TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
In 1856 my parents moved to Olympia. When my baby was five
months old, I put it in a basket, hung it to the horn of my saddle and
went to Olympia to visit my parents. I rode to the half-way house
that day, riding slightly more than fifty miles. Next day I rode on
into Olympia, getting there in time for supper.
During the next few years I made frequent trips on horseback to
yisit my parents. There used to be a little trading post named Monticello
where we traded. Later Mr. Catlin started a store at Freeport.
I could paddle a canoe on the river or handle the oars in a rowboat
as well as any Indian. When my husband was away I could rustle the
meat on which we lived. I have shot bear, deer, and all sorts of smaller
game.
During the early days, I lived in tents, in log-pens, in cabins. The
modern mother would think before she would let her daughter move
out on a tract of timber, miles away from every other settler, where
she would have to kill the game, cook over a fireplace, take care of
the children, make soap, make clothes for the children, and where she
could not run into some handy store when she was out of supplies.
DANIEL W. BUSH
Cowlitz County •
We butchered our own meat in early days. In my father's day the
settlers went for weeks without flour, but in my time there was a mill
at Oak Point. vVe could always have plenty of game, as ducks and
geese were thick. Though there were thirteen of us children, we had
plenty of food always.
MRS. HANS WILLIAM LAND (MATILDA A. HOTALING)
Grant County
'J'he site for the new home was under the sheer cliff of the Coulee
wall. At that time what is now a treeless dune had pine trees to relieve
the glare of the sun. One by one the trees have been cut down
and now the onlY rest from the monotonY of the desert are the few
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pathetic trees which form clumps beside a spring or settler's well.
A spring and grove were on the land picked up by .Mr. Lange. The
logs to build the first house, which still stands, came from the ColuIIlbia
river. Furniture was home-made and the walls were covered with
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