Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-06-05
PIONEER HISTORY.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF PUGET
SOUND.
From Pathfinder of 1854. the Late An
drew ] Chambers

early history of our commonwealth
which becomes more valuable as tn,
years roll by, we reprint from tn,
C"iirgc Miepenient of 1904-5, a serie:
of articles of which the first two
describe the journey across tn,
plains, to be followed by two other,
which detail some incidents connect
ed with the Indian war of 1856:
PART V.
That which took part on Chambers
Prairie the latter part of August and
September. 1850, decided the settlers
to build place of refuge in case the
Indians should attempt to execute their
threats. Their mode of warfare was
to attack the settlers at night, to
plunder, and. if possible. to extermi.
nate the whites. Among many of the
scares We had was one when John
Chambers. who understood the Indian
language well. overheard "Old Ben
twhO had told him he had come to
live and die with him), say, Little
Jonn knew when he sold me this
knife (at the same time smoothing
the blade). that would kill him with
it." He did not know that John was
within hearing. This so frightened
John and William Elders that they
came to my house without their guns
| heard the click of the gate, and
sprang for my rifle. my only thought
being ''Indians!" They hurried out of
sight. fearing | would shoot them.
knowing my watchfulness for Indians.
| sent them back for their firearms.
On their return We moulded bullets
all night.
General Stevens was making treat
les with the Indians that spring and a
short time after treating with the In
dians west Of the mountains, he and
his party went east of the mountains
to treat with Indians there. At this
time report was started among the
Nesqualies and the "BOstons" (that
was the name they called the Ameri.
cans; the Hudson Bay Company and
their servants. they called the King
George mem, were laying plans to col
lect all the Indians together, and take
them Ill large ship to a country
where it was always night. A great
many of the Indians came to me to
learn whether this report was true. II
was hard to talk them out of the false
notion and to get them to name the
parties that had told them this tale.
1t was always they" but no definite
person or persons. The young Indian
that was working for me came out and
said the klickitats were coming over
to this side of the mountain and
| would kill all the 'Bos tons" He
wanted Mrs. Chambers and ME to 60
to Fort NesQually. He said it was
safe there. because this tribe would
not hurt the King George men.
went to the settlers on the prairie,
and we called meeting the next day
We decided to build a stockade around
a large barn | had put up that sum-
mer. This barn still stands here on
my place. The shed part and stockade
were long since torn away. The set
tiers came in force, and in seven or
eight days We had a stOckade 100 feet
square and 16 feet high, with guard
houses at the opposite corners. 1t
was built of fir logs is feet long and
from 10 to II inches in diameter.
These logs were set just as close to-
gether as they could be. straight up
and down in a trench three feet deep.
Each family as it came in took a
| certain portion of the barn and shed.
that extended around the barn. They
partitiOned off kitchens under this
shed with lumber | had on the place.
There were 32 families sheltered here
at one time and We had just hauled
the crop into the barn, too. AS near
as Mrs. Chambers and can recall the
names of those who were in the fort
with us, the list is as follows:
Mr.. and Mrs. Ike Hayes, Mr.. and
Mrs. John Hayes, Mr. and Mrs. Charlie
Eaton. Mr.. and Mrs. Marcus Mcmillan,
Mr.. and Mrs. William Yeager, Mr.. and
Mrs. William White, Mr.. and Mrs.
Tyrus Hines, Mr.. and Mrs. Captain
Tyrill, Mr.. and Mrs. James Phillips.
MIR. and Mrs. Stephen Ruddell, Mr.. and
Mrs. James Patterson, Mr.. and Mrs.
Archibald Mcmillan, Mr.. and Mrs. A.
w. Stewart, Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas J
Chambers, Mr.. and MIS-. David J.
Chambers, Mr.. and Mrs. Sam Wilson.
MIR. and Mrs. Spurgeon. Mr.. and Mrs.
Stephen Guthrie, Mr.. and Mrs. Abiiah
O'Neil, Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Conner.
Mr.. and Mrs. Joe Bunton, and Mrs.
James McAllister and family.
The single men were as follows:
Mr.. Maynard, Nathan Eaton, George
McAllister. William Ruddell, William
White. ROLAND Wood, John Chambers,
McLain Chambers, Henry Parsons.
Joe White, Columbus White, Milton
White, L. D. Barnard. Jonathan Prince.
Levi Prince. Joseph Deaves, Joseph
Guthrie, Sanford Guthrie William Pat.
terson. Nathan Patterson, Charles Pat.
terson, John Patterson and James
Burnes.
While we were at work on the stock.
ade "Old Nannyumpkin," or "Stahi."
used to come out on the prairie and
watch us building. think our making
this stockade was the only thing that