The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-18

about where the New England aud Arlington
or eve ss % 81
&. Miles hardware store. The spot where the
old co3k house stood IL IN the Intersection o.
Mill snd COMMERCIAL streets: between the Col
man block and Gard Keilogg's drug store
Hiliory Butler and Bill Gillian had the
contract from Maynard and they brought the
logs to the mill by hand-rolied or carriei them
in with handspikes- ] warrant You II wal
harder work than Hillory or Bill has done for
many . day since. Afterwards Judge Phillips
who went into partnership With Dexter Horton
In the store. so out logs Tor me somewhere up
the bay. During the first five years after my
mill was started cattle teams for logging were
but few on toe Sound, and there were no steam
boats for towing RATS until ISIS. Capt. John 8.
Hills Ranger No. ., which he brought UP from
san Francisco, was the FIRST of the kind, and
George A. Megs' little tug Resoiute, which
blew up with Capt. Johnny Guindon and his
crew in iSoi, came on about the same time. A
great deal OF the earliest logging on the sound
was done exclusively by hand. the logs being
thrown into the water by haDdspikes and tOwed
to the mill on the tide by skiffs.
sin 1853 Hillory Butler took contract to get
me out logs at smiths cove. George T. Frye
was his teamster. In the fall of 1854 and spring
and summer OF 1855 Edward Hantofd Rud John
c. Holgate logged for me on their claims south
of the townsite, toward the head OF the bay. I.
d. Hinckley was their tesmster, also Jack Har-
vey. On one occasion when bringing In raft
to the mill, John lost a diary which he was
keeping picked 1t up on the beach. The last
entry it contained resd: June 8. 1850 Started
Win faII IOF lester IEiti. Ieit Ou iUtO LILO
water ! rericmber wrote right after-'and
drowned and returned the book. don't know
how soon a.terwsrd John learned from his own
diary OF his death by drowning. 80
1.-THE Indian war breaking out in the fall OF
So put a stop TO their logging operations, as OF
all the rest. The Indians killed or drove of all
the cattle hereabouts and burned the dwellings
OF HsnfOrd, III lgate aud B III on the borders OF
the town, besices destroying much other prop
erty throughout the country.
The logging outfits III those days were OF the
most primitive and meager description. Rats
were fastened together by ropes or light boom.
chains. Supplies of hardware and other neoes-
saries were brought up from San Francisco by
the lumber vessels on their return trips az Or
dered by the loggers. l remember on one occa-
sion Edmund Carr, John A. Strichier, z. MeNatt
and John Ross lost the product OF seasons la
Dor by their raft getting away from them aud
going 10 pieces while II transit between the mill
and the head OF the bay. Ny booming place
was on the north side of the mill along the
beach, where nav the foundations are going u D
Tor the okas & Sngcrmau, Gasch, Mehihorn u
Lewis brick blocks. There being no sufficient
breakwater tneceapou.s in those times. used
often TO lose great many logs as well es BOOM
chains and things by the rats being broken up
by storms.
"My mill, in the pioneer times before the In
dian war. furnished the chief resource of the
early citizens of the place for a Subsistence.
W hen there we've not enough white men to be
had for operating the mill. l employed Indians
and trained them TO do the work. George Frye
was my sawyer up to the time he took charge
d. W IL
route. My engineers at different times were I.
d. Hinckley, L. V. Wye4off, John J. Moss and
Douglass. Arthur A. Denny was screw-tender
III o ne mn ior quite "a while; D. =. Denny
prominent old settlers at some time or other
were employed in connection with the mill in
some capacity, either at logging OF as mill
hands. l loaded some lumber for China and
other foreign ports as well IS San Francisco"
Anecdotes about Mr.. Yesler's early days in
Seattle and his traits of character abounded
yesterday; in fact, it was difficult to speak to
an old settler in regard to his death without re-
ninding him Of some incident OF early history,
which he would Immediately relate. s. i.
Crawford recalled the following instance of his
generosity:
When Capt 2. J. Hatch began running the
steamer Fleetwood between here and Tacoma
he had hard struggle, having had two boats
burned on the Columbia river shortly before
Then the big companies began cutting rates and
made 1t very hct for him. Knowing this, Mr.
fesler said one day to George Foster, the
wharfpger.
Don't charge that little boat anything"
long as she remained on the run and he was
running the wharf she had no " Wharfage to pay
and got her water for nothing, as Mr.. Yesler had
water plant on the wharf and supplied her
with water.
lie was always very ready to answer inquiries
from intending settlers in the East; in tact, he
never left letter unanswered. Every week or
two he came to me and got a bundle of iitera-
who had written to him tor information.
AS illustrating his robust health in old age, j.
ID. Lowman says that when he and Mr. Yesler
went East on the trip regarding which the latter
wrote the letter 10 Mr.. Crawford published in
yesterdays Posr.INTELLIGENCER, they travelled
constantly for nine days and then had to lie
over day in Boston. They went about the
city all day, and in the evening Mr. bowman.
feeling rather tired, suggested retiring early
MI. legier X0iid hear nd inc al
that they go to a theater, which they did, the
old gentleman, who was then n years old,
showing no sign OF weariuess He remained
vigorous and active to within few months of
his death, for one day last fall he was seen to
climb into tree in his garden and set to work
saving of the dead limbs. A friend who was
passing asked him why he did not let some
other man do it. but he replied half iocularly:
SWELL. somebody has got to do it, and cannot
afford to hire man"
Charles Prosch remembers him in the very
early days and tells some stories which Mr.
Iesler greatly enjoyed relating. He said yester.
day:
In the early days there was only one preacner
In the town, Rev. Dsnie! Bagiey, who preached
In the old Brown church at the corner of Sec
ond aud Spring streets, and ne had a habit OF
praying for people by name who, he thought,
needed II. Mr.. aud Mrs. Yesler were Spiritual
lists. and did not go TO church, so that Mr.
Bagiey had an idea that they were rather a
God-fo!ssken couple There was also a widow
named McNatt, who had a bad reputation for
drinking and who was often seen about the
mill. This fact seems TO have caused them to
become associated together in the preacher s
mind, and at the end of service one Sunday
evening he stood up and said:
Brethren, let us pray for Henry L. Yesler
aud the widow McNatt"
This puzzled one of Arthur Deuny's boys,
and when he went home he asked his mother
II Mr.. ieser was s. very wicked man. Nobody
enjoyed telling this story more than Mr.. Yesier
himself.
Some months after the lynching of the three
muruerers on a scantliag hung between the
boughs OF the trees in front OF Nj. Yesler's old
house at the foot of James street, a stranger
asked him why the scantlng was allowed to re-
main there and why he did not eut the trees
down, as they recalled rather discreditaols
event. Mr.. Yesier answered:
'oh, mol Those trees never bore fruit but
e. 'X>>A>E