The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1917-01-12
LOOKING BACKWARD.

LOOKING bACKWA8D.
Happenings When the Land Was
Young and Sparssly Settled.
(From the Loomis Prospector. jan
|uary IA, 1881
The Prospector contains long and
flowery write up Of the Wehe mining
properties, near Wehesville. where the
Wehe brothers, Of Milwaukee, for years
carried on very extensive prospecting.
and as a result of their work the hill
sides in the neighborhood Of the old
Wehesville postoffice is pock marked
with shafts, cuts and tunnels. In the
process of operations the operators un-
covered considerable mineral. some Of
which carried good values. but lack Of
Icapital initiated against carrying on
Exploration to point to settle for once
and for all the true extent and value
of the leads.
Albert Judd. q nine-year-old son Of
]. M. Judd. met with very severe and
painful accident last Thursday after
noon. The scholars are In the habit Of
coasting on the hill at the school house
during recess. At the time Of the acci-
dent young Judd was standing along
iside of the track. when sled loaded
with children struck him. knocking
him down and running over him. Both
bones of the right leg, just above the
ankle, were broken. An older brother
of the injured lad carried him to DR..
Webb's office, where the bones were
set. (Young Judd is now husky man,
and married, still living At Loomis.)
Sheriff Reid Is engaged in working
W some heavy cattle stealing cases
that promise to land those implicated
behind the bars. un those days the
cattle men of the county paid annual
tribute to the cattle rustler and 1t was
lalmost impossible to fix the guilt upon
any individual, and even II suspect
WAS arrested no matter what the evil
Idence a conviction was almost out of
the question. 1t used to be said that no
Jury of twelve men could be secured
in the county without some member
thereof being defiled with pitch, so
common was this crime Of cattle steal.
ling This charge may not have been al
together true, although the ramiaca-
|tions OF organized rustlers was 30 ex-
tended that men were included In the
ranks who were not suspected by their
|neighbors Gradually the cattle thief
was rooted out as the county settled
lup. and what was once such common
crime is now rarely committed.)
The steamboat does not now make
Irregular trips to Brewster. and what lit
lilo travel there Is at this season Of the
year goes out by the way of Coulee
City. (Oh ye pampered denizens Of this
upper country, with the advantages of
swift transportation, either by means
of the railroad or the almost equally
speedy automobile. can you realize
what the early settler Of this locality
went through in the way of hardships
in those days of long ago? Think what
la howl of protest you would put up If
called by business or any other ur-
Igency, you were compelled to make 8
"trip In winter weather requiring three
days travel in an open stage, the only
means of transportation in vogue
twenty years ago. To get to Spokane, a
|person left Oroville in the morning and
made Conconully that night The next
day he would face the chilly winds via
stage from Conconully to Brewster,
and long, tedious day it would be
The third day would be consumed in
travelling by the same means from
Brewster to Coulee City and the fourth
day by rail from Cousse City to Spo-
kane. Some waste cs ume combined
with much misery between the coll
and accommodations one had to put up
with. Yet the writer and many other
old settlers still living in the county
have made that trip many times. and
managed to extract a good deal of fun
out of the experience notwithstanding
the hardship. And by-the-way, one of
the stage drivers who guided the des-
tiny of a stage between Conconully
and Brewster for years, and always
got through safely and on time, is now
living in Oroville, and that individual
| is Jimmie Mckinley
G. X. Peters has had an offer to
make one of party Of twenty that
have chartered a schooner at Seattle
and equipped and provisioned it for
a two years prospecting cruise along
Uthn OF ~ A1ooko Ann1tvaA ho
believes this country good enough for
any man. (Mr. Peters soon afterwards
left the country good enough for any
man., and has since been making his
home in Wenatchee. The history of the
schooner excursion was never learn
Ied.)
VIM. Wentworth left for Los Angeles
california, Sunday. where he goes to
visit sister. If he Is successful in Sc
curing employment MIR. Wentworth
will make his future home in south
ern California. (Mr. Wentworth failed
in his mission so far as permanent
employment was concerned He re-
turned to Loomis, took up homestead
in Horse Springs coulee, where he
lived for number Of years. He then
went to the coast to make home and
in few years drifted back to Okla
nogan county, locating in Oroville.
where he still resides.)
w. H. Thompson. of Conconully, ye
genial hotel man, rustling merchant
and former published Of the Outlook,
was a visitor in town Monday. (Mr.
Thompson afterwards followed the
mining boom to Republic where he was
in the hotel business for years. His