Volume 8, November 8, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) MORE CLASSICS IN WASHINGTON HISTORY

2) PROQUEST OFFERS WA WEBINARS

3) SUCCESSFUL FRIENDS GROUPS – WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN’T

4) SONGS TO READ! BOOKS TO SING!

5) PRESERVATION GRANT WORKSHOP

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

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From the futuristic desk of Shawn Schollmeyer.

With 100,000 pages contributed each two year grant cycle from over 30 states and reaching for participation by all 50 states, the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is the biggest digital newspaper project in U.S. history and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC). Each of those 5.2 million pages need related lines of code and metadata along with the page images.  Title, city, date, as well as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) files that turn an image into machine-readable text, allow users to search newspaper content on the Chronicling America website.

That’s a lot of files! Who manages all these files? Less than a dozen people at Library of Congress support the websites & wikis, upload files, and help project managers learn the NDNP digitization process. Here in Washington State, we rely on this handful of people to guide us on best practices for digitization and image standards for our participation in the program.  In September, all the participating states gathered to meet our sponsors, advisors, and fellow awardees to discuss the great ways people are using the content from this project.  At the end of the three day conference, our heads are filled with practical knowledge of processes, resources, and exciting new ideas. While I was there I had the rare opportunity to meet the magicians behind the curtain…

Our main contact for the National Digital Newspaper Program in Washington, DC is Chris Ehrman. Nearly a librarian by birth (his parents are both librarians), Chris began his newspaper experience in the University of Utah Ski Archives , uploading photos and video of America’ favorite winter sport before moving on to the NDNP program in Montana. There he honed his technical expertise learning the selection and upload process for Montana’s newspaper collection, becoming a great candidate for the Library of Congress’ Digital Conversion Specialist position. Chris is our “go-to” man when we have questions about how to resolve the challenges of working with so many files and metadata. If the data checks out OK, Chris prepares the scripts to load files for the automatic ingestion process so the newspaper images will appear in the Chronicling America database. He also supports the LC’s NDNP website.

There are four Digital Conversion Specialists who evaluate and help load our submitted batches of files to the website. Missing pages, cataloging conflicts, or date misprints are among the situations that may flag a batch for further review.  These four take turns validating batches from all awardees for final approval in addition to their specialized tasks, which include validation tool support and digitizing from LC’s own historic newspaper collection.  Chris estimates that they see 150,000-180,000 pages per month, translating to about six terabytes. One of their biggest challenges is to keep the workflow moving and avoid bottlenecks in the system.

Robin Butterhof is another LC specialist. Friendly & energetic, Robin supports the NDNP wiki page that contains the technical specifications, trainings, tools, deliverables, and state by state project information. She is a woman of many talents, having held several different library jobs, including book publishing, reference librarian, non-profit work and consulting, all while attending classes as a library student. Excellent training for the many tasks she juggles daily at LC.

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

The microfilm reel grabbed at random this week contained The Puyallup Valley Tribune. The following article was found on the front page of the issue for January 14, 1922:

 “122-Year-Old” Newspapers Are Well Preserved

“Some people are willing to admit that ‘Barnum was right.'”

“Others insist on absolute proof. Many schemes have been formulated to substantiate Mr. Barnum’s observations, but one of the latest is the ‘old newspaper’ gag.”

“A man in Tacoma announced on Monday that he had a copy of the Ulster County Gazette, published in Kingston, N.Y., on January 4, 1800. The funeral of George Washington was described, and the column rules were inverted to produce a black border.”

“Since Monday several persons have admitted that they have copies of the same issue that have been ‘handed down’ from generation to generation. Those who have seen the copies remark how well they have been preserved.”

“Major Kryger, fire truck driver, has one on display at the city hall. One man is said to have admitted that he paid $1.50 for his copy. A stranger told him that he was parting with the relic because he needed for food.”

As it happens, the Ulster County Gazette for January 4, 1800 is possibly the most reprinted single issue of a newspaper in American history, starting in the 1820s. Some Americana dealers have estimated more than 200 versions exist out there. In its Information Circular 1 (rev. 1958), the Library of Congress states, “The Ulster County Gazette was established May 5, 1798, at Kingston, New York, by Samuel Freer and Son. It was a weekly supporting the Federalist Party. Publication continued until 1803, when the title was changed to Ulster Gazette and the publisher was Samuel S. Freer, the ‘Son’ of the earlier partnership.”

“Reproductions of the issue for January 4, 1800, are well known to librarians and dealers in old books through the great number of reprints that are scattered over every part of the country … Almost every private owner of one of these honestly believes that he has an original copy. At the same time, only a few original copies of other numbers of the same paper are in existence.”

“Librarians watched many years for an original, but it was not until November 1930 that the first was found. This is now in the files of the Library of Congress. Another original is now in the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. These are the only originals known.” LC goes on to describe in detail the methods for identifying the original.The Gazette captured the attention of Washington State historian Edmond S. Meany. His essay originally appeared in the Washington Historical Quarterly (v. 22, no. 1 Jan. 1931) and was later reprinted as a monograph. The Washington State Library has both versions.

Prof. Meany: “It is undoubtedly true that original copies existed and were used when the first reprints were made. The motives for those earlier reprints were probably sentimental and patriotic, to celebrate an anniversary of the paper or of Washington’s death. In later years the motives were quite mercenary.”

Indeed.

Major Kryger, the Puyallup fire truck driver, was not a Major in rank. Major was his actual first name. He died in 1926 at the age of 35.

The very real and authentic Puyallup Valley Tribune, which ran from 1903-1966 is available on microfilm at WSL either in-house or interlibrary loan. It is an ancestor to today’s Herald (Puyallup, Wash.).

From the desk of Judy Pitchford

Digital Collections has been busy adding more titles to our Classics in Washington History. Here’s what we have added this week:

Under Native Americans –

The Indian captive : a narrative of the adventures and sufferings of Matthew Brayton, in his thirty-four years of captivity among the Indians of north-western America by J.H.A. Bone

Brayton’s narrative was recounted to J.H.A. Bone, editor of the Cleveland Daily Herald, who is presumed to have composed the published version

Depredations and massacre by the Snake river Indians : letter of the acting Secretary of the Interior transmitting a report of the Commissioner of Indian affairs relative to the Indian depredations committed in the state of Oregon and Territory of Washington, and the massacre of emigrants by the Snake river Indians by United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs

This volume contains several miscellaneous claims for damages against Indians, plus correspondence concerning an Indian attack against a company of emigrants.

On the Indian tribes inhabiting the northwest coast of America by John Scouler

An early work that describes the major Indian groups. It includes a word list for some basic vocabulary in Shahaptan, Wallawalla and Kleketat.

Report … relative to the Indian disturbances in the Territories of Washington and Oregon by United States. War Dept.

Correspondence between Gov. Isaac Stevens and, various military officers, and the Secretary of War documenting disagreements on how to handle the military campaigns against the Indians in 1855-56.

Under Military History –

Report of an expedition from Fort Colville to Puget Sound by United States. Army. Dept. of the Columbia

This is a narrative by 1st Lieut. Henry Pierce who in 1882 led a small exploring expedition across North Central Washington from Old Fort Colville, in what is now Stevens County, to Puget Sound via Lake Chelan and the Skagit River.

Under 20th Century Events –

Trends in the relocation centers III  by War Relocation Authority, Community Analysis Section

This document addresses the concerns of evacuees about the closing of the relocation centers and how their needs were to be met re-entering society.

Classics in Washington History is a digital collection of full-text books, bringing together rare, out of print titles for easy access by students, teachers, genealogists and historians. Visit Washington’s early years through the lives of the men and women who lived and worked in Washington Territory and State. All items are available in DjVu (Plugin required) and Pdf formats.

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

The following article was found at random in the July 31, 1908 issue of The Ephrata Journal. What is it describing? Swamp gas? A fog anomaly? A strange portal into another dimension?

 HARRINGTON FOLKS ARE PERPLEXED

 LAKE SURROUNDED BY DARKNESS WHILE SUN IS SHINING

 Queer Phenomena Vouched for by Leading Citizens of Lincoln County Town But No Explanation is Vouchsafed — Discovered by Accident by Farmer Fulton Who Felt Creepy.

 “The most remarkable natural phenomenon that has ever mystified the people of this section of the country has been discovered at a point six miles northwest of Harrington, at what is locally known as Swamp Lake. There is no light there. Darkness all-enfolding envelops the region during the twenty-four hours of the day and one day after another. The darkness is not a twilight, but a pitch-like, inky blackness. Many people have visited the locality during the past three days and all agree that the phenomenon is uncanny.”

“The first man to experience the peculiar sensation of driving out of the bright sunshine into a night black like the darkness of the mammoth cave in Kentucky was R.S. Fulton, a prominent and veracious rancher residing a mile beyond the lake. Speaking of the peculiar condition Fulton said:”

“‘I drove to Harrington with my family and we were returning home about 2 o’clock in the afternoon when, coming around the bend in the road which skirts the lake, we suddenly drove into deep twilight and then utter darkness. My smallest daughter became frightened and cried loudly. I did not know what to think of the thing myself, but thoughts of fog ran through my head and, as the horses did not appear to be frightened, I was not alarmed.'”

“‘My wife, however, requested me to stop the team, which I did after driving perhaps a hundred yards into the darkness.  There was nothing but blackness all around.  As we sat there a creepy sensation began to steal over me and I did not know what to do.

“‘I concluded to trust the team and gave them the word to go ahead. They went, picking their way slowly along the road, with which they are well acquainted. We traveled the entire distance along the lake, nearly three-quarters of a mile, in utter darkness and complete silence. As suddenly as we had entered the darkness we emerged from it. There is little more to add except that the air in there was perfectly dry and somewhat cooler than out in the sunshine.'”

“Fulton came to town the next morning by a different road and told the story here. He was laughed at, and the whole thing was taken as a joke, but he insisted that what he had told was absolutely true and finally a party was made up to visit the lake and see if it actually was dark there as represented. Among those who went there were Mayor Mitchum, Cashier Ellis, H.S. Bassett, W.S. Thompson, John Daniels and J.B. Eakin. They returned non-plussed and mystified, but very certain that rancher Fulton had told the truth. All agreed that the darkness was absolute.”

“People have been going up the lake all day. It is not much of a lake. It might more properly be called a swamp. The darkness seems to cover the lake and to extend to a distance of from eighty to 100 yards around it. Many theories have been advanced to account for the phenomenon. All the conditions of nature seem to be normal except that it is dark there when it is light all around.”

As a side note, “Swamp Lake” has yet to be found on any historical or modern map by this writer, although there are a number of unnamed bodies of water that qualify as candidates. In his Lakes of Washington, Ernest E. Wolcott describes 248 lakes in Lincoln County, most of them not named.

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

Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a race in Memphis.

Georgetown had only been incorporated since 1904 when newcomer Dr. Fehr tossed his hat in the ring during the 1909 election after the original Mayor decided to retire from the office. Fehr placed third out of three candidates, gaining only a dozen votes.

This week’s grabbed at random reel of microfilm is from The Seattle Daily Times, Jan. 14, 1910. It describes the consequences of an unusual campaign promise made by Dr. Fehr:

 SOMEBODY LIED, NOW BURDEN OF SONG BY FEHR

 Georgetown Mayoralty Aspirant, Who Promised Dinner to Supporters, Gets 12 Votes but 137 Want Feed

ALL SAY THEY GAVE HIM THEIR BALLOTS

 Only Thing to Do, He Says, Is to Entertain Whole Town at Barbecue — Leases Long String of Sausages.

 “One hundred and thirty seven legal voters of Georgetown solemnly declare they cast their ballots for Dr. A.H. Fehr, candidate for the mayoralty nomination on the Citizen’s ticket at the recent primaries. The election clerks and judges as solemnly declare that the official count of the ballots gave Dr. Fehr exactly twelve votes. The ever-growing list of men who say they voted for Dr. Fehr is reaching such proportions that there is now an issue of veracity between the election boards and the remainder of Georgetown.”

 “Little attention would be given to the wide difference in the figures were it not for the campaign promise of Dr. Fehr that he would invite each man who voted for him to a dinner after election. Many promised to vote for him, but only eleven kept the pledge, and Dr. Fehr voted for himself.”

 “When the last vote was counted Dr. Fehr slapped his pocketbook in satisfaction and next morning started to round up the faithful eleven.”

 Number Keeps Increasing

 “The first day of his canvass he found twenty-six who swore they voted for him. Dr. Fehr scratched his head in amazement, asked each member of the election boards if they were honest, consulted City Attorney Charles Ennis about throwing out the whole election on account of fraud, and then decided to feed the twenty-six. That night Fehr’s telephone bell rang repeatedly and each time he answered it a voter promised to attend the banquet in accordance with the preelection arrangement.”

“By sunrise Fehr had a list of thirty-five who voted for him, and the next night his intended guests numbered fifty-three. Then Fehr began to stave off the banquet. He refused to be called a ‘quitter’ but he acknowledged that he was sparring for time. It was believed that an indefinite postponement of the banquet would discourage the remaining voters in Georgetown. The voters not only knew their game but were hungry.”

 Will Feed Whole Town

 “‘There is only one way to give that banquet and not slight anyone,’ said Dr. Fehr today, ‘and that is to feed the whole town. I thought the matter over last night and have decided to barbecue a big, fat hog and invite everybody to come. I have rented the old livery stable of Roy Wilson, now being fitted up for a Georgetown theatre, and as soon as the alterations are finished, I will give that banquet. I have taken options on a half barrel of sauerkraut, a half barrel of dill pickles, 150 loaves of bread, leased a strong of sausages that will reach from Frye-Bruhn’s to the city hall, and, with a 300-pound hog I believe I shall be able to feed all who voted for me.'”

“‘There also will be two or three barrels of coffee and tea. Just as soon as Wilson gets his new theatre ready I shall keep my election promise and feed everybody who voted for me.'”

June Peterson Robinson in her book, The Georgetown Story (2nd ed., 2000) picks up where the above story left off:

“A number of Georgetown residents could be classed as ‘characters’ but none captured the attention of the media more than Dr. A.H. Fehr during the spring of 1910.”

“The little dandy with the small mustache and close-cropped hair had been an unsuccessful mayoral candidate the previous fall, polling only twelve votes in the primaries. His public offer to buy dinner for the eleven persons who voted for him turned up twenty-six voters the first day and rose to one hundred thirty-seven by January. He advised the town fathers that he could either ask for a recount or charge election fraud, but decided to keep his election promise and feed the whole town.”

“The dinner would take place as soon as alterations changing Roy Wilson’s livery stable to a theater had taken place. The date was finally fixed for March 3, Fehr’s birthday, and was to be held out of doors– weather permitting. Hi Gill, Seattle mayor John Miller and the Seattle City Council, the Georgetown mayor and Council and all King County Veterinarians were invited to be special guests. The menu would include one barrel sauerkraut, one half barrel dill pickles, three gallons mustard, one bear, one veal, one mutton, one shoat, two dozen Belgian hares and wieners containing the meat of twelve animals (to correspond with the votes cast in the election). Paper plates and napkins would be used. Dr. Fehr announced that he was having iron forks made, twelve would bear the words ‘I did,’ the remainder would say ‘I didn’t.’ Those who picked ‘I did’ out of the basket would be considered the only honest men– the ones who really voted for Fehr. Unfortunately, the story of the end of the celebration has been lost. No account has been found of the actual event and what really happened.”

Although Dr. Fehr can be found in the Seattle directories for 1908-1910, he vanishes from that source 1911-1914. Interestingly, he does not appear in the 1912 Year Book of the Washington State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners as someone licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Washington State. He died in Seattle at age 41 on Jan. 12, 1914, two days shy of the 4th anniversary of The Seattle Daily Times article above.

As for Georgetown, it came to an end as an incorporated entity on Apr. 4, 1910, when it was annexed by Seattle.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Many Pacific Northwesterners recall the Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962 with the same vivid memories as we remember the Mount St. Helens eruptions of May 1980.

For those who were witness to the storm, it remains a terrifying testament to the destructive force of nature.  The storm that began in the deep western Pacific as a typhoon named “Freda” was ignored at the time by many meteorologists and media forecasters, due to insufficient data and reporting, until reports of grim marine weather conditions rolled in the morning of the 12th.

The peak wind measurements remain untouched in this region.  Speeds reached 160 mph in Naselle by the evening and were equally high elsewhere on the coast and inland.  When it finally subsided the toll was staggering.  This force of natural power claimed 46 lives and left millions without power across the region, from Ukiah, CA to Victoria, B.C.

The State Library commemorates the 50th Anniversary of this somber event by encouraging readers to learn more about Pacific Northwest Weather History and Forecasting with a newly created list of selected resources in the collection.  The library also has numerous state and federal resources on disaster preparedness and emergency response available for public use.  Please feel free to use the Ask-A-Librarian service for more information.

Note: for more images of the devastation, check out images housed at the State Archives, featured on From Our Corner, the Office of the Secretary of State blog. 

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

The Nov. 15, 1902 issue of The Spokane Press has a news account of a well known international con artist being arrested in Australia. The writer reminds the readers this criminal had made Spokane his home at one time:

  HE WAS A SOCIETY MAN IN SPOKANE

 Now Arrested in Australia—Wanted in Many Places for Similar Offences.

 “The following telegraphic dispatch from Chicago will be of interest to Spokane people, as the principal in the case was at one time the central figure in a marriage scandal case in this city.”

“That Arlington Buckingham Wadsworth created surprise, admiration and disgust by his actions here some years ago is still fresh in the memories of the people.”

“He came to the city as a wealthy business man and was soon recognized as such. He engaged in the real estate business, rode behind a span of fast horses hauling a fine English trap and was everywhere looked upon with envy.”

“Mr. Wadsworth was a great favorite with the ladies and his winning ways soon won for him admiration on every hand. In the ballroom, banquet halls and parlors he could be seen surrounded by a bevy of beautiful and wealthy ladies. He only associated, so far as the public knew, with the best people in the city.”

“In a due course of time it became known that he intended to wed a young lady of wealthy parents. The love match was not broken for some months until it leaked out that Mr. Wadsworth was an imposter of the rankest kind, but the information came too late, as the lovers were on their way to Chicago to be married. The young lady’s father made all possible haste to stop proceedings and did so at the last hour.”

“It soon afterwards became known that Arlington Buckingham Wadsworth was a man of many names and perhaps as many wives. He never afterwards appeared in Spokane social circles and the police state that he is wanted for bigamy in  several places.”

“In the following dispatch the name is changed to Arthur Bentley Worthington, but people who are familiar with the scandal created here state this is none other than Wadsworth.”

“CHICAGO, Nov. 15.–Arthur Bentley Worthington, leader of the Spiritualist movement known as the ‘Students of Truth,’ and one of the most famous all-around confidence men known in this country for the past 25 years, has been apprehended in Australia, on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses from a woman whom he induced to act as sort of a financial ‘angel’ for his movement in the Antipodes.”

“Nothing has been heard of Worthington in this country for a good many years, though the secret service authorities have been constantly on the lookout for him. His criminal record is a long one, and at different times in his varied career he has figured in the police annals of over a dozen states in this country from Maine to California. He has posed as a lawyer, banker, politician, real estate operator, spiritualist writer, mining speculator and organizer, and bigamy has been his most favorite role.”

“He was born in New York state, in 1847, his real name being Samuel Oakley Crawford. He enlisted in the Union army, in 1864, reappearing after the war was over as a temperance lecturer, studied law for a while, but, in 1867, he professed religion and preached as a Methodist minister in New Jersey. The next year he married, for the first time; his wife was one Josephine Ericson Moore. He deserted her and an infant daughter a year later. Soon after he turned up in Albany and buncoed a guileless farmer out of his hard-earned savings and was arrested and sentenced to the penitentiary for three years in 1870.”

“Four years later he married again in this city the daughter of a Boston clairvoyant. He deserted his second wife in a few weeks and before the year was over he married his third wife, the daughter of an Ohio judge, whose name he forged to a note for $3000.”

“He fled to Kansas City, where he lived for a short time under the name of Eugene Bonner, but got in trouble there in 1876 and went to Peoria, Ill. By this time the police in various parts of the country began to offer rewards for his arrest. Here wife No. 2 appeared, but he avoided her and fled to San Francisco. His marriage here to a wealthy widow, of whom he had borrowed $2000, was frustrated before the ceremony by a telegram exposing some of his operations in a matrimonial way.”

“By some hook or crook he managed to evade the officials of ‘Frisco and next turned up at Salt Lake City, where he became a Mormon, and is said to have preached in the temple. He got away from there with great expedition after borrowing $5000 from the all too trusting proselytes of Brigham Young, and Texas sheltered him next for a brief time.” “In 1878 he moved to Detroit, where he found a troupe of actors, and married a Miss Eliza Huntoon, under the name of Bannerton. Leaving the stage, he settled down in New Lisbon, Wis., where he practiced law, but soon tired of honest work. He borrowed several hundred dollars, forged a number of bonds and checks. He was caught and indicted, but his partner went his bail and the apostle took to traveling again, leaving wife No. 4 sadder and wiser.”

“The records show that he traveled through many states in 1882 and 1883 as an English tourist, cashing many worthless papers. Boston was his next home, where he again practice law, and lived in great style. He became acquainted there with a Mrs. John P. Sargent, a woman with a leaning toward spiritualism, and who had some money. He became an ardent spiritualist, and induced the woman to leave her husband and family and fly with him. The couple lived in Charleston, W.V., till Worthington had spent the woman’s money, and in 1886 the man disappeared altogether, though he had in the meantime swindled a Mr. Dana of Charlestown out of about $3000.”

“The advices received telling of his arrest in Melbourne last week show that he was up to his old tricks there and has at last fallen into the toils. After justice has been satisfied there he will be brought to this country to make amend for some of his many depredations.”

Wadsworth shows up in the 1887 Directory of the City of Spokane Falls as a resident of the Hyde Block. This three story building at 611 W. Riverside was ironically built by and named after Spokane’s first Chief of Police. It was destroyed in the 1889 Spokane fire.  A second and larger Hyde Block was constructed on the same spot.

He also appears to be a defendant in two cases cited in Frontier Justice having to do with nonpayment on loans 1887-1888, so it would seem the system was starting to close in on him before he fled Washington Territory.

Posing as General A.B. Ward, he worked with Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 presidential campaign. As Arthur Bently Worthington he moved to New Zealand and became a leader of religion he invented called, humorously enough, Students of Truth.

After spending seven years in an Australian prison, he returned to the United States and was back to his con games. Arrested again in January 1917, he spent the final year of his life in a New York State jail. He died December 14, 1917, supposedly while talking through the cell bars to his latest wife, who was either number 10 or 12, depending on the source.

Volume 8, October 11, 2012 for the WSL Updates mailing list

Topics include:

1) A MESSAGE FROM ACTING STATE LIBRARIAN, RAND SIMMONS

2) LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE 2013

3) ZINIO GROUP PURCHASE

4) 2013 TEEN VIDEO CHALLENGE

5) LOOKING FOR DATA ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH?

6) FREE CE OPPORTUNITIES NEXT WEEK

Read the rest of this entry »

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

The community of Burley was one of several utopian experiments that had an opportunity to root and briefly flourish in the frontier of Washington in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The story of Burley isn’t quite as filled with controversy and drama as the other collective communities such as the Puget Sound Co-Operative Colony, Equality, Freeland, and Home. Perhaps that makes the place worth a second look.

Burley was founded in 1898 by the Co-Operative Brotherhood, an offshoot of Eugene Debs’ Social Democracy of America. Although the Brotherhood had around 1200 members, only one-tenth of them actually resided in the colony, located at the northern tip of Henderson Bay in Kitsap County, between Gig Harbor and Port Orchard.

In an article for the Oct. 1902 issue of The Arena, W.E. Copeland included this description of Burley:

“About one hundred and twenty men, women and children are resident at Burley, all working except the children under fourteen. Here is a village, with no saloon, no sectarian church, no money, and no competitive stores, managed by the people themselves through a board of directors. Here is the beginning of a new civilization, free from the evils of old …”

“In Burley no wages are paid; the tools, the machines, the lands, the improvements, the cattle and horses, and the wealth produced belong to whole Brotherhood. Each family is allowed a house, not to be alienated while the family remains at Burley. Here is no anxiety about rent, about work for to-morrow, about sickness or old age, about the fate of the family when the breadwinner dies.”

“The property is held in trust by a board of twelve trustees, three of whom are elected annually by a vote of the whole membership. The work done is farming and manufacturing lumber, shingles, and cigars. Every one works who is able.”

Yes, you read that right. Cigars. Not only that, Burley had the largest cigar factory in the state and even had their own label and box. The tobacco was imported Kentucky Burley, hence the name of the community. It seems strange that a settlement with no saloons or gambling dens would not only produce cigars, but name the town after a tobacco. The other utopian collectives would gently chide Burley for this industry.

Burley also had a high quality print shop, and produced a newspaper. The Co-operator existed from 1898-1906. The following article, possibly written the same W.E. Copeland mentioned above, appeared in the issue for Sept. 29, 1900:

 BURLEY AND ITS LOCATION

 “Burley is the present headquarters of The Co-operative Brotherhood. It is a town not greatly different in appearance than villages of its size elsewhere, but the visitor on investigation bent will find that in this case it is true that appearances are deceitful. There are no diversities of interests in Burley such as are common in other places. The land and houses are collective property, and the industries are operated collectively for the common benefit. Burley is a prefiguration of the industrial community of the future. There are no grog shops in Burley, no low dance halls nor gambling dens to corrupt the morals of our youth. We have no prohibition law, nor do we need one. There is no demand for liquor, and there is no profit system to support its sale. The inhabitants of Burley lead healthy, natural lives, and do not crave the excitement which comes from stimulants.”

“Located on the west side of the sound, about fourteen miles from Tacoma, Burley is far enough removed from the busy marts of trade and the influences of the competitive system to secure the uninterrupted working out of its co-operative ideals, and at the same time it is near enough to the outside world to avoid the isolation that would prove undesirable in many ways. The town is most beautifully situated so far as natural conditions go. Located in a valley of surpassing richness, through which meanders a delightful stream of water, abounding in pools filled at all seasons with trout, it is an ideal place for a home. To the east and west of the valley rise bold hills, crowned with the eternal green of firs, and far away to the west beyond the hills rise the snowcapped Olympics, while to the east rise the cascades, with old Rainier standing as a giant sentinel over all. To the south stretches away the waters of the sound, that inland sea which has been aptly termed the Mediterranean of America, and which good judges have termed the most beautiful body of water on the globe. Here, amid the beauties of unsurpassed natural scenery, we have laid the foundation for a new civilization. We are working out our destiny as the pioneers of a new industrial system, and our children are growing up close to nature, leading simple, natural lives, and learning that lesson which is so essential for them to know– that the welfare of the individual is inseparably bound up in that of the community.”

But as it turned out, Burley could not economically sustain itself and eventually disbanded as an organized unit in 1912-1913. Burley continues to be on the map today. Chris Henry of the Kitsap Sun recently wrote a profile of the town and described the present-day area: “Today, Burley is a busy little bump in the road …”

An excellent history of Burley, and other Washington State collective settlements, can be found in Charles Pierce LeWarne’s Utopias on Puget Sound 1885-1915.

According to Brian Herbert in Dreamer of Dune : The Biography of Frank Herbert, the grandfather of the author of Dune was an early resident of Burley. Otto Herbert brought his family to area in 1905, at first settling just outside of the Brotherhood land, but eventually moving within the borders. Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma in 1920 and spent much of his childhood visiting Burley.

This map is from Plat book of Kitsap County, Washington, containing maps of villages, cities and townships of the County, including map of the State of Washington (1909) and shows downtown Burley, called “Circle City” by the residents as the buildings were arranged in a semicircle near an artesian well.