The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-11-28
KELLOGG AND BROWNE IN
CHENEY COUNTY SEAT FIGHT
Men Well Known in This City Prominent in Battle Be-
tween Spokane and Cheney for County Seat Honors
of New County of Spokane = Kellogg Started Paper
at Cheney.

County seat fights in the early
days in Washington territory and
later in Washington state were very
common and oftimes very bitter.
l.. E. Kellogg, now resident of Mil
lerdale, was quite a prominent fig
ure in the bitter fight which waged
between Spokane and Cheney for the
county seat honors of the new coun-
ty of Spokane. J. ]. Browne was
also prominent in the contest. La
ter on after the settlement of the
trouble between Cheney and Spokane.
kellogg moved to Douglas county,
where he was mixed up somewhat in
the fight which secured the county
seat of Douglas county for Water
vile.
The old fight between Cheney and
Spokane will be remembered here
by many of the old timers. How
Cheney carried off the county seat
while Spokane danced" was the sub
ject of an illustrated story in the
Sunday Spokesman-Review and men
ton is made of the part Kellogg and
Browne played in this drama of the
early day as follows:
Spokane Boosters We're Early Oh the
Job.
Several settlers, then present, were
personally interested in seeing that
the county seat be located at SpO-
kane Falls, because they had come
to say and their future was unrolled
in the form of the valley, rocks and
hills hercabOut Glover was pro-
supported by A M. Cannon, Dan
Drumheller, J. J. Browne, Judge L.
3. Nash, Colonel D. P. Jenkine, Sam
uel Hyde and one or two others.
They had strong argument in the
fact that this point furnished the
only probability of securing a jury
without several weeks hard riding
through the brush. There was no
absolute certainty of it, but the pos
sibility could not be entirely re-
futed.
Against this bLlwark the recently
arrived town of Cheney hurled its
claims. Cheney was favored of the
Northern Pacific railroad; was, in
fact, christened after one of the Nor
thern Pacific directors. and in one
way and another developed ominous
symptoms. Also it had it's frieni is
out around in the remote sagebrush.
M. NJ. Cowlcy, one of Spokane's pio-
neer standbys, lived up 1T Cowley's
bridge then and was a Cheney par
tisan.
That campaign is mentioned in
Washington history as one of the
most vivid of its kind in the north
west and there was reason for it.
The Northern Pacific had taken
new lease of life, following Jay
Cookies misfortune. The railroad
was coming and possession of the
courthouse for county the size of
an overgrown state doomed big as
civic asset. Francis H. Cook had
opened journalistic fire here with
the Spokane Times, after riding all
the way from Tacoma on horseback,
and Cannon had started the first
bank The county seat was regard
ed as the natural complement to all
these municipal attributes.
Cowboys Carried Cheney's Cause Far
and Wide.
But Cheney got perniciously busy.
L. E. Kellogg, now in the land Of
flee at Watcrville, started a rival
newspaper down there under the
weighty title of the Northwest Tri-
bune. He set up his press under
tree and a bunch of cowboys rode
far and. wide distributing the Trib-
unes broadsides as they were let
loose.
Spokane took note of this in the
meanwhile, and Dan Drumheller
went forth as scout to learn what
was happening. He came back to
the falls with the significant report
that "even the darned Indians were
absorbed with the Tribune's argu-
ments in favor of Cheney and the
jackrabbits also appeared to be sus-
piciously interested. Spokane's case
began to look somewhat desperate.
The election was held in Novem-
Der, 1880, without unusual casual
ties and the following officers elect
ed:
Michael Sullivan, sheriff; Samuel
Hyde, prosecuting attorney; A. M.
Cannon, treasurer; w. H. Bishop.
auditor; Avery A. Smith, probate
Judge; Jerry Rockhold, surveyor;
Thomas Jennings, John Roberts and
man named Bacon, commissioners.
The county seat location was held to
be in doubt The vote was canvass
ed in Spokane, of course, and a very
painstaking canvassing board it was.
On their face the returns showed that
Cheney had won by IA majority
But grave irregularities Immediately
developed in the balloting. In one
precinct the Judge, lacking anybody
else handy to do the job, had sworn
himself in. In another the polling
officers had used longhand where
they should have used figures, and in
still another they had used figures
where they should have used long
hand. These were errors that re-
uuired much conscientious industry
to rectify, but the work was done
and when the tota! count had been