Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-05-29
PIONEER HISTORY.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF PUGET
SOUND.
From Pathfinder of 1854. the Late An
drew j. Chambers

drew j. Chambers.
As anything relating TO early pio-
ncrr history has an absorbing inter-
est tor old-timcrs" as well as new
comcrs, and thorough dissemination
serves TO place in available form the
early history of our commonwealth,
which becomes more valuable as the
years roll by, we reprint from the
CoIicge Mdcpe"dcm of l904-5, series
of articles of which the first two
describe the journey across the
plains, to be followed by two others
which detail some incidents connect
ed with the Indian war of 1896:
PART Ill
Early in the fall of 1917 we hired
two boats of DR.. McLarEhlin, and
four Kanaka boatmen. We loaded our
effects. wagons, oX-yokes. and bedding
on the boats at Oregon City. We went
down the Willamette to the Columbia
River. down the Columbia to the
mouth of the Cowlitz. and up the Cow
ltz to Cowlitz Landing-thirty miles
1t was fine boating until we came
to the rapids on the COwlitZ river
There il was hard work and slow trav-
cling. We had to use the tow line
great deal and go from one side of the
| river to the other to take advantage
of the eddies and shallow water, so
that We could use the long poles to
push the boats up stream. Our boats
were heavily laden and for about fif-
teen miles, we used the poles and tow
line. the water being too swift to use
the oars.
There was great quantity of sal
mon in the river We had all that we
wanted and cooked it Indian fashion.
This was, to dress the fish. run
stick through 1t and place the stick in
the ground close to the fire, and, as
the fish cooked, turn it so that it would
bake evenly. We always left the scales
on until it was cooked. After working
| hard all day, it was fine-we thought
delicious.
We arrived at Cowlitz Landing
after twenty days of travel. the, only
accident on the trip being the loss of
rifle, a considerable loss in those
days, too.
In making this trip to Cowlitz Land
ing, We started the hands with the
stock. horses and cattle, to cross the
Columbia. All were ferried over at
Fort Vancouver, then they were driven
down the river to Lewis River. where
they were ferried over this stream,
following down the Columbia to the
mouth of Cowlitz River. They were
driven up the Cowlitz and swan the
South Fork. When they reached
to the north side of the river and
waited for the boats. This landing is
at the lower end of Cowlitz prairie.
This prairie was settled by the Ca
madam French and it is fine farming
country. The Hudson Bay Company
and the Catholic Mission each had fine
farms there. We rented twenty acres
of land from the Catholic Mission and
twenty acres from John r. Jackson
and put in a crop of winter wheat.
When the crop was in We left the
stock needed to haul our wagons to the
prairie (Chambers) which we had Sc
lected for our future home, and
started to drive the remainder of the
stock through. We drove them over
Mud Mountain. or Mud Hill-all Of
the first settlers travelled this way. and
We crossed the Deschutes about two
miles above Tumwater There was an
Indian trail from Bush Prairie to
Chambers Prairie.
Then we went back to Sanders Bot
tom and completed the wagon road
around Mud Mountain. This hill is
east of Chehalis There was one family
living there at that time. We pros
pected and blazed out road We
| lOQuu tlCCc tuC DdHh VI TIC Clcth
that suited us for making bridge
We built the bridge and cut out the
wagon road through Sanders Bottom,
a distance of three miles. The creek S
source was from Mud Mountain and
the banks were steep and muddy and
could not be crossed without a bridge.
We then came to New Market, one of
the first settlements at Tumwater.
The men of this settlement turned out
and all helped to cut out wagon
road to Chambers Prairie, a distance
of three and a half miles. The old
settlers here were glad to see new
cOmers and they were ready and will
ing to help us. What they had they
were willing to share with us. They
were much pleased when they learned
that we had sieve wire. for they had
no bOlting cloth for their small grist
mill. They thought it fine thing to
have sieve wire, so that they could
take the coarse bran out of their flour
On the prairie we built log house
Of two rooms; the smaller one We used
for kitchen and the larger room was
curtained off into bed rooms. We then
went for the family and brought them
over. We stopped few days with
Mr.. Simmons family.
We crossed our wagons on boats,
when the tide was in, below the lower
falls of the Deschutes, near where the
old Biles house stands When the
tide was out We drove our work cattle
across Budd's Inlet. and then drove
out five miles to our future home. The
fifteenth day of December. 1S47. we
took our first dinner at our home on
Chambers Prairie.