The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1921-11-17

l, 1853, | landed in Portland, then a
struggling village of four hundred,
from off the memorable trip over the
Oregon Trail, l climbed the steep
bank of the Willamette with my sick
wife in my arms. while friend car
ried the sick baby, to shelter, small
wonder if spirit of depression seized
me as if in an iron grip To later in
tensify this feeling and add to the dis
couragement, soon after deep snow
fell to dispel our dream of an ideal
climate, increased our discomfort and
caused loss to us of our faithful cat
tie save one yoke of oxen. But shell
ter we must have. A cabin was built
nearly where the Northern Pacific Ka-
lama passenger depot now stands and
pioneer life began.
Citizens Of Washington.
One day in March (1853) news came
to us in the cabin that we were no
longer living in Oregon; that congress
had, on March 2, created a new ter
ritory and named it Washington and
so here we were. without any act on
our part. in at the beginning of a new
commonwealth; one of the founders
of a future state and, as l write, with
in month of my ninety-first birthday,
the only one left of the adults of that
generation then within the bounds of
the new territory, and, | may add,
have remained here continuously dur
ing the whole life of the territory and
state.
The Indian war 1S55-6), that so
soon followed the first treaty with the
Indians, hung as cloud long after all
danger had passed. Seventy-five block
houses had been built and more than
five times seventy-five families had
fed from their cabin homes who, in a
great majority of cases, abandoned all
their accumulations, having only their
clothing, bedding and few movable
articles. To realize what this meant,
one must have experienced the trial;
written words cannot fully portray it.
Then followed the war of the rebel
lion which virtually stopped immigra-
ton and drew virile, adventurous, pa
triotic men from our midst to the the
alter of war, and impelled loyal men
to arm against the disloyal which,
strange as it may appear, in many
cases were in our midst until after the
battle of Gettysburg.
The aftermath of the war of the re-
bellion left our finances in great con-
fusion and incidental Hard Times"
eliminating finally in the great finan-
cial panic of 1878 "Greenbacks,"
government promises to pay, went
down to thirty-seven cents on the dol
lar in gold and yet we had strong
political faction under the guise of
free silver virtually favoring repudi-
alton; it was narrow escape from
what we now call "Bolshevism." An
| other disturbing factor was that thirty
six years of territorial life. relegated
our delegate to congress to the role Of
| a beggar for favors from that body.
California with her two senators and
soon after Oregon with like number,
clandestinely favored south ern-eastern
rail connections, followed, later. by the
Oregon interest that throttled direct
trade of Washington with the east for
long period of time, / know this
statement will be holly denied, but,
can say that know it to be true.
Great Gain in Population.
Meanwhile the pioneers had not
been idle. New blood kept trucking
in; many from New England, to de-
velop the lumber industry, ship build
ing, fisheries, commerce and in small
way the manufacturing industries, and
so, when statehood came at last, No
vember IL, 1869, the population had
increased from less than four thou