Local places: roads, hollows, gulches and grades

Note from the editor: This article was reprinted with permission from the Blue Mountain Heritage Society Summer 2019 newsletter. The Times thought our readership would find it both as enjoyable and informative, as we did.

From the BMHS newsletter editor: The Blue Mountain Heritage Society focuses on preserving the history of southeastern Washington. As we record information about the area’s past, references to people and places are common. In fact, the names of the places quite often mirror the names of the people. In this newsletter, we offer a glimpse of the history behind a few Columbia County place names. Given the county’s many roads, hollows, gulches, and grades, there was no shortage of topics! We hope you enjoy learning about the “people-place” connection behind each location.

By Dallas Dickinson, Paula Moisio and Roslyn Edwards

Palus (Palouse) Trails

The earliest “roads” in what is now Columbia County were trails utilized by native tribes as they migrated seasonally from one area to another to hunt, fish, dig roots, and socialize. The first reference to the trails was by the Lewis & Clark Expedition on their homeward journey in 1806.

Before white settlers arrived, four trails converged beside the river where the Smith Hollow Country Schoolhouse is now situated, near where the Patit Creek flows into the Touchet River. This area was known later as the “crossing,” where members of the Palus, Cayuse, and Walla Walla tribes met often to trade goods, visit, and play games, including racing their fastest horses down what is now Dayton’s Main Street. At times, members of the Nez Perce and Umatilla tribes joined them. It was later reported that there were 75-100 tepee frames standing in the area of the gatherings.

The “Kentuck” Trail led directly south from Spokane, joined the Nez Perce Trail, and traveled through Dayton to its end in Walla Walla. A major trail, later named Mullan Road, followed the Palouse River to the Snake and passed near modern-day Starbuck, Prescott, and Dayton. The Palus used these routes as they moved on a series of trails from the mountains to the valleys, into the Columbia Basin, and to their winter settlement near what is now Lyon’s Ferry. Later, these trails were also used by trappers, packers, and settlers.

A battle occurred at the confluence of the Patit and the Touchet in 1858, when a group of 13 packers led by W.J. Lindsay and accompanied by Lieutenant Wickliff of Company F, Ninth Infantry, camped while carrying government supplies from Fort Walla Walla to Colonel Wright, who was then on Rock Creek, north of the Snake River. A group of “hostiles” came down the hill from the north, circled, and fired upon the packers. Before the battle ended, several men on both sides were killed - along with 13 ponies.

Freelon “Stubbs” and Frederick D. Schnebley, brothers, located the first business in what is now Columbia County in 1859. Stubbs Schnebley built his cabin on the north bank of the Touchet, at the Crossing, and opened a trading post later known as the “little red store.”

Today’s modern highway from Pendleton through Walla Walla, Dayton, Pomeroy, to Lewiston follows closely the Nez Perce trail, the main thoroughfare of the tribes. These “highways” were not faint trails; they were traveled each year by hundreds of ponies as tribes alternated between winter and summer grazing and hunting grounds, good fishing, and relief from extremes of heat and cold. It is said that a section of one trail is still visible on the North Fork of the Touchet River about 6 miles from Dayton.

Long’s Station

Convenience of travel enabled yet another small settlement to spring up near the traditional Nez Perce Trail where it entered what is now Columbia County, about three miles southwest of present Dayton. The trail followed the southern bank of the Touchet River, crossed and followed Patit Creek northeast, and exited the county about seven miles west of where Pomeroy is today.

John Long, born in Ohio, crossed the plains and worked at butchering, farming, raising stock, and merchandising in various locations in Washington Territory. From 1863-1865, Long drove stock into this area. In 1865, he moved his wife and seven children here, settling at what became known as Milton Mills, Washington Territory.

The settlement consisted of a grist mill, blacksmith shop, livery stable and saloon. John’s brother Garrett Long joined him in building the grist mill, which was a three story frame mill 36 feet x 42 feet with a capacity of seventy barrels of flour daily. When the OR&N (Oregon Railroad & Navigation) Company put a side track there, it became Long’s Station. With the platting of the nearby town of Dayton, all businesses closed except the mill. It was destroyed by fire in 1909.

Marengo and Marengo Grade

The steep road leading in to the Tucannon Valley is known as Marengo Grade and ends in the old town of Marengo, which “lay astride” several great trails. Being near both the Nez Perce Trail and the Tucannon River, it later became a hub of travel and commerce for both Indian and White travelers and was the site of a stage stop on the Dayton-Lewiston route. A section of the old Nez Perce Trail is across from Marengo Cemetery.

As the Cayuse Wars broke out in 1855-1856, though, there were just three recorded settlers in what was to become Columbia County: Henry M. Chase, Louis Raboin, and P.M. Lafontain.

Raboin, who had been living east of the Cascades since 1851, was of Illinois-French stock, and had trapped and hunted with others in the Rockies, working for the American Fur Company. He settled near the Tucannon River and the Nez Perce Trail, but fled during the Cayuse Wars, as did Lafontain and Chase, who h claims in what is now Dayton. Chase returned after the threat had passed, but all that he left behind had been burned. Lafontain moved on, settling elsewhere.

Louis Raboin later returned to his place on the Tucannon and lived quietly with his Flathead wife and six children. He reportedly owned 50 horses and a herd of cattle. He had four acres under cultivation and raised poultry. Raboin was reported to be lively, with an “active disposition,” leading his French friends to call him “Maringoin,” meaning “mosquito.” Early settlers came to know him as Marengo, thus the name of the settlement on the Tucannon and the grade leading to it from the hills to the south. Raboin was later killed near his cabin.

Baileysburg

Jeremy and Luvina Bailey’s homestead became the center of the unincorporated community of Baileysburg. The community was established in 1881 when the Touchet Church was formed.

In 1878, Jeremy Bailey built his planing mill and door factory on the south bank of the North Touchet near his home. Later, a second mill was built by Bailey’s future son-in-law, Robert Donley. The factories made a variety of items including chairs, tables and cabinets. The furniture was mostly made of local fir, pine and cottonwood although occasionally imported hardwoods were used.

By 1884, the Baileysburg community had over 60 citizens. Gardens and orchards were planted near the homes and thrived along the North Touchet.

Whetstone

One of the primary stops for stagecoaches and freight wagons was the Whetsone Ranch and store. The coaches traveled out of the Tucannon over the Hartsock Grade and into the area settled by Thomas Whetstone. Mr. Whetstone settled in the hollow that bears his name in 1860. Records of the Whetstone Ranch start in 1869 and contain entries from the store, stagecoach stop, hotel and farm. One entry showed a traveler paid $3 for five meals and two beds. Might have been an original bed and breakfast!

New York Bar

The New York Bar was located in the northeast corner of Columbia County on the Snake River above Texas Ferry. It was a significant location, since grains from Columbia County, the Pataha, and Pomeroy were shipped from the warehouse on the river prior to the time railroads came into the area. There is a gruesome story about a murder at the New York Bar in 1882. E.H. Cummins was an agent for the OR&N (Oregon Railroad & Navigation) Company and was in charge of the warehouse. On July 26, 1882, Mr. Cummins was found dead in his bed. He had on a shirt, his drawers, and a heavy quilt was over his body. But his body was riddled with gunshots. There were bullets found in his hand, hip, shoulder, back, and skull. It was reported there were at least 13 shots fired. He also had ax and knife wounds. It was not known why the horrific murder occurred, but there was about $1,000 missing from the warehouse, which was likely the motive. Hatley Gulch

John Hatley, along with his wife and eight children, traveled to the Touchet Valley in 1870. The family homesteaded land in the mountains near what is now the North Touchet Road. Hatley was the first pioneer to look up to the trees, rather than down at the soil.

In 1872, John and his sons started their first sawmill on the mountain that became Hatley Mountain, later renamed Cahill Mountain after another pioneer family. This sawmill came from the East Coast and was shipped around the southern tip of South America. The entire family worked at the mill, including his wife and daughters.

A donkey engine, looking somewhat like the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz,” cut the trees and left stumps about four feet high. Ox-drawn carts then hauled the logs to the mill. The Hatleys sawed lumber for the Baileysburg Furniture Factory and for several buildings in Dayton, including the Christian Church (moved from Baileysburg to Dayton around 1886) and the old Methodist Church. As the heyday of the private family sawmill business faded, the Hatley Mill eventually shut down.

Saint Hatley, a relative of John’s, was an accomplished fiddle player and was sought after to play at dances and other gatherings. A sawmill accident left him with only one hand, but he figured out how to continue to play the fiddle!

Mae Jennings, John’s granddaughter, quotes a memory from her mother, Lavina: “I can remember scrambling up to the top of the sawdust piles and sliding down. We didn’t get dirty and Mom didn’t scold.”

A special thanks and grateful acknowledgement goes to Liz Carson for her invaluable assistance in providing information on our area’s history for this newsletter.

Sources:

https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/palouse-tribe.htm

http://bluemountainheritage.org/columbia-county-family-histories/ (for more information on area families visit this BMHS web page)

History of the Northern Blue Mountains, Gerald J. Tucker, 1940

Columbia County Centennial Edition, Dayton Chronicle, November 27, 1975

A Concise History of the Plateau Indians and Columbia County, Kevin Carson, 2015

Old Walla Walla County Washington, W.D. Lyman, 1918

Who Were These Places Named After?

Bundy Hollow - Alexander Bundy, a farmer who came to the area is 1865

Cahill Mountain - Local farmer, William R. Cahill

Crall Hollow - George W. Crall, as found in 1870 Census

Eckler Mountain Road - Illinois-born lumber manufacturer George Eckler, who settled in the area

Fields Gulch - Likely after local farmer, Benjamin Fields

Johnson Hollow - Named for Ambrose Johnson, a stockman who settled in the area in 1861

King Grade - William King, stagecoach drive who also delivered mail between Walla Walla & Lewiston

Maloney Mountain Road - Edward Maloney, who is listed in the 1870 census

New York Gulch - Likely after the New York Bar (on the Snake River) where E.H. Cummings was killed

Payne Hollow - Lewis Payne, another stockman who settled in the area in 1861

Pettijohn Road - Jonathon Pettijohn, who settled on the South Touchet

Ring Canyon Road - Gabriel E. Ring, who was killed at a dance held on Jasper Mountain Whiskey Hollow - Named not after a person, but for the product that was illegally produced there