TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State
TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State
TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State
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Told <strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pioneers<br />
and happened to spy a couple <strong>of</strong> small smooth rocks. He loaded his<br />
gun and rammed <strong>the</strong> rocks down on <strong>the</strong> powder and shot at <strong>the</strong> bear,<br />
which tumbled down as dead as a mackerel. He had 30 ducks and a<br />
bear, even though he didn't have any lead left for <strong>the</strong> larger game.<br />
HENRY C. GODLOVE<br />
Douglas County<br />
The 80's were restless times in <strong>the</strong> middle west. There was still<br />
plenty <strong>of</strong> room <strong>the</strong>re, but all our lives we had been hearing tales <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> far west, beyond <strong>the</strong> Rockies. I think many <strong>of</strong> us were tired <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
flat country and <strong>the</strong> short grass <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prairies and plains.<br />
Out <strong>the</strong>re were mountains, lakes, forests. There were mines, rich<br />
farming lands, so many ways <strong>of</strong> making a fortune. In 1883 I was living<br />
in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, where I was born, when a party<br />
<strong>of</strong> men were leaving for <strong>the</strong> Black Hills to mine.<br />
I knew a man in Ellensburg, ·<strong>Washington</strong> Territory, and decided to<br />
visit him, traveling part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> way with <strong>the</strong> party bound for <strong>the</strong><br />
Black Hills. When I reached The Dalles, Oregon, I boarded <strong>the</strong> stage<br />
for Ellensburg.<br />
It was in April and <strong>the</strong> road over <strong>the</strong> Simcoe Hills was in bad shape.<br />
I walked most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> way, finally reaching my destination, where I<br />
filed on a homestead in what was soon to become Kittitas County. I<br />
•<br />
didn't prove up on this land, but crossed <strong>the</strong> Columbia in 1885 and<br />
filed on a timber tract east <strong>of</strong> Moses Coulee in Douglas County. :My<br />
home was at Palisades, where I bought railroad land and raised stock.<br />
I had brought a few cattle over from Ellensburg, swimming <strong>the</strong>m<br />
across <strong>the</strong> Columbia river. There was no ferry at <strong>the</strong> crossing, but<br />
Indians paddled us across in <strong>the</strong>ir canoes.<br />
Douglas County was organized in 1883 and <strong>the</strong>re was one settlement<br />
at Okanogan, <strong>the</strong> county seat. In locating this town, <strong>the</strong> founders<br />
omitted <strong>the</strong> most important detail water. There was no "vater <strong>the</strong>re,<br />
and no matter how deep <strong>the</strong>y dug or bored, <strong>the</strong>y never reached water.<br />
There was a good well on a ranch a few miles from <strong>the</strong>re and <strong>the</strong><br />
ranchers coming' <strong>the</strong>re for water, named <strong>the</strong> place"Waterville." It<br />
seemed <strong>the</strong> logical place for a town and <strong>the</strong> man who owned <strong>the</strong> ranch,<br />
A. T. Green, released forty acres to <strong>the</strong> government to be platted for<br />
a government townsite, since <strong>the</strong> land had not been surveyed. That<br />
was quite a drawing card and drew <strong>the</strong> countv seat awav from Okan-<br />
• •<br />
ogan in 1886, leaving <strong>the</strong> town <strong>of</strong> Okanogan "high and dry" to <strong>the</strong><br />
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