The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-05-12
FIRST WOMAN ON MOB HILL
Mrs. Hubbard Tells of demonstrating
i'm Early Days Before North
Yakima Had Been Located.

The distinction of being the first
white woman to live on Mob Hill,
! now so thickly settled and wealthy
district, belongs to Mrs. e. A. Hub
bard, or Grandma" Hubbard, as she
is affectionately called by friends and
ncighbors. 1t was Mrs. Hubbard's
! husband who was the prime mover
! in building the ditch, long known by
| his name. and now called the Cow
I iche and Naches ditch.
Mrs. Hubbard is Pennsylvania born
and has lived in seven states, but likes
Washington best of all. She was fifty
years old when she came to Yakima
and had experience in pioneering in
California and some of the middle
west states previously. California
did not please her at all and when an
acquaintance wrote to her husband
of the Yakima country, saying that it
/ looked good to him and that surveys
| for railroad had been made through
| the district, John Hubbard came up to
investigate, Mrs. Hubbard following
him two months later. Mr.. Hubbard
met her with team at The Dalles
|
ina in the approved method of old
| times, spending one night with some
| friendly Indians, the Scott and Sa-
luskin families, now prominent among
| the Yakimas.
People Laughed at Him.
| people here thought Mr. Hubbard
was very foolish" she said, when he
| !, homestead
Hill. 4 did think that man Hub
bard had some sense. but now l
know he hasn't said one early set
| tier who had chosen his home on the
| Ahtanum Our quarter section lay be-
tween the streets now known as the
cemetery road and the lower Mob Hill
road Ny husband soon sold eighty
acres to other settlers, but for awhile
I hadn't neighbor within calling dis
lance. and I was never a bit lonely
either"
At first the Hubbards were obliged
to haul water from the Ahtanum, but
as soon as they could get around to 1t,
thew put down a well, stricking water
at 35 feet, much to the surprise OF
their Old Town acquaintances, VINO
had all insisted that there was no
water on the hill without going 300
feet or so below the surface.
Beginning Hubbard Ditch.
Realizing, of course, that to make
the land productive water must be
brought to it, Mr.. Hubbard interested
several other men in his plan and
they set to work on a ditch which
should take its water from the Cow
iche. They We're late in getting to
work and as none of the promoters
had much capital, it was necessary
| to stop every little while and earn
bread and butter. Mr.. Hubbard, who
was a carpenter, worked at his trade
during the following winter, and in
the spring, continued the operations
or the ditch, though it was July be-
fore the water was finally brought
down to the Hubbard homestead.
Rabbits Ate First Garden.
The first garden ever set out on Mob
Hill met with sad fate. Mrs. Hub
bard had grown some cabbages and
other vegetables in the house and as
soon as water was in sight. set them
outdoors in small square of cleared
ground back of the house. Her hus-
band had been too busy yet to get
much of the land cleared. She
planted peas and they came up
promptly. Her cabbages We're -four
ishing and she was delighted with
the prospect of her home garden,
when. going out one morning to look
|
green thing there. The rabbits had