The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-27

others who might be mentioned, the segre-
gation OF Washington territory from
oregon and creation of our territorial
government, in 1853; the Indian war of
1906 and thousand and one events lead
ing up to the sixties" would furnish
material for dozen addresses of ordinary
iehgln, and would call up names and cir
TEuinstahces familiar to many persons still
wing. 1t Is not the object of this paper,
nomeVer, TO enlarge upon any of these, but
astner 10 discuss few facts and features
J i. pa9hser life and experience during the
ueCaue between 1860 and 1870.
| Oh the 18th day of Nav, 1850. the Weir
n aaaany landed in Port Townsend from the
oIo steamer Panama, having made the
ZIP from Los Angeles county, Cal, to San
IIahcisco IN the steamer Arizona, and
.nence to Puget sound via Portland, Or,
=; - ,ae fanama. Father had come north
IN 1000, attracted by the Fraser river gold
e1cltement, and had crossed to the Ameri-
IAN size from Victoria in company with
yoseph A. Merrill, A. Colby and 6. Col
rns. They purchased a whaleboat. and
lor Tune killed deer on San Juan island
LOT the victoria market. Being caught
Out IN gale III the Straits of Fuca on one
occasion and having to steer for the
american shore. they landed at Dun
geness, IN Clallam county, and liked the
appearance of the country SO well that
they concluded to settle there.
arriving at Port Townsend, we were
quite sure we had found what Frank
Henry has so aptly termed the "end of
tne lumping-of place" We put up at the
Ola Pioneer hotel, then run by Captain
III. l.. Ilobals. 1t was not an aristocratic
place, and would hardly have passed
muster among the later and more fashion,
aoIe resorts, but the grub" was whole
some and plentiful, and the welcome of
the people was hearty and spontaneous.
Harry Ilbbals, the present mayor of Port
townsend, was curly-headed baby. the
PRIDE OF his daddy, and remember / con-
cluded at once that could lick him with
out nan trying. Its largest mercantile
estaplsnment was that of ID. C.. II. Roths-
child, who called his place the Kentucky
store, and who furnished goods to the re-
TAI dealers OF little village called Seattle.
where Henry l.. Yesler and the Denpys
and few others were braveIy trying to
tronsform logging camp into a town.
Tacoma had not yet been thought of, and
JUS present site was as wild and uninviting
as any other part of this land in its print
tive condition. Baron Rothschild shared
the business of Port Townsend with L. B.
Hastings, o. +. Gerrish, E. S. Fowler and
r. W. James. who each had store there.
buikeiey's lewelry store and the drug
store afterwards purchased by DIR. n. D.
Hill and about a dozen saloons. made IN
pretty much all there was of the business
part OF the town. DR.. O'Brien and DR..
McCurdy represented the medical pro-
iesslon, as did also DR.. L. De B. Kuhn, now
OF Brooklyn, N. Y, who was the govern
ment physician at Port Townsend. Charley
Bartlett, who came in 1864 and opened
store. was looked upon as a very enterpris-
ing ankee from Maine. Charley Eisen-
bels, who was clerking for Z. S. Fowler IN
the Pioneer bakery, and who afterwards
bought 1t out and set up in business for
himself, was beardless young man of
mo hf1t nalh nt. H.
as right smart German chap who
"knowed how to git along in the world"
He is today perhaps the wealthiest man in
Port Townsend
The Hastingses, Pettygroves, Plum
mers, CHngers, Briggses, Fowlers, O'Briens
and others had already been citizens long
enough to be looked up to reverently as
old settlers. The Indian war of SO had
become memory with its narrowing ex-
periences. Victor Smith was soon after
appointed collector of customs and the
exciting events attending the removal of
the custom-house to Port Angeles fol-
lowed. The old steamer Beaver was still
about the best that British Columbia could
do in the steamboat line, while the Eliza
Anderson was enjoying monopoly of the
Puget sound trade, and was earning the
barrel of money with which her owner,
Captain Finch, retired a few years after
ward Messrs. Bishop, Eldrdge and Rob-
valley and We're away out on the very
ragged edge of civilization.
Major Van Bokkelen was holding one of
| the half dozen Jefferson county Offices in
which he took turns for several years.
The newspaper field in Port Townsend
had been invaded by Mr.. Whitaker, father
of Mrs. Al Bartlett, now OF that city, and
by Rev. John f. Damon, now of Seattle,
and was subsequently occupied by Harry
Sutton and by Alfred b. Pettygrove and
by C. w. Philbrick, and afterward for
twelve years by the undersigned, and later
by numerous ambitions "ink-slingers,"
who waded in for glory, profit, politics,
fame, satisfaction, revenge, bread and but
ter and the various other rewards that
sometimes follow in the wake of literary
ventures. Judge Swans nimble pen
had, in sixty" scratched like
sixty to the edifcation of the read.
ing public. Those were the days of
the old Olympia Rerieec, published by
L. Z. Hicks, followed by John Miller
Murphy's Standard (which still fiourishes),
and one or two other newspaper ventures
north of the Columbia river. Dave Sires
and Captain Selden were familiar figures
on the Port Townsend "oeach" in those
days. Ben Pettygrove was lank "kid"
with notion to play the fiddle.
Port Townsend in those days had been
something of though" itself. One of its
pecularities was afterwards described at
temperance meeting, where 1T Vas SOL
EMMY declared that in digging on the
-and spit you could smell whisky for ten
feet below the surface. Rev. ]. F. Devore,
a iine-looking young Methodist presiding
elder had visited Port Townsend for the
purpose of establishing a preaching point
in that part of his district. The novelty
of a real live Methodist preacher in
town dad aroused eyerybody's curiosity.
1t was an unusually quiet Sabbath morn
ing. For a wonder there had been no
imam for breakfast" for two or three days.
Still. there was little ''game" going on
in the principal saloon. Not being able to
meet the crowd anywhere else, Elder De-
wore walked in and became spectator.
Improving his opportunity while the
cards were being shutfied, he introduced
himself and expressed desire to hold
services in the county courthouse,
wooden shack then grazing Water street
down near Ciinger's. John Quail, prop
erIy known as Poker Jack, reached over
and swept his coin and poker chips into his
rocket with one hand and picked up the
cards in the other, saying, Come boys.
And the entire outfit adjourned to hear
the new preacher. What is more, Poker
lack took up liberal collection at the
close of the sermon. Poker Jack finally
met his death from knife wound, but ne
wasn't taking up q collection IN church
when it happened. 1t were hardly base
tlatterv to say that Port Townsend has
come I'D several notches since Snch
scenes as the shooting OF Charley do"afd
on Union wharf by Harry sutton, or me
numerous shooting or cutting scrapeS lha'
used to occur. are no longer common.
In lStO Port Townsend boasted popu-
lation of about three hundred, anu the
not+,-,-o,-a opd HASTINGS residences IN the