Told by the Pioneers - Washington Secretary of State

Told
by the Pioneers
whistle and, of course, The Old Settler had to answer and The Capitol
would beat her into port.
In the very early days, they had their dances in Gallagher's Hotel
on Second and Main Streets and the ladies took their babies and put
them to sleep in the dressing room. When I read "The Virginian"
many years afterward, I thought of the Olympia Pioneers, but fortu~
nately, there was no "Virginian" to mix the babies up. My mother
took me only once, for I was naughty and would not sleep as the other
babies did.
I remember a building on :Main Street with a green baize door with
the name" Pray" in big letters made with brass headed nails. I used
to wonder what was behind that pretty green door. I found out later
that it was a saloon owned by a man named'Jim Pray' and I thought
how funny that a man with such a good name should keep a saloon.
He really was a very good man, though, and did many kindnesses to
poor people. Rig'ht next to the saloon was the bank, owned by George
Barnes. The bank and the city jail were the only brick buildings in
town. All of the stores were on Main Street between Fifth and First
Streets and the people lived, for the most part, over the stores. There
were a few one-story houses and now and then a palatial two-story
one. The Indians came in to town on Saturdays and many a time I
have seen them sitting on the sidewalk at Fourth and Main Streets for
half a block on each street. A great many of them had huts or camps
on the West Side across Marshville bridge and they brought oysters,
clams, fish and blackberries in the summer and traded them to the
women, for old clothes mostly. They would put on several dresses
and even hats over each other if they were fortunate enough to get
that many. "Old Betsy" was a familiar figure for many years and
her daughter Julia was quite a character. She could speak some English
and could swear with perfect ease, and I am sorry to say she im~
bibed quite freely. When the Salvation Army first came to Olympia,
Julia followed them around and would stop every now and then and
beckon to groups of men and call "Come all you pellas, come along to
Jesus." I think the Salvation Army was glad when the novelty wore
off.
Ten cents was the smallest coin we had here when I was a little girl.
I don't remember when we first had nickels. One small orange was
ten cents and we divided it among several children.
All the churches had (and still have) bells and when they rang Sunday
morning and evening, they sounded so wonderful that it made us
all want to go to church. You see, everyone went to church then. There
were no automobiles, no golf or tennis, no theaters on Sundays, nor
very often on other days, either, and no movies.
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