CATHERINE HARDER PEOT
The Franklin Flyer
"Kahlotus Pioneers Recalled"
January 1977
Page 2
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(Mrs. Peot has sent in a quilt block for our Pioneer Quilt project on which she has embroidered the names of most of the early pioneers in the Kahlotus area, many dating before the turn of the century, and whom she discusses in the following article. Having been born in Franklin County in 1896 qualifies her as one of the oldest residents of the county still living here.)
This quilt block represents the “German Immigrants” who settled around Washtucna (Kahlotus) Lake and Coulee, in 1880 and the years following, as well as the neighbors who also came here at that time. I resent the connotation “Immigrants”. The German people were asked to settle in the United States by the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, and were offered land for sale on long-term contracts at 5% interest in order to finance the construction of these lines. The government had granted the railroads every other section on both sides of the track for 20 miles.
This group of Germans took homesteads, bought railroad land on contract, and stocked the range with cattle and horses, and later sheep. Some failed because they didn’t fence the land and were overrun by wild horses which had been tended by range riders for absentee owners. The names listed on the quilt block represent an investment of $80,000.00 to $100,000.00 at that time, as they all brought their inheritance from Germany. These names could well be registered in the Pioneer Register of our historical society. I cite as authority the early United States Land Office and the auditor’s records of Franklin County since its organization in 1884.
My Uncle Max Harder worked on the government survey in 1879 and filed on a homestead on Three Spring Bar on the Snake River in 1880. He was followed by my late father, Hans Harder, and my Uncle Jacob Harder. They were in partnership until 1905, when Max Harder died. I was born in 1896 and have a good memory of those times and the history since 1880 from my uncles and parents.
The Moritz Brothers brought a large inheritance, built a fine house at the head of the lake and invested in horses and cattle. They were a family of privilege, and gradually adjusted to the hardships of “Pioneer Life” through experience. Katherine, the mother, was an accomplished musician, and arrived with two children, Helen and Hans. They had two more daughters and hired a tutor for their children. Art Phillippay, Roy McChesney and Addie McAdams went to school there until the organization of School District No. 3 in 1887.
My Uncle Max Harder, the Moritz Brothers and Tom Winn, as well as Pasco Pioneers, organized Franklin County in territorial days. Many of the names of early Pasco pioneers are familiar to us, as there was a brotherhood of men in those days. The German people were well educated, with respect for law and order and civic organization, and all of them became proficient in the English Language and U.S. Constitution, having all become citizens within one year’s residence. As the Life Book, THE PIONEERS, indicates, “The German Immigrants were an educated industrious people with respect for their wives and families, with a great love of the land, animal husbandry and agriculture”.
There was much tragedy in pioneer life. The ‘Moritz Saga’ was cut short by the murder of a violent, avaricious cousin Hanna Bleih. My Uncle Max married the widow in 1889 and after his death the daughter Helen managed the property, suffering much adversity and disdain. “She tried”. The Moritz girls, Helen, Amanda, and Patra enjoyed much social prestige in 1900 and on until the death of my Uncle.
My father, Hans Harder, bought out Uncle Jacob in 1906 and was in partnership with my cousin George Hendricks from 1900 to 1917. They opened up the permits in the Cascade ranges in 1906 and had 10,000 ewes in the county. My father range seven bands which lambed out on our home ranch, and George Hendricks acquired range at Scootenay Springs, where he had a spread after 1906 until his death. The story of the early sheep business would fill a book. The Timmermans, as we have already learned, were responsible, hardworking people of honesty, integrity and initiative, but were wiped out by the blizzard of 1889. They were interesting, congenial neighbors and very outgoing people, adjusting to the orientation of new life and its necessities. Almost all [pioneers] developed a spring house adjacent to their houses where water was available. They could take advantage of the tiniest trickle by storage.
Uncle Fritz Moritz was section boss and homesteaded at the west end of the lake. Henry Hindrichs became section boss following the death of the Moritz brothers, as Uncle Fritz sold out and left. He had invested his inheritance in a Ph. D. in Germany and was not oriented to pioneer life, but through the first years his knowledge contributed to the pooling of orders for groceries from Jones’ Cash Store in Portland, where all products of the Willamette pioneers were available. These consisted of dried fruits, and rye and wheat flour from the German mills such as Alber’s, also an “Immigrant.” Also available were cured hams and bacon, and many goodies such as coconut, chocolate, sugar, coffee (which came green and was roasted and ground fresh each morning), as well as beans, both red and navy, and later, condensed milk. This arrived by freight on the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company, where the customer received their orders and paid for them through Fritz Moritz. Later my father took this over.
Tom Winn, who lived in Washtucna Coulee, served as the first Prosecuting Attorney for Franklin County, had lost his inheritance and served as organizer, held school and civic elections, and was school district clerk and census taker. He even built the first school house, materials for which cost $125.00. He received $72.00 for his work, and the first desks and teacher’s table cost an additional $125.00. Many pioneers taught a term of three or four months in the fall and spring, with the first wages being $45.00 a month. Tom Goodnough, a pioneer from Michigan Prairie in Adams County, made enough to go to Washington State College. Sam Kinch taught a term, married a pioneer’s daughter and lived on the “Lucas Place” on Cow Creek where they developed a dairy farm. It was a beautiful spot with a white cottage, a meandering stream and an alfalfa patch. This history business is so limited. The pioneers knew no boundaries. All of the hills, the coulees and the flat places whisper on the wind of the pioneers. Whey they ‘came by’ we visited and reminisced. We respected and loved our peers and honored our elders, and a woman’s home was her sanctuary and was protected from harm by honor and respect. There were wild placed but they were “off limits”. The pioneer woman exerted a tremendous force for refinement, respect, and learning. They were the “hand that rocked the cradle”, the “power behind the throne”.
The Ebeson Brothers were commitment men from England. They were a jolly pair, convivial in nature, and they even rode to hounds, adapting to the coyote. With all they were men of integrity, honor and tolerance. They “homesteaded” where the H U Ranch is, bought railroad land, ran cattle on the open range and were succeeding. Their “latch string” was always out and the brotherhood of pioneers held them all in its thrall. But tragedy overtook them too. Henry, a heavy man, was drowned while trying to cross a ford at the mouth of the Palouse River on the “old Mullan Trail”. It was late spring and the river was at full flood. I am not sure of the date, but it was a least in the 1880’s. His brother George, overcome by grief and despair, sold out and went back to England.
Owen McAdam was the Irish section boss on the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation railroad. He filed for a homestead at McAdam, and was a real section man. They lived in an Irish shanty over a spring, and they had a daughter, Addy. After completing high school Addy found employment in Seattle, but the old folks stayed at the homestead. They used to visit us after having shopped in Kahlotus. They drove there because Washtucna was dry. They always “stayed for supper”, and they were a jolly pair, having imbibed from the little brown jug. But they were people of honor and integrity. They lived in their shanty, even after retirement, until their home burned down in 1910, when Addy came and took them home with her. There was no “old folks home” then as there is now for old people with limited means.
That about does it for the neighbors. Besides that, there were the horsemen and the Range Riders, among whom rode the horse thieves, anonymous, as it were. The thieves were organized and knew the terrain intimately, and had “fences” that is trading places. They ranged from Colville and Okanogan to the Snake River, and from Rock Creek, Cow Creek to Crabb Creek and the Columbia River. The “fences” were many times convicts from the “Pen”, who assumed new names and respectability. There was a good demand for livery teams and work horses which were stolen, driving them from place to place and exchanging. Cattle were harder to steal, but they too, often disappeared. The solution was to build fences, patrol the range, and keep your eyes open! These rangers always “stayed up all night” at our place. Our front room was the “Cowboy room”. If they rode in at night they could build a fire, wash up and sleep. There was a bed with a tarp, a heating stove, benches and chairs, even a table. They hung their chaps and guns on the wall. Mamma kept our living room locked and they respected our privacy. Often my dad would build a fire in the morning and start the coffee and mush. They he would tell Mamma, “The cowboys are here and I’ll help you after I do the chores.”
However, I do wish to correct the impression that my father, the “German Immigrant”, founded the town of Kahlotus. We sold the townsite to two speculators and boomers, McKinney and Weston. Mrs. Phillippay’s brother surveyed the townsite. The O.W.R. & N. Co. had resumed operation on the branch line to Paulouse Junction, now Connell, after having abandoned operation from 1890 to 1900. Upon resuming operation they built a depot and stockyards, and the warehouses followed upon the development of the homesteads, which brought a new influx in 1900. I can remember a man named Durham who “came by” with a load of lumber and built the first store. McKinney built a 12-room hotel with “gas lights” which later burned down. For all of the promotional ballyhoo I recommend the 1905 edition of the Pasco Express. Kahlotus was a typical homesteader town, and the first merchants were the Smith Family from Canada.
These were Wheelock and Wesley Smith, the mother and sister Emma, and two other sisters. Wheelock invested in railroad land and brought in approximately 500 wild horses, as well as a retinue of cowboys. The horses roamed the open range. The Smith Brothers operated a hardware-furniture store, and a general grocery and merchandise store. The “Kahlotus Record”, the local newspaper, was operated by a nephew of the Smith Brothers, and his wife “gave” music lessons. Wheelock Smith left about 1905. Two of his children died of diphtheria, and his mother also passed away, But “Uncle Wesley”, as we called him, remained until after the “boom”. He contributed much to development, as he had been a school teacher and later married a local young lady. The smith children, Nellie, George, and Blanch, and the McKinney children, John and Violet, attended District No. 3 until a school was built in 1903. We were very fond of the Smith children and were deeply affected by their death. There is much more “that could be told”, which might not be so well accepted, so I will forbear.
The Munn family and the Ring family were among the first residents. Tom Martin had a store too. He was a nephew of famous Uncle Billy Martin, a pioneer of Adams County. Later he sold out his store, and it was later run by Harry McChesney and Johnny Hastings.
In 1906 the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad line was built, bringing in the booming railroad crews, the saloons, the ladies of the night, and the gambling tables and roulette wheels. It was a rough, tough, town, and there are more than 90 nameless graves in the Kahlotus cemetery, all railroad workers. The Swedes were the powder men, immigrant Italian were the muckers. Many different contractors, steam shovel men and engineers ran the narrow gauge donkey engines. There was a railroad camp above our house on the hillside. They hauled gravel for a solid year with the donkey trains across the “Swamp” which we always believed was an old volcano crater, as the mud which rose on both sides, looked like ashes after the lake dried up.
There were twenty Swedes blown up on the completion of the tunnel, which also took about a year. A boy heard the plot and was induced to “go to Montana”. Later, when he returned on a subpoena, his body was found floating in the Snake River. It was a great deal like Ainsworth in 1883, but a little more modern. There were various camps along the route of the railroad. The dirt work was done with “Fresnoes” and teams.
After the completion of the railroad we had excellent service. Kahlotus had mail twice a day, as well as express service, and the train was used by people to travel, since cars did not come until later. We had excellent schools in the 1900’s. We had a prescribed course of study, including U.S. History and Civics, Geography, Physiology, Spelling, Grammar, and Arithmetic including a chapter on promissory notes, interest, stocks and bond, as well as mensuration [the act or process of measuring]. We also had land surveys, section, township and range, and full knowledge of meridian lines and short sections in every township. We took an eighth grade examination, which was required to enter high school. We also had handwriting, (although I admit I am failing at my age, 80), as well as drawing, and lectures on astronomy by teachers qualified to do so.
Among the first teachers of the Kahlotus schools I must mention Mrs. Redd, who guided the destiny of 4th, 5th and 6th graders for a period of 23 years. The first high school was up to standard, as at that time the state high school inspectors visited, and teachers were qualified in subject matter, especially in mathematics and science. Also, I would like to mention Miss Anna Ruppenthal, Mrs. Nagel, Mr. Zent and Miss Nella Johnson, who were County Superintendents devoted to a high standard of instruction and discipline.
Kahlotus has deteriorated since the train service was curtailed, and people have their own transportation. The railroads made the town. It had a boom during construction of Lower Monumental Dam, and considerable of the present population of Kahlotus are employed there. But farms are larger, distances are no longer a problem, and much “business” these days being governmental, necessitates much travel.
I almost forgot Uncle John Schlomer. He came to America at the age of sixteen and roamed the states. Upon the marriage of my mother, he came to Washington and worked for VanHollebeke, an early sheepman in the Snake River hills, The VanHollebekes are a prominent pioneer family. Their mother was a sister to Rennie DeReue, who homesteaded in 1903 and is mentioned in the PASCO EXPRESS. He later became a prominent sheepman in Columbia County. In 1905 my Uncle John Schlomer bought land west of Connell and went into the sheep business, which he operated until 1923. He also invested in farm land and was married to Mary Finkbeiner. There were two brothers, Ben and John, whose families still live at Connell. Uncle John was County Commissioner in 1912 when the new courthouse was built. I was disappointed to note that no one mentioned the commissioner’s name when the new wing of the courthouse was dedicated in 1972. Somebody neglected their research. The facts are all there in the courthouse record. That is if they haven’t been “disposed of”.
