# History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana

THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT
VOLUME XXXI
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, IDAHO, AND MONTANA
1845-1889
SAN FRANCISCO
THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
1890
Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1890, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
All Rights Reserved.
PREFACE.
In my History of the Northwest Coast I have brought down the annals of Washington, Idaho, and Montana to the end of the fur company regime, in 1846, at which time the question of boundary between the possessions of Great Britain and those of the United States was determined, the subjects of the former power thereupon retiring from the banks of the Columbia northward beyond the line of latitude 49°. In the History of Oregon I have likewise given much of the early affairs of the territory treated of in this volume, that territory for a time being a part of Oregon; just as in the history of Washington much is given of the history of Idaho, and in the history of Idaho much of Montana.
Under the term Northwest Coast I originally included all that vast region of North America north of the 42d parallel and west of the Rocky Mountains, Alaska alone excepted. When, in 1846, the southern line of British Columbia was determined, all that remained was called Oregon. Later, from Oregon was set off Washington; from Washington was set off Idaho; and from Idaho, for the most part, was set off Montana. Thus for some part of the history of Montana we look to the annals of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Northwest Coast; for part ​of the history of Idaho we look to the annals of Washington and the rest; and for the history of Washington we must have also the histories of Oregon and the Northwest Coast. I have been thus explicit on this point, in order that the people of Washington, Idaho, and Montana might thoroughly understand how the histories of their respective sections are distributed in this series—histories which if segregated from the series and issued separately would each fill a space equal to two of my volumes.
There were those among the early pioneers who came to the Northwest Coast some who determined, while securing to themselves such homes as they might choose out of a broad expanse, to serve their government by taking possession of the territory north of the Columbia River, not as Vancouver had done fifty-seven years before, by stepping on shore to eat luncheon and recite some ceremonies to the winds, nor as Robert Gray had done, a few years later, by entering and naming the great River of the West after his ship; but by actual settlement and occupation. I need not repeat here the narrative of those bold measures by which these men of destiny achieved what they aimed at. I wish only to declare that they no more knew what was before them than did the first immigrants to the Willamette Valley. Nevertheless, it fell out that they had found one of the choicest portions of the great unknown northwest; with a value measured not alone by its fertile soil, but also by its w^onderful inland sea, with its saltwater canals branching off in all directions, deep, safe from storms, always open to navigation, abounding in ​fish, bordered many miles wide with the most magnificent forests on earth. It did not require the imagination of a poet to picture a glowing future for Puget Sound, albeit far away in the dim reaches of time. To be in some measure connected with that future, to lay ever so humbly the corner-stone, was worth all the toil and privation, the danger and the isolation, incident to its achievement.
Not only was there this inland sea, with its treasures inexhaustible of food for the world, and its fifteen hundred miles of shore covered with pine forests to the water's edge, but surrounding it were many small valleys of the richest soils, watered by streams fed by the pure snows of the Cascade and Coast ranges, half prairie and half forest, warm, sheltered from winds, enticing the weary pilgrim from the eastern side of the continent to rest in their calm solitudes. It was true that the native wild man still inhabited these valleys and roamed the encircling mountains, to the number of thirty thousand; but in so vast a country three times as many would have seemed few; and the incomers were the sons of sires who had met and subdued the savage tribes of America as they pushed their way westward from Plymouth Rock to the Missouri and beyond; therefore they had no hesitation now in settling in their midst. They had been bred to the belief that "the British and Indians" would melt before them.
CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
1845–1853.
PAGE
Attitude of the Hudson's Bay Company — Michael T. Simmons and Associates Proceed Northward — Settle at Budd Inlet — Puget Sound — Highlands — Tumwater — Bush Prairie — Chambers Prairie — Neah Bay — Marriages and Births — The Indians Pronounce against the White Man — Effect of California Gold Discovery — The Timber Trade — Towns Laid out — Whidbey Island Settled — Occupation of the Coast Country 1
CHAPTER II.
POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.
1845-1853.
Public Meetings — Settlers versus the Puget Sound Agricultural Com- pany — Representation in the Oregon Legislaiure — Movements toward the Foundation of the New Territory of Columbia — Memo- rial to Congress — If not a Territory, then a State — Queen Charlotte Island Expedition — The Oregon Legislature Petition Congress for a Division of Territory — Congress Grants the Petition — But instead of Columbia, the New Territory is Called Washington — Officers Ap- pointed — Roads Constructed — Immigration 39
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT.
1853-1855.
Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens — His Life and Character — Railroad Surveys — Political Parties — Election — First Legislative Assembly — Its Personnel and Acts — Early Newspapers — County Organizations — Federal Courts—Land Claims and Land Titles— Roads, Mails, and Express Companies — San Juan Island — Indian Troubles — Treaties
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN WARS.
1855-1856.
Causes of the Indian Outbreak— Discovery of Gold near Fort Colville — Yakimas Hostile — Expeditions of Major O. C Haller into the Snake and Yakima Countries — Yakima Campaign of 1855 — Movement of Troops on the Sound — Attack on Seattle — War Vessels on the Sound — Walla Walla Campaign of the Oregon Volunteers — Operations of the Second Oregon Regiment — Attack on the Cascades — Colonel Cornelius Returns to Portland 108
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN WARS.
1856-1858.
Action of the Governor — Disposition of Forces — New Battalions — Plan of Campaign — Battle of White River — On the Sound — Martial Law — Fighting at John Day River and Grand Rond — East of the Cas- cade Range — Stevens in the Hostile Country — Failure of his Council — Lechi's Betrayal, Arrest, Trials, and Execution — Assassination of Quiemuth — Termination of Hostilities on the Sound — Result — War Debt — Clarke and Wright's Campaign — Defeat of Steptoe — Battles of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains in the Yakima Country — Walla Walla Country Reopened 157
CHAPTER VI.
THROUGH FOUR ADMINISTRATIONS.
1855-1867.
Party Politics — Election of Delegate — Martial Law — Stevens Chosen Delegate — Death of Stevens — His Character — Governor McMullin — Fraser River Mining Excitement — Its Effect on Washington — Ser- vices of Secretary Mason — Governor Gholson — Henry M; McGill — The Capital Question — The University — Governor Wallace — Gover- nor Pickering — The Custom-house Controversy — Inundation of Port Angeles 201
CHAPTER VII.
MINING AND TOWN-MAKING.
1861-1863.
Organization of the First Washington Infantry— Companies from California—Gold Discoveries — Military Road— Fraser River Travel— Colville Mines— The Malheur Country— The Similkameen Mines- American Miners in British Columbia — Gold Discoveries on the Clearwater— On Snake River — Protest of the Nez Percys — Pierce City ​—Oro Fino — Lewiston — Very Rich Diggings — California Eclipsed —Salmon River Mines — Political Effect — Winter Sufferings — Powder and John Day Rivers — Florence and Warren Diggings — Boise Mines — Organization of the Territory of Idaho 227
CHAPTER VIII.
GOVERNMENT AND DEVELOPMENT.
1863-1886.
Effect of Territorial Division — Election of Delegate — Negro Suffrage — Party Politics — The Legislature — Peace and Progress — Steamboating — Navigation Companies — Clearing Rivers — Public Buildings — Insane Asylum and Penitentiary — Legislative Divorces — Government Reservations — Judicial Affairs — Another Delegate — Governor Flanders — Governor Salomon — Governor Ferry — Governor Newell — Era of Railways — More Elections — Political Platforms — Convention — Woman's Rights — Legislature 264
CHAPTER IX.
PROGRESS AND STATEHOOD.
Remarkable Growth of the Territory — Demand for Statehood — Enabling Act — State Convention — Character of the Delegates — Constitution Ratified — Waiting for a Proclamation — Meeting of First State Legislature — Character of Members — Unexpected Delay of the Presidential Proclamation — Election of Senators 301
HISTORY OF IDAHO.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL WEALTH.
Territorial Limits — The World's Wonder-land — Rivers, Mountains, and Valleys — Phenomenal Features — Lava-fields — Mineral Springs — Climate — Scores of Limpid Lakes — Origin of the Name 'Idaho' — Indifference of Early Immigrants — Natural Productions — Game — Food Supply — Fur-bearing Animals — First Mormon Settlement — County Divisions of Idaho as Part of Washington 393
CHAPTER II.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
1862-1866.
Mineral Discoveries — Counties and Towns — Immigration — Routes to the Mines — Indian Wars — Forts — Quartz- mining — Companies and Claims — More Town-building — Stage-roads — Sliding Clubs — Traffic and Travel — Oregon versus California — Mail Contracts — Prospecting and Mining— New Districts— Output of Precious Metals. 406 ​CHAPTER III.
POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
1863-1885.
PAGE
Governor Wallace — Territorial Organization— Judicial and Legislative Matters — Acting Governor Daniels — Governor Lyon — Secession Sentiments — Crimes and Punishments — The Magruder Massacre — Vigilance Committees — Political and Highway Robberies — Acting Governor Smith — The Capital Question — Legislatures — Character of Lyon — Acting Governor Howlett — Governor Ballard— Gibbs — Marston — Curtis — Bowen — Bennet — Judges — Governor Thompson — Brayman — Neil — Bunn — Politics — Territorial Limits — Federal and Territorial Officers 442
CHAPTER IV.
THREATENING ASPECT OF AFFAIRS.
1861-1874.
Tribal and Territorial Divisions of the Aborigines — Attitude of the Nez Percé Nation — Gold Discovery on the Nez Perce Reservation — Council at Lapwai — Terms of Treaty Disregarded by the White Men — Aboriginal Diplomacy — Big Thunder and the Missionaries — Terms of the New Treaty — Claim of Eagle-from-the-light — Speech of Lawyer — Conference with Joseph 481
CHAPTER V.
INDIAN WARS.
1874-1878.
March of the Cavalry — Attitude of Joseph — His Opinion of Indian Reservations — Indian Outbreaks — Military Companies in the Field — The Governors of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho — Battle of Cottonwood — Jealousies between Regulars and Volunteers — Battle of Clearwater — Flight of Joseph — Battle of Ruby Creek — On Snake Creek — Surrender of Joseph — Another Indian Treaty — Disaffection of the Bannacks — Further Fighting — End of Hostilities 497
CHAPTER VI.
NATURAL WEALTH.
1865-1885.
Mining Prosperity and Reverses— Early and Later Developments— The Several Gold and Silver Mining Districts — The Snake River Region —Production— Base Metals— Iron Veins— Salt— Sulphur— Soda- Mica — Stone — Agriculture— Soil— Grasses and Grazing — Forests-
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
IN THE
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, IDAHO, AND MONTANA
Absaraka, or Home of the Crows. Philadelphia, 1868.
Adams (W. L.), Oregon and the Pacific Coast. Boston, 1869; Portland, Oregon, 1873.
Albany (Or.), Register; State Rights Democrat.
Addey (Markfield), George Brinton McClellan, from Cadet to Major-general. New York, 1864.
Alameda Encinal.
Alvord (B. ), The Cause of Learning on the Pacific Coast, in Evans' Washington Territory. MS.
American Almanac. Boston and New York, 1830 et seq.
American Mining Index.
American Missionary. New York, 1862 et seq.
Anaheim (Cal.), Gazette.
Anderson (Alex. C), History of the Northwest Coast. MS
Angelo (C. Aubrey), Idaho. San Francisco, 1865
Antioch (Cal.), Ledger.
Applegate (Jesse), Views of Oregon History. MS.
Appleton (D. & Co.), Journal. New York, 1868 et seq.
Armstrong (A. N.), Oregon. Chicago, 1857.
Army and Navy Journal.
Ashland (Or.), Tidings.
Astoria (Or.), Astorian.
Atlantic Monthly. Boston, 1858 et seq.
Austin (Nev.), Reese River Reveille.
Bagley (V. I.), The San Juan Affair. MS.
Baker City (Or.), Reveille.
Balch (Wm R.), The Mines, Miners, etc., of the U. S. Philadelphia, 1882.
Ballou (Wm T.), Adventures. MS.
Bancroft (A. L.), Journey to Oregon in 1862. MS.
Bancroft (A. L. & Co.), Pacific Coast Guide. San Francisco, 1882.
Bancroft (Hubert H.), History of Oregon. San Francisco, 1886. 2 vols. Barkerville (B. C), Cariboo Sentinel.
Barnes (G. A.), Oregon and California. MS.
Barret (Leonard), Travels in British Columbia. London, 1862.
Barrows (William), Twelve Nights in a Hunter's Camp. Boston, 1869.