the house deserted, the door locked and on it a card bearing the hateful inscription ‘April Fool.’ At first their chagrin was too deep for utterance and they were turning away disconsolate, while Mrs. Kuhn was enjoying their discomfiture from the window of a neighbor’s house. But one of the more daring among them refused to be sold and going around to the back of the house, found an unfastened window and climbed in. It was the work of a moment to open the door and admit the crestfallen guests, and then a sudden change came over the spirit of their dreams. In a moment a dozen merry women were decking the tables with snowy linen and shining silver. Others were searching the larder, while the telephone was kept busy with orders for ice cream, cakes and confections, all to be charged to Mrs. Kuhn. One lady had brought flowers to present to the hostess, and these were quickly arranged in vases to grace the table. In a short time an elaborate repast had been prepared and the guests surrounded the festive board, having first taken the precaution to bar all the windows and doors.”

“It was a merry party, despite the absence of the hostess, and when the eatables had disappeared they played progressive five hundred, selecting prizes from the pretty china in the closet. Mrs. Kuhn came home but was denied admittance. The home was turned topsy turvey and a momento was left for the absent hostess in the form of a card bearing the inscription: ‘He laughs best who laughs last.'”

The webpage intro modestly states: “Produced by Washington State Library, this index contains citations to articles in The Olympian (Olympia, Washington) and other Washington state newspapers. Dates covered are from 1993-2009. Subsequent Olympian issues will be indexed as time allows.”

In reality this amazing finding aid is the result of thousands of hours of labor by dedicated WSL staff. Not only is this a valuable research tool for local Olympia area history and genealogy, but as The Olympian covers the State Capital in some detail this index has a value of statewide significance.

The new improved index includes more sophisticated searching options, as well as an opportunity for the library user to request the article once it is located. Crystal Lentz, one of our Public Services librarians, summarizes:

“All the records from the old database were imported into the new one and a new front end/search page was created.  A new feature of the database is a ‘Request this article’ link in each citation.  When customers click on the link they will be asked for their name, email address, zip code, and the name of the deceased person if the request is for an obituary article.  When the request is submitted, the citation and customer information are automatically sent to question queue where it will be claimed and filled by a librarian.”

Many thanks to Public Services librarian Mary Schaff for spearheading this upgrade,  Crystal Lentz, and Head of Public Services Lori Thornton for setting the wheels in motion. We also extend our gratitude to Webmaster Matthew Edwards for listening to our ideas and making the new index a reality in a very short time.

The online Olympian index can be found at:

http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/newspaperindex.aspx

We also have an Olympian index for 1989-1993 available in print, but the data is also stored on ancient 5 and half inch square Bernoulli tapes. If anyone out there has a device that will help us extract this information so we can convert it to an online finding aid, we would love to talk with you!

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

After reading this description of a sea serpent as described on page 7 of the June 30, 1899 issue of The Tacoma Evening News, can anyone out there familiar with the creatures in Puget Sound identify what they really caught?

LOST THEIR SEA SERPENT

Party of Scientists Shipwrecked Off Moskito Island

Collecting Specimens of Giant Barnacles, Sponges, Sea Cucumbers and Other Things For The Ferry Museum

“Ferry Museum has a large and varied assortment of material added to the list of attractions, but not until after a campaign lasting three days, and a shipwreck that lost the entire collection of the first day’s work.”

“An extreme low tide on the straits between the west end of McNeil’s Island and Meridian, off Moskito Island, County Commissioner C.H. Dow has told of wonderful large barnacles, as big as a quart bowl, the beasts having a mouth and jaws on them like the beak of the dinasaurs of the reptilian age. Other strange and wonderful monsters were said to abound in those waters, and a party was fixed up to go after them.”

“Admiral Jacobs, of Puyallup, owner of the fine steam yacht Strea, took out his boat, with Professor Harlan I. Smith, of the New York Museum of Natural History; Professor Gilstrap, curator of the Ferry Museum; Commissioner Dow, Frank R. Baker and Mrs. Dow, Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Jacobs.”

“The barnacles were all that had been promised, and a big collection of them are now in place at the Museum, where their vicious snapping and terrific looking beaks are a terror to beholders. There is also a fine assortment of sea cucumbers, sea eggs, star fish; sea weed, shells of various kinds, some sponges and other specimens of much interest.”

“The catch of the season, however, was lost by the capsizing of the boat: the sea serpent, one of the most terrible and striking looking of the kind ever caught.”

“The animal, with a lot of other stuff, was in a yawl boat in tow of the steamer, when the struggles of the beast upset the boat, losing the entire collection in the Sound.”

“The sea serpent was of a brilliant green color, so dazzling that it appeared as though the light shone through him. His body was wide and thin, with two immense fins immediately back of the head, giving him a ferocious appearance when seen from the front. His tail was set vertical, with three saw-like teeth, and with one fin immediately forward of the tail on the back.”

“On his brilliant green sides were irridescent spots of red, yellow, white and black, that appeared to come and go as he splashed about in the water, which was lashed into foam as he sped about in the shallows where he was finally caught.”

Some updates to this news article:

Moskito Island has also been known as Mosquito Island, Enriquita Island, and today is called Pitt Island, according to Gary Fuller Reese.

In the book Island Memoir, Betsey John Cammon tells us the town of Meridian used to be on the mainland just across Pitt Passage from McNeil Island. The town actually jumped across the water and was established as the U.S. Post Office for McNeil from about 1903 to 1936, when the island was taken over as a prison site. Meridian’s McNeil Island site (along with Mosquito/Pitt Island) appears on the 1941 Metsker’s Atlas of Pierce County, Washington. WSL has an extensive collection of Metsker’s maps, both loose and bound.

Harlan Ingersoll Smith (1872-1940), the visiting archaeologist, eventually settled in British Columbia and made Pacific Northwest Native cultures his focus of interest.

William Henry Gilstrap (1849-1914) was a former portrait painter who became the curator of the Ferry Museum and Secretary of the Washington State Historical Society.

The Tacoma Evening News ran from 1889 to 1903, and can be counted as one of the many ancestors of today’s News Tribune, as seen on WSL’s newspaper history chart.

Volume 8, April 12, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) SHARING THE JOY OF POETRY

2) WANTED – SEPTEMBER 18, 2009 ISSUE OF REDMOND REPORTER

3) SOCIAL MEDIA DEMYSTIFIED

4) TARGET EARLY CHILDHOOD READING GRANTS

5) CELEBRATE PRESERVATION WEEK WITH FREE WEBINARS

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Read the rest of this entry »

The Odessa Public Library and the Odessa Historisches Museum have continued their partnership this year with a Washington Rural Heritage sub-grant to digitize a wealth of cultural heritage materials, including some cool multimedia. This slideshow interprets the story of the settling of the Odessa area by Germans from Russia, who came to eastern Washington starting in the late 19th century, as well as the difficult yet tenacious history of the Odessa Historical Society and Historisches Museum.

With an interest in photography, film and audio recording, the Historisches Museum’s founder, John E. Gahringer, MD, produced the slideshow in the 1980s from 272 images made on Kodachrome and Ektachrome 35mm slide film, and created an accompanying narrative on audio cassette with a synchronized cue track. The cue track allowed certain slide projectors, like the Telex Caramate 4000 shown in the short video below, to advance through slides automatically.

After a failed attempt to capture the essence of the (malfunctioning) Caramate projector for posterity, Washington State Library staff digitized the slideshow’s components and have reconstructed the presentation in video form. Watch the trailer above for a quick introduction, or see the full length presentation here.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

This entertaining bit of creative thinking was covered by the Leavenworth Echo, March 25, 1904, page 3:

WEDNESDAY’S FIRE SECOND THIS YEAR

 G.S. Merriam’s House and J.H. Mitchell’s Household Goods a Total Loss

SNOW BALLS SAVED THE HOUSE

 Mrs. H.A. Anderson’s Lodging House Saved by Heroic Work

 “As if to show how utterly this town is at the mercy of the elements, and how entirely helpless its people are at a fire Leavenworth had a recurrence of what has happened here several times before, only in this case it was not such a serious matter, and but for the fact that the fire broke out in the daytime, with people all around, and heroic work it might have been worse.”

“On Wednesday afternoon, just a few minutes after six o’clock an alarm of fire attracted attention to Mrs. H.A. Anderson’s lodging house near the Congregational church.”

“The facts, as near as can be ascertained are that Mrs. Mitchell, who lived in a three roomed cottage about twelve or fifteen feet from Anderson’s house, went over to a neighbor’s house for a few moments before the fire broke out and left a good fire in the heater, which is one of those air tight stoves with all drafts turned off. The gas accumulated and an explosion followed, or at least someone heard what sounded like an explosion and immediately after flames shout out of the building. With the exception of a trunk and a few bed clothes all of the household goods of J.H. Mitchell were destroyed, on which there was no insurance. Mr. Mitchell is night watchman at the Lamb-Davis Lumber mill and left to go to his work not ten minutes before the fire broke out. The building, which belonged to G.S. Merriam, was partially insured.”

“Mrs. Anderson’s lodging house, which is a large and substantial frame structure and stood only about ten or fifteen feet from the house which burned was only saved by the hardest kind of work. At one time the entire east end of the house was ablaze and no water to be had, or at least in such inefficient quantities that it served no purpose. Several hundred men were standing around with their hands in their pockets, gazing in mute and helpless astonishment at the fast disappearing house of Mr. Merriam’s and the blazing one of Mrs. Anderson’s when some one without, perhaps, the serious thought of saving it, yelled, ‘let’s snow ball it.’ The suggestion was taken up at once by the crowd, which appeared to be waiting for someone to tell them what to do, and in much less time than it takes to tell it the end of the house was hit by thousands and thousands of snow balls from the hands of men and boys. To the writer it was an odd sight to see men and boys throwing snow balls with all theirmight, with an earnest, serious look on their faces. Snow balling is usually done amid shouting and laughing, but here all was quiet as a funeral. It soon became evident that the snowballs were having an effect and soon where a few moments before the entire end of the house was ablaze, there appeared a black charred and smoking surface. The fire had, however, made enough headway so that it had begun to burn under the cornice where it could not be reached with snowballs. A ladder was finally procured and some men got upon the roof and by tearing away the shingles a few buckets of water put out the last bit of fire that was left.”

“Mrs. H.A. Anderson, a most estimable widowed lady who owned and kept the house, was once before burned out in Leavenworth, and at that time had no insurance. Her loss on building and household goods will amount to five or six hundred dollars, which is covered by insurance. She expressed great satisfaction and was very thankful for the heroic work that was done in saving her house.”

“A report got out that Mrs. Mitchell’s baby had been left in the house and was burned up, but this it was learned was not so as she had taken it with her when she went to the neighbors.”

The Leavenworth Echo is still with us, and as any library cataloger will tell you, it is nothing short of astonishing that it has kept the same title since 1904. We have nearly a complete run in the collection, issues from 1904-1995 are on microfilm and can be sent to your library via inter-library loan.

Also, thanks to WSL’s participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program, historic issues of the Leavenworth Echo from 1904-1922 are available online.

Mrs. Anderson’s Lodging House also still exists in Leavenworth, and is called, oddly enough, Mrs. Anderson’s Lodging House. It is “now the oldest commercial wood frame building in Leavenworth,” thanks to the quick thinking of the snowball thinker upper in the crowd back in 1904.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

A few decades ago, back when my family still had a farm out in northwestern Thurston County, my father noticed a small glass object that had surfaced after he plowed the field. The farm had once been home to an inn called “The Hicklin Halfway House” on the stage road between Olympia and Montesano in Territory days. We were used to plowing up small pieces of china and glass. But this was different.

Except for some chips on the opening, this small glass bottle is intact, about 3 inches high, and has the raised label: C.B. Mann, Apothecary, Olympia, W.T.

As it turns out, Champion Bramwell Mann ran a drugstore on the southeast corner of 4th and Washington in Olympia, site of the present Security Building. He was a prominent figure in the local history of the city, even serving as Mayor from 1894-1895. And, believe it or not, he had a short stint as the Territorial Librarian in 1870.

And so did his father, Sylvester Hill Mann. You can read about them and the other colorful characters who kept the flame alive in Washington’s oldest public institution on WSL’s biographical page: The Territorial Librarians.