Told by the Pioneers - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
In order that it might be preserved, since its fine red cedar was yet
in excellent condition, the old flag pole was taken down in the autumn
of 1935 and moved to CCC Camp Cape George. Several months were
spent in removing the leaden pellets, plugging the holes with putty,
and finishing it as of old. On May 3, with fitting military ceremonies
participated in by a Coast Guard battery from Fort "Torden, the old
flag' pole, re-erected with its butt in ten feet of solid concrete, was rededicated.
And after 41 years of idleness, it again flaunted the Stars
and Stripes to the breeze.
LORES BINGJIAJI HASTIXG8
Son of the First White Woman to Settle at Port Townsend
.Jefferson County •
Loren Bingham Hastings, president of the American Tugboat Company
of Port Townsend, is a representative of one of the oldest families
of this city, where his birth occurred on July 18, 1853. His
father, Loren Brown Hastings, born in 'Waterford, Vermont, removed
at the age of 21 to southern Illinois, teaching school at LaHarpe. He
afterward engaged in merchandising and in the operation of woolen
mills. In the spring of 1847, he left Illinois and crossed the plains
with ox teams to Oregon, where he arrived after six months of travel.
Many hardships were endured on this journe~', hut no difficulties
were had 'with hostile Indians.
'1'11e elder Hastings first located at Portland alld was one of the
first members of the city council there. In 1849 he engaged ill merchandising
and mining in California, where he prospered. In the fall
of 1851, after having spent some time ag'ain in Portland, accompanied
by F. 'V. Pettygrove, he came to the Puget Sound country, on a tour
of inspection. He stopped at Port Townsend and at the site of the
present town he met two young men-Charles Batchelder and A. A.
Plummer. He afterward made an overland trip to Portland, bought
the schooner 1IIar~' Ta~-lor, shipped a crew and brought a number of
families, including his own, to Port Townsend. Others in the passenger
list were the Sheltons, Tallentyres and Pett~-groves. Mr. Hastings
thus became the principal founder of the town, where he arrived
with his schooner on February 21, 1852. The families accompanying
him established homes here and thus began the little settlement that
has developed into a thriving small city.
~Ir. Hastings engaged in merchandising, and later served as county
commissioner, county treasurer, judge, ma~'or of the city and also as
a member of the territorial legislature.
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