Volume 1 Number 4 - JULY 2007

There was a meeting May 10 th to debrief the volunteers who helped with the 7 th Annual Packwood Mountain Festival & Quilt Show, held May 4-6. Some of the adjectives I solicited to describe how it went were “enjoyable,” “fabulous,” “fantastic,” and my favorite, “Awesome,” with an asterisk! There were 148 pieces (of quilt) shown, and 450 folks to view them, significantly more people than last year. There was a couple from England there, and one from the Netherlands . Talk about international acclaim!

In the gym we had 14 artisans demonstrating their wares: Cheryl & Bob Baker, Cowboy Coffee; Ed English, bonsai trees; Martha Garoutte & Laurie Seiber, GS Designs; Lauretta Halverson, glass designs; Bonnie Hanson, one-stroke painting; Kathleen Hylkema, spinning; Elena Manecke, baskets etc; Gayle Nelson; Patio Pets; Larry Nelson, flintknapper extraordinaire; Patsy & Bill Rall, china painting; Gene Seiber, wooden trucks/ toys; Arlyss Vincent, homemade jewelry; Jerry & Bridgette White, wood carving; and Joy Wright, scrapbooking supplies. And let us not forget Jack Bowers with leather goods/ musical instruments. We hope all were successful enough to return next year. The Dutch Oven Society was set up outside, offering samples of dutch oven cooking, and selling cookbooks. Their weekend was successful enough that they expressed an interest in coming back. One of the highlights was Doreen Mathis' famous Indian Fry bread. She was overwhelmed Saturday and ran out of supplies early, but undaunted came back for more Sunday. She donated ALL the proceeds to the Historical Society. Way to go, Doreen! In a phrase, she did exceedingly well.

The Mountain Festival & Quilt Show was a success only because of the efforts of our volunteers, and we wish to thank each and every one who helped set/clean up and execute it. Chances are pretty good that someone who played an integral part in the festivities will be forgotten, in which case apologies are forthwith given and restitution will be made in the next newsletter. Special thanks go to Renee Adolph, Jan Anderson, Bob Baker, Cheryl Baker, Bev Brathovde, Penny Degener, Martha Garoutte, Sue Gaylor, Bob Gray, Cathy Grose, Jan Hatten, Sarah, Jenny & Kindra, Lois Kreshak, Vicki Lawrence, Jane Maloney, Betty & Bob Mathers, Willie Murdock, Penny Owens, Betty & Bud Panco, Shirley Phanco and her neighbor, Lila Rieper, Amanda & Andrew Rome, Phyllis Studley, Bill Thacker, and Barbara Wright.

We wish to thank Lonnie Goble for letting us display the c1929 Mack Fire truck, and Joe Kulig for bringing it over and watching it.

Thanks go to the Packwood Improvement Club and the Packwood Fire Department for the use of their tables and chairs.

Folks may have noticed several display cabinets at the Mountain Festival? They were part of the six loaned to the White Pass Country Historical Society by the Lewis Country Historical Museum . We'll surely appreciate their use when we start to set up a permanent display system. And the items in the display cabinets? Once again, Margie Lloyd came through with another 8+ plastic tubs of items for the Historical Society. We're gonna have a full library and display cases on account of Margie. What a prize she is , and Paul for sharing her – thanks.

Extra credit goes to Vicki Lawrence and Cathy Grose for the “overwhelmingly beautiful” Quilt Show they spearheaded. And Vicki is also credited with the advertising that went far beyond previous years.

The Vintage Tea hosted by Cheryl Baker and her consort was a special treat too. The quaintly decorated stage enhanced the entiregym, and was, in a word, a “delicate” success.

Bill Thacker was Johnny-on-the-job in managing the building throughout the event. Cheryl Baker made special mention of the men who helped, and Bill was the erstwhile ringleader of that bunch of boys (and girls too). Kudos.

The photo display received compliments too, although folks may have noticed it to be a bit uneven because it was pinned up by the men without the watchful eye of Betty.

Bud and I had a couple of visits/story-telling episodes with Jack Taylor of Randle and Wayne Ricker of Chehalis, the latter brought in by the front page article in the Chronicle. We really appreciate that mention, and only wish we can extend our advertising further afield next year.

Special thanks to Hoy Baker and the Lewis County Commissioners – Lee Grose, Richard Graham and Ron Averill – for securing for the Packwood Community, the funds remaining from the defunct local T.V. district. Lightning had destroyed the relay, and it was not cost effective to repair. The money was divided equally between the Packwood Community Club, the Packwood Senior Center , and the White Pass Country Historical Society. There is no doubt that the benefactors greatly appreciate the extra funds. It is indeed a godsend of seed money to get the museum up and running.

Bud and Betty Panco and I were warming up our GPS units the afternoon of Packwood's latest earthquake – fixing to go visit the nearby epicenter of the early morning shake – when who should drive up but Wayne Ricker of Chehalis. He had more photos to share with us, some from when he ran the bus line from Chehalis to Packwood back from 1949-1958, and some from Registration Day in Packwood in 1917. You'll all get to see them come next Mountain Festival.

In addition, we have been soliciting photos to display at the Kosmos Picnic in August. Already Wink and Joanne Morris, Irma Boyer, Norma Boren and Jan Grose have contributed photos for our enjoyment. In short, thanks to everyone who shares photos (and stories) for everyone's enjoyment.

Feature Article

Back in October 1933, the Washington Historical Quarterly printed an article by Walker Alison Tompkins, a young (at-the-time) Packwood resident who went on to become a prolific author, with over 1200 (mostly western) stories to his credit. The follow article was the very first history of the Big Bottom country to see print.

THE BIG BOTTOM ( LEWIS COUNTY ) 1833 -1933

An important desiderstum of Washington 's first white settlement at Tumwater, was a direct route across the Cascade Range at The Dalles .

In the spring of 1854, two Tumwater pioneers set out on an exploring expedition to locate a low pass to connect Puget Sound with the Oregon Trail .

Their names have since become emblazoned in Washington's hall of fame: James Longmire, discoverer of the springs in Rainier National Park now bearing his name; and William Packwood, for whom a postoffice, lake, and mountain saddle in eastern Lewis County was named.

Led by a trio of Nisqually Indian guides, the pioneer pair skirted the stream known as Skate Creek southwest from Mount Rainier, and came out upon a huge bottomland bisected by the upper Cowlitz River .

At that time, according to the statement of Jim Yoak, aged patriarch of the Cowlitz tribe, Longmire and Packwood found a thriving Indian village on the banks of the river, with several hundred members of the Cowlitz tribe living there.

The two trail-blazers returned to Tumwater with the word that they had discovered the long-hoped-for pass to The Dalles . A subsequent trip of course proved this belief was erroneous, for the summit was still many miles to the eastward.

Even to this day, man has not pierced White Pass with a road; but this will soon become an actuality.

Beginning at Tumwater Falls , the rapids where the Cowlitz enters its canyon, the Big Bottom extends northeasterly to the Clear Fork of that river. It contains roughly 19,000 acres of land, being some thirty miles long and averaging a mile in width. The mean elevation is only one thousand feet.

William Packwood's interest in the new-found Big Bottom was centered on the coal beds which he discovered south of the Tatoosh Range , and which he visited for twenty-eight consecutive years thereafter.

This coal, despite the geological infancy of the Cascades, is of the anthracite variety and is said to be comparable with the better grades of hard coal found in eastern mines. It has not yet been developed commercially owing to lack of transportation facilities.

Indirectly, white man's connection with the Big Bottom can be traced back a full century. In 1833, the Indians from the bottom took their furs to the old Hudson 's Bay Company trading post at Jackson 's Prairie. At that time, the country abounded in wolverine, marmoset, Lynx, beaver, bear, deer, and other fur-bearing animals.

Isolated from the rest of the state by its mountain barriers, the Big Bottom had to wait three decades after its initial discovery, before the first white settler arrived.

To William Joerk (now spelled York ), a German merchant goes the distinction of being the Big Bottom's first white settler. He had located in the gold fields on the upper Sacramento River in California , where he catered to the miner's needs. A season of financial reverses made him seek a new locale, and his trail led to Washington .

Packing on foot into the far reaches of the Cowlitz Valley over rough, little-used Indian trails, York found the Big Bottom almost totally depopulated of Indians, by a small pox epidemic of unknown date. Of the hundreds of natives who trapped for the Hudson 's Bay Company in the ‘thirties, now only two Indians and their families remained – George Washington and Columbus Kiona.

York found a wide meadow, lush with grass – the only clearing of any size in the entire bottom. It now bears the name of Chapman's Prairie. Not being familiar with soil conditions, York made the grave mistake of assuming that since the clearing was not filled with Douglas fir and maple, it must be deficient in fertility.

Accordingly, when he returned to the Big Bottom valley the following year (1883), York settled and spent a lifetime grubbing out the tough maple forest which marked the site of the present Evan Blankenship cattle ranch. It is said that York later lived to bitterly regret his early mistaken judgment.

But the prairie attracted the eye of a pioneer named Brockway, the following year. He did not settle, but his cleared farm was later possessed by a Frenchman named Louie. Louie became almost a legendary figure, after going insane as a result of an altercation with the Indians over the shooting of a saddle pony.

1883 also saw the arrival of Thomas Dalton, who squatted on a claim near the present J.C. Dempsey ranch near Randle. In 1884, John Kehoe, a Canadian adventurer fresh from the Mother Lode country of California , arrived to stake out a claim.

Kehoe still resides in his original squatter's cabin, being the oldest living pioneer in the oldest structure now extant in the Big Bottom.

William Ferguson of Chehalis, Pat and Frank Muldoon of Minnesota , and John Osborn and Richard Ormsby of Tennessee also came to the Big Bottom and became permanent settlers. Many transients visited the new country but moved on before the heavy snows of 1883-1884 set in.

Despite the fact that no roads approached the now inland kingdom, the Big Bottom had taken permanent root. Many things favored its growth. The Indians, many families of them moving back into the valley, were very friendly, providing whites with seed potatoes and pelts. Nowhere in the bottom's century of history do we find a trace of Indian hostility. Another condition in favor of the new settlement was the vast richness of the soil. Largely alluvial in nature, geologists also think various strata came from the summit of Mount Rainier , twenty miles north, when that volcano exploded in the dim beginnings of time.

The year 1885 saw the coming of Rufus T. Siler and his sister, Louisa, who was the first white woman in the Valley. His arrival started a veritable exodus of his neighbors from Lowden County , Tennessee . Siler at present is one of the Big Bottom's most prominent and respected pioneer citizens.

The early settlers had to traverse sixty miles of grueling trail from Chehalis, but Siler brought in a herd of cattle, the first to arrive with the exception of a single cow owned by York . The herd was driven from Cowlitz Prairie, fording the river twice on the trip.

Andrew Johnson of Tennessee , and York 's brother, Herman, of Germany , also came to the Big Bottom in 1885.

That year, William York petitioned for a road and two surveys were made during the next two years, one skirting the Tilton River , the other from Klickitat region joining the present state highway near the site of Glenoma. Although these surveys cost Lewis County $3,000, no road followed them.

1886 was, perhaps, the most important year in the history of the Big Bottom's settlement. Jim McMahan and Will and John Davis of Tennessee followed the Silers westward. The first man to bring his wife to the Big Bottom was L.A. Davis, and Indianan.

Joseph Moorcroft, and Harry Dowdle of Minnesota, William Stevenson and Charlie Young of Missouri, Enoch Chapman, Hi Barnes, Lute, Harley, Henry and Ed Davis, Ed Kilborn, Elwood and John Purcell, Pat Kehoe of California, Judge Pearson of Indiana, and James Haralson of Alabama arrived during the same year and became pillars of community life. The wide range of states represented attests to the drawing-power of the Big Bottom's fertile soil and mild climate.

Another notable pioneer to settle there in 1886 was James L. Randle, for whom the present village of Randle was named.

During this period, the Big Bottom was virtually a “bachelor's paradise,” as many as eighty single men living there. However, these bachelors announced to the outside world that they would furnish their ponies to pack in, free of charge, the first white family applying for this favor.

Joseph Chilcoat, a hardy Texan, responded. Thus his family became the first to settle in the valley. His son, Roy Chilcoat, born in October, 1887, was the first white baby to begin life in the Big Bottom country. Chilcoat's tireless energy and boundless ambition made him one of the Bottom's leading figures, a position which his present residence in California has failed to dim.

Although the valley was served by no rails, mail reached the pioneers through two postoffices. The first was established southeast of Randle in 1885. Volunteer carriers brought the mail in by horseback from the Mossy Rock settlement farther west.

A year later Rufus Siler, through his friendship with Senator Zeb Vance of North Carolina, succeeded in making it an official postoffice with himself as the first postmaster and John Osborn the first mail carrier. The postoffice was named Vance in honor of the Senator.

An important factor in the peopling of this region from 1884 to 1888, besides the pioneer urge which helped the course of empire fling its way to the Pacific, was the report that the Northern Pacific Railway Company was planning to build a road from Yakima to South Bend , through White Pass. Preliminary surveys were made for this project by Captain Jim Berry as early as 1884, but a railroad never materialized.

The early settlers found their time consumed with slashing, stump-grubbing and leveling their new property. Columbus Kiona and “Indian Jim” Yoak view for the packing trade of the first whites. Lack of roads precluded dairying on a commercial scale, but livestock and poultry raiding were profitable occupations.

The residents along Puget Sound were startled during this period by the droves of a half thousand turkeys which the farmers of the isolated Big Bottom country would drive down to Spanaway and Tacoma for marketing. Since the fowls insisted on roosting in the forest at sundown, frequent overnight stops had to be made en route.

In the meantime, settlers were arriving in a steady stream, undaunted by the twisting, log-fallen trails and heavy snows. The period between 1888 and 1890 witnessed the coming of such prominent personages as Barney Blankenship, Ed Owens, Jud Siler, John Cunningham, Will Owens, Ed Campbell of New Jersey , James Butler of Indiana, Charles Hampton of Pennsylvania , Frank Turney of New York, John George, S.A. Skinner of Kansas , and August Larson of Minnesota.

Settlement began to push deeper up the valley. Tom and Harry Owens of Canada, August and John Snyder of Indiana, Ed Dixon of Arkansas, John Blankenship of Tennessee, Henry Hager of Wisconsin, John Smith of Missouri, Al Gilliland of Texas, Charles Brightenstein, George Spencer, Mr. Johnson, Charles Hall of Utah, Finn Dodge of Kansas, Fred Sethe of Germany, Jim McAndress, Jack McCall of Pennsylvania, surveyor Wesley Beech of Pennsylvania, and others arrived, most of them taking out claims as far eastward as Tatoosh Mountain.

A group composed of Joe Chilcoat, Rufus T. Siler, August Larson, and John George made an important step in bringing civilization to their settlement when, in 1887, they purchased a grist mill from Anton Hillock of Forest, for $100. It was erected on Miller Creek, and later was owned by Chilcoat.

Pioneer settlements depend upon the cooperation of their members for existence. This splendid American spirit was not lacking in the Big Bottom. With axes and brush hooks, the hardy pioneers blazed a road through 36 tortuous miles of tangled forest, until they met the road at Mossy Rock.

In the summer of 1893, a memorable event occurred – a wagon was driven into the Big Bottom on its own wheels. Previously, a mowing machine and two wagons, dismantled, had been packed in via horseback.

The first money Washington ever appropriated for road building, incidentally, was expended on No. 5 leading to Randle.

Two years later the road was continued as far as the budding town of Lewis , at the “far end” of the bottom. Thus it can be seen that only in comparatively recent times has the Big Bottom been accessible to travel.

The new road, linking the valley with the outside world, was a great stimulus to the infant community.

The Big Bottom, like all frontier settlements, went forward along three channels of civilization – industry, education, and religion. Although some of the original pioneers were themselves illiterate, they wished for their children the advantages they had been denied.

According, in 1893, a school was started near the junction of the Vance road. For lack of a schoolhouse, the hall built in 1890 by the farmer's Alliance was utilized. Miss Mary Siler was the first teacher.

There is considerable local argument as regards the first school in the Big Bottom, but an analysis of the facts shows both factions to be partially correct.

The first school was held at Vance, but the first schoolhouse was built of hand-hewn cedar by donated labor, on the Joe Moorcroft place near Mountain View . The two schools operated contemporaneously.

For several years previous to this, Clifford Orr had instructed pioneer children in the three R's as a private venture.

The first students enrolled at the school near Vance were as follows: Ernest and Lona Chilcoat, Mickie Dunn, John and Annie Dalton, Dora, Birdie, and Dixie Stevens, and Pearl Brown.

The Mountain View scholars, instructed by Miss Zona Dodge, included Clara, Alice and John Haralson, Clifford, Charles, Albert, Addie and Ora Blankenship, Walter, Leona, and Leila Young, and George, Charles, Bird, Walter and Florence Stevenson.

It is satisfying to historians to note how the church has grown hand in hand with the development of pioneer communities. The Big Bottom was no exception. At first, church services were conducted under trees, or in pioneer cabins. The first building to house public worship was built and dedicated at Randle in 1889. It was Methodist by denomination.

A small log cabin with stick-and-mud chimney, on the Siler homestead, housed the first preaching service, the first social functions of pioneers, and was the polling place, in 1886, of the first general election.

The genesis of a town was springing up at Randle. John McMahan erected a shack which housed the first business enterprise in the valley, in 1892. Jim Randle sold a few stores from his home, and Joe McAllister, in 1897, erected a competing establishment. The first justice of the peace was Dr. George H. Dow.

Although Mrs. Josie Siler was the first bride to invade the phalanx of bachelordom, the distinction of being the first couple actually wedded inside the valley proper goes to Miss May Randle, daughter of James L. and Dicy C. Randle, who in 1891 was wed to Jim McMahan by Rev. Edward Brown. Mr. and Mrs. McMahan still reside at Randle.

The pioneers whose names stand out among the incoming settlers around 1890 include John C. Snyder of Indiana, Al Brown, Dr. George H. Dow, Wilbur, Bob and John Peters.

As we have previously noted, all of the Big Bottom's earliest settlers obtained their land by squatter's rights. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison signed homestead papers, and during Grover Cleveland's first administration many other homesteads were issued to the settlers who had squatted on them.

The first official United States Government survey was completed in 1892. The Big Bottom sent its first representative – Phil Smith – to the State legislature in 1896.

Fire and flood brought the Big Bottom its first catastrophe in 1896. On November 10 th of that year, a serious flood of the Cowlitz River occurred, which cost six lives at Riffe, floated away numerous homes (including the first house, built by William York), devastated crops, and killed an uncounted number of livestock. Forest fires have also menaced the thriving farms.

To borrow a current slogan, the history of the Big Bottom to date has truly been “a century of progress.” Today finds the valley peopled with some two thousand energetic, industrious souls. The hospitality of the blue grass country of old Kaintuck and Tennessee lost nothing in the transplanting. Schools, churches and modern businesses are in sharp contrast to the early days. State Highway No. 5, which is fast being pushed across the rugged Cascades to Yakima , connects the Big Bottom within a short driving distance of Morton, Chehalis, or Seattle.

The United State Forest Service maintains stations at the only two towns in the valley, Randle and Lewis. The postoffice at the latter place was named Packwood in 1931, to avoid confusion with Fort Lewis , Washington .

A table of the derivation of Big Bottom geographic names reveals a close parallel with the country's early history.

Butter Creek – store of butter lost there by Survey crew.

Clear Fork – north branch of Cowlitz , usually crystal clear.

Cispus – vast burned over area; name of Indian origin.

Coal Creek – rises in coal beds of eastern Lewis County .

Cougar Creek – panther killed at its headwaters.

Cougar Rocks – stratified cliff wall near Lewis, so called because cougars are said to den there.

Creeks – the following streams drain into the Cowlitz River were named for homesteaders through whose land they flow: Burton , Cunningham, Dixon , Garrett, Hager, Hopkins , Johnson, Kilborn..

Dixon Mountain – named for Ed Dixon, who homesteaded there.

Hager Lake – discovered by Henry Hager, early pioneer.

Kiona Peak – for Columbus Kiona, old-time Cowlitz Indian.

Lake Creek – drains 1,000-acre Packwood Lake .

Muddy Fork – south branch of Cowlitz , usually full of silt.

Ohanapecosh springs and creek, named by Indian hunters.

Packwood – Lake and town; for co-discoverer of Big Bottom, William :Billy” Packwood.

Purcell Mountain – for the Purcell brothers, pioneers.

Randle – principal Big Bottom town, for founder, Jim Randle.

Silver Creek (formerly Rock Creek) – for clearness of water.

Skate Mountain – probably of Nisqually Indian origin.

Skyo Mountain – small rock mountain, named by Indians.

Snyder Lake – for its discoverer, August Snyder.

Tatoosh Mountain – Indian term for “woman's breast.”

Tumwater Falls – Indian word for “falling water.”

Vance – postoffice named for Senator Zeb Vance, North Carolina .

The Pioneer in Retrospect

  This poem was written by John Kehoe, likely during the 1930's, since it mentions the depression. Thanks to John's grandson, Bob Kehoe, for proving a copy of the poem to us. The poem is also printed on page 77 of the local history book, “Where the Big Bottom Begins” by LaVonne Sparkman and Irma Boyer.

As the Mountain Boy of former years,

I'm willing still to serve.

Though far past man's allotted time,

I'm living on my nerve.

Now the lengthening toll of daily toil,

my faltering strength doth tax;

I still wield well my favorite tools

– the bucksaw and the axe.

I long had roamed the western wilds,

o'er woodland, hill and plain

‘til nature cut off further scope

along our western main.

Then in this land of Washington ,

well pleased, I settled here.

This land with an immortal name.

Our last and best frontier.

I love her healthful climate,

her stately woods and hills,

her verdant vales where rippling flows

her snow fed sunlit rills.

I've seen her pass the swaddling stage

and territorial phase.

I've seen her rise to wealth and fame

from crude old pioneer ways.

Her native son now holds the helm

and guides our ship of state.

Oft buffeted and hard beset

with heart for every fate.

He holds our destined course,

the foremost on commerce

buoyantly rides depression's waves; triumphant o'er reverse.

With Washington our lot is cast

through alternate hope and fear.

O'er threatening waves our hopes ride high:

there's no depression here!

I'll go to God, the source of life;

to Him confess my faults.

Receive Him in the living bread

that humble poor exalts.

Then when grim death will call my turn,

I'll meet him on the square.

Go prancing to my grave, will I,

with both feet in the air!

In Passing

One of these issues - and we hope soon (and often) – we will have no need for this section of the newsletter. Alas, this is not the time. Recently we have lost the following long-time residents of the area

Henry A. “Hank” Young , life long resident of Randle, was born November 5, 1915 to Walter & Minnie Young. He died April 10, 2007 at the age of 91. Hank married Agnes Bremgartner December 12, 1943. Hank was quite active in the Randle community. Among his many accomplishments, he was an officer in the Lewis County Horse Posse, a long-time commissioner for the Silver Creek Cemetery of Lewis County Cemetery District No. 4, a charter member of the Mt. Adams Trail Riders, and (if I remember correctly) the Mountain Ma's & Pa's Square Dance club. Perhaps his most high profile role was as scorekeeper for White Pass High School athletic events.

Hank's grandparents, Charles & Harriet Young, were among the first settlers in the Randle area. Hank's father was among the second wave of homesteaders. The house where Hank & Agnes live was built about 1905 by Hank's grandfather. His roots in this country were about as deep as a person could go.

Yvonne Marilyn Sawyer , 72, another life long resident of the Big Bottom valley, was born December 1, 1934 to William T. and Nina (Day) Hackney. She went to join her parents in heaven April 11, 2007. Yvonne's mother, Nina, was a great friend of Martha Hardy; I'm sure Vyonne was very well acquainted with Martha too. Vyonne married Donald F. Sawyer June 25, 1954.

Beula “Boots” Cooper , Kosmos Hill area, died April 24, 2007. She was born June 23, 1926 to Charles and Lovie Riffe. Her mother died when she was about two months old, so she was raised to womanhood by her uncle and aunt, Orson and Vernie Schoonover. She married George Cooper June 1, 1946.

Clifford L. Smith , at 91, the oldest attendee at last year's Kosmos Picnic, passed away June 25, 2007. He was born August 10, 1915 in Alberta , and came to Washington many years ago and worked for Kosmos Timber Company. He served in the Army Air Corps in Hawaii in 1937-38.

Our sympathies go out to the families of these folks. We trust they had good lives, and left many fond memories for those who continue their legacies.