Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-05-14
Early Territorial History.
An Old Settler Of 1916 Gives Some Inter-
esting "Reminiscences.
Cor. Ledger.

In your issue of April 27.h, l
find an article headed d" First Saw
Mill in the Territory" in which the
old man referred TO makes slight
mistake as to dates. Being the party
who cut the first lumber and part
owner of the first saw mill on Puget
Sound, 1 claim the right to correct
the statements of the old man. The
following is correct history OF the
first efforts to establish the lumber
business on Puget Sound:
In the Spring of 1S4S company
was formed at Tumwater, Thurston
county, consisting of NJ. T. Simmons,
George Bush, Jesse Ferguson, Mr..
Carnafix, Jno. Kindred, Col. b. L.
Shaw, E. Sylvester, and A B. Rab-
beson, styled the Puget Sound Lum-
Der company. They purchased of
the Hudson Bay company a set of
mill irons, then at Vancouver, which
the latter company had shipped
from England, with the intention of
erecting mill at somo point upon
ting Columbia river, but they, believ-
ing it to be to their advantage, sold
the same to us for the sum of $500,
to be paid for in lumber delivered at
Fort Nisqually landing, at the rate
of SIG per thousand.
The mill was built in the fall and
winter of 184S, at the lower falls,
Tumwater, it was an old.fashioned
up-and-down saw, run by q futter
wheel, and cut from 200 to l 500
feet per day Of twelve hours. The
said mill was sold to Captain Clar-
once Crosby in the fall of 1S49.
The second mill was built upon
McAllister's creek, Nisqually bot
tom, in 1852. That year Nelson
Barnes, Ira Ward and Smith Hayes
built a saw mill at the upper falls,
Tumwater, and if remember Alright,
Ii. L. Yestler built his filst mill at
Seattle in the fall of said year or the
following Spring, then followed the
Segwaiichew mill, built by Thomp.
son g. Balch.
would say in this connection
that I remember very wildly the
trouble had to get room to move
on account of the Indians who focked
to the mill by hundreds, to behold
the wonders performed by the Bos-
ton man, who could by word ap-
parently make the saw move up aud
down, the log advance or recede at
will. -.-~.---------
I remember the second log that
was sawed. When I went to put it
upon the carriage, I requested the
Indians either to get out of the way
or to roll it upon the carriage them
selves, and as they desired to make
themselves useful, ten of them at.
tempted it, but failed. When l
picked up the cant-dog and turned
the log without help they were aston
ished at my remarkable strength.
and when 1 proposed to pick one of
them up and throw him from the
mill to the other side of the river, he
declined the experiment, having no
doubt that 1 could do it, (hey now
know better the power of the can't
dog).
The first grist or Touring mill was
built at Upper Tumwater falls in
1S47 by Simmons & Kindred. The
stones used were cut out of n granite
rock found upon the beach of Budd's &
inlet. A. B. RABBEsoN.
Olympia, April. % 1886.
WHEN THE PUGET SOUND MAIL WAS CAR
RIED IN A MANS POCKET.
I take great pleasure in an occa
sional trip about the Sound, there
by taking in the great changes which
are constantly going on in our Ter