1959 Lincoln County

Chapter 5

This page is part of the Reardan History 1959 booklet that was written by the Washington State History class of 1958-1959.

The floats heralded 1853 to 1953 to recall the colorful and courageous background of the new generation. The pioneers in the long line of white canvas-covered wagons will roll again.

It was 1853 when President Fillmore signed the bill creating the Washington Territory on March 2. Olympia was chosen capital and Isaac Stevens was appointed territorial governor. It had been 200 years since, in 1543, Bartolome Ferralo, commander of a Spanish expedition had traveled along the coast searching for a passage through North America.

Two Spaniards landed on Washington’s coast near the present Point Grenville in 1775 and claimed the land for Spain. Many more explorers began to discover Washington and the expedition of Lewis and Clark successfully crossed the Rocky Mountains (guided by Sacajawea) in 1805 and reached the mouth of the Columbia River. Fort Okanogan, a trading post, was built by the employees of John Jacob Aster, American fur trader in 1811.

The same year, 1811, David Thompson explored Kettle Falls and Snake River, the first report of explorers in the Big Bend region on their way to the Frazer diggings via the San Poil River. With this party was “Okanogan Smith” and “Wild Goose Bill,” who became pioneer settlers of northern Washington.

These former miners or government freighters in the late ’60s began to locate ranches on which cattle, horses, and sheep were kept. A few settlers located on Crab Creek. Sprague was first a sheep camp.

Previous to the coming of the white man, there was a well-defined trail extending from east to west, considered to be one of the most popular Indian thoroughfares in eastern Washington. The overnight camping place most used was the springs known as “Cottonwood Springs,” where now is located the town of Davenport.

The Cottonwood Trail became the old Government Road, more familiarly known as the White Bluffs Road, the main road across eastern Washington and running directly through Lincoln County. Over this trail, or road, and its branches, came many of our early pioneers.

R. M. Bacon settled on Crab Creek in the early ’80s and was the first official postmaster of Lincoln County, the office known as Crab Creek, receiving mail once a week. “Wild Goose Bill” (Samuel Wilbur Condit) claimed his advent into this area in 1875 and Wilbur is named for its founder in 1887.

The 1870s saw many settlers come to the part of the state known as Lincoln County. A. Harker built the first house in Cottonwood Springs (Davenport). John H. Nicholls helped erect the first Davenport business building.

Egypt was one of the earliest localities to attract the attention of prospective settlers. September, 1880, witnessed the establishment of Fort Spokane on a bench just above the Spokane River about one mile east of where it emptied into the Columbia.

Early Egypt settlers included John S. Frans, J. D. Sutherland, and the Inksters.

The first settlers came to Mondovi in 1879. the same year Isaac Long and sons settled near Bluestem and Matt Brislawn located northeast of Sprague. Settlers located about the same time near Lamona, Edwall, and Creston.

About 1880 two events occurred to hasten the settlement of Lincoln County land, the building of the Northern Pacific railroad and the establishment of Spokane which created demands for hay, grain and other commodities.

The twenty-one voting precincts of 1884 were Courtright, Mondovi, Fairview, Sassin, Sprague, Crab Creek, Cedalia, Davenport, Larene, Inkster, Miles, Harrington, Hinshaw, Grand Bluff, Yarwood, Earl Brents, Condon, Grand Coulee, Wilson Creek and Ennis.

Lincoln County was created and organized by the Territorial Assembly November 23, 1883, and four days later the county lost more than one third of its territory when the same legislature created Douglas County. Following a spirited fight in competition with Sprague, Davenport became the permanent Lincoln County seat in 1896.

Almira was named in 1889 by the chief engineer of the railroad in honor of Mrs. Almira Davis, the wife of the town’s first merchant. Odessa was named so in 1892 because of the many Russian settlers living south of town.

The first settlers near Reardan came in 1878 and included John Wickham and E. W. Childs. Early settlers near Harrington about 1865 were Charles Bethel, T. C. Larkin and three Glascock families.

A U. S. Weather Bureau man, in speaking of Lincoln County said: “The soil is very fertile. It seems to be a kind which is perpetually fertile, and only a small amount of water is required to raise a crop.”

Six years after Lincoln County was organized, in 1889, Washington Territory was proclaimed a state by President Harrison and Elisha P. Ferry was named governor.

Lincoln county has no great mines, no big trees, no oyster beds, no magnificent harbors, but it has fertile soil and industrious citizens that have played an important part in building the 42nd state.

Lincoln County is located in the mid-eastern part of the state. The land is high and mostly level, except for the hilly section bordering the Columbia River Gorge on the north. When the first pioneers came, the land was mostly fertile prairie soil covered with wild bunch grass and a few pine forests in the northeastern section.

The Indians of eastern Washington made a number of camping places and trails in the county. From 1810 to 1860 the only people in the county were white fur traders, missionaries, gold miners, and travelers. After 1860 settlers started coming and two wagon trails were built. By 1882 settlers spread out over the county and the first railroad was built, crossing the southeaster part of the county. In the next decade two more railroads were built. The county was legally established in 1883.

The main reason pioneers came out was a desire for land and a home in the new area. The next reason was the urging of kinsman or friend already settled in the county or the advertising of railroad companies about opportunities for settlers. A few came to find better health.

Many of the pioneers came by wagon train, but the ones coming after 1882 came mostly by train.

The earliest settlers were stock raisers until the railroads brought in settlers who bought up and fenced in grazing land for farms, forcing the stock raisers to sell their stock.

The farmers soon found the soil and climate ideal for wheat and other small grains. At first the land was plowed with horses, seed was sown by hand, and the grain was cut and thrashed by hand. In a few years the pioneers were able to change to more modern methods and could raise more wheat. New machinery and a market for the wheat soon became available.

A few of the pioneers did not go in exclusively for wheat farming. Almost all raised some sort of stock for domestic as wall as for market purposes. By 1890 Lincoln County had 1327 farms with an average of 303 acres apiece. Of those only 29 had less than 100 acres, 1175 between 100 and 500 acres, and 123 with more than 500 acres. These farms were still rather heavily stock with animals.

In the early pioneer days settlers had to go to Walla Walla, Colfax, or Spokane to trade and buy the main products they needed. There were small country stores along the main roads where they could buy a small variety of groceries and other supplies. These trips were made only a few times a year for early transportation was on very poor roads and by horseback or horse and buggy or wagon.

Many of the early pioneers lacked money and had to borrow or use credit. The rates of interest were very high on borrowed money until banks and mortgage companies were established in the eighties or nineties. The village and small town merchants were generally liberal in their extension of credit to the early pioneers.

Because of the lack of logs or lumber, the earliest homes in the county were dugouts. Pioneers had to travel 60 to 100 miles to get logs or lumber fro cabins. All the houses built by the pioneers and much of the furniture also.

The nearest neighbors of a pioneer family were usually 3 to 15 miles away. Th neighbors swapped work with each other and helped each other in time of sickness or disaster. The only recreation were the dances, parties and other get-togethers of the neighbors. Everyone from miles around came to these gatherings.

The first schools were usually private subscription schools running for a few weeks or months. When there was enough children in a community, a schoolhouse was built. The schoolhouses were used for practically all social gatherings in the community. The children often had to ride miles to school.

Religious services were first held by ministers traveling through, in homes or the schoolhouse. Camp meetings and revivals were also held that lasted a week or more. Later, small churches were built.

There were very few doctors in the early pioneer days. The people had to do the best they could for themselves and help each other. In the late eighties, doctors came into the small towns and established practices extending to the surrounding country.

With open ranges it took many years to repress stock stealing in this country. As the land was settled and fenced and the stock sold off, stock rustling practically disappeared from most communities. The only other civil disorder, typical of frontier communities, was the “wild times” that a few gangs of cowboys would stage occasionally in the small towns.

In the late 1860s, former miners, government freighters, and other settlers started locating ranches in the territory which is now Lincoln County. The first roads were constructed over some of the more frequently used Indian trails. The town of Davenport is now located by a spring which once served as an over-night camping place for travelers. The early settlers traveled to Walla Walla for all their supplies on a trip that took several days both going and coming back. Sprague was the first town in Lincoln County territory of importance, mainly because of a division station the Northern Pacific Railroad had there.

In 1879 the first school was organized in Lincoln County territory. The building had formerly been used as one of the first Post Offices in the vicinity. The small one room log structure was located near the present town of Mondovi. Records show that men instructor were given a salary of $39.00 a month and women instructor $31.00 a month.

Fort Spokane, built in 1880, was established on the northern edge of Lincoln County, adjacent to the Spokane River, for protection against the Indians, who had cause a great deal of trouble in the past. Soldier were maintained there until the Spanish-American War; some of the buildings were later moved to Fort George Wright, near Spokane. A few of the old buildings are still standing, and the town of Miles is now established nearby.

Lincoln County was originally part of the territory in Walla Walla county. Later it became part of Spokane County. A division of Spokane County and the creation of Lincoln County passed the house November 1, 1883. Four days later Lincoln County lost approximately half its territory to form Douglas County.

Lincoln County was to be named Sprague County, after John W. Sprague, at the time the general superintendent and agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It was later decided that naming the county after a person who had already passed away, there would be no chance of the name disgracing the people. Other counties nearby were named after great Americans, thus the name of Lincoln was chosen.

Sprague was to be the original site of the county seat, but through an influential man who controlled part of the township of Davenport, the bill was amended to name Davenport as the temporary county seat. The bill passed the house, but not without opposition. Thus the first county seat fight in Lincoln county occurred prior to the creation of the county.

In 1884 a general election was held to vote on the permanent location of the county seat. Sprague and Davenport became the main contenders. Feelings were still quite strong between the two towns so both went all out to win the election. Votes on both towns were in excess of their population. With Sprague receiving the majorities. Charges of fraud were preferred by both communities, but nothing could be proven. The commissioners gave orders for the offices to be moved, but the residents of Davenport protested. They immediately set up armored guards inside and outside to prevent the removal of the records.

The Territorial Government was called on for aid in securing the records, but failed to obtain them. Roads leading into Davenport were lined for three weeks by armed men guarding the records. The men finally grew tired of standing watch and returned to their families. Sprague was waiting for this opportunity and immediately sent an armed force into Davenport. The surrounded the records, which were taken to their respective offices in Sprague.

In 1885 the first county jail was built in Sprague, at a total cost of approximately $10,000.

In 1887 the first telephone communications were installed in Davenport, the first in the county, to Spokane. The second railroad, the Northern Pacific, was also built in Lincoln County in 1887. It ran from the present track at Cheney, through Davenport and on to Coulee City. The railroad brought more travel through the county and the population started increasing steadily.

In 1888 another railroad, the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern, was built in the county running from Spokane to Davenport. The Seattle company later went broke. When the Seattle Company was laying irons to the crossing of the Northern Pacific track, the Northern Pacific people refused their permission to cross their track, and barred the crossing with a locomotive. The Seattle Company had somehow obtained some material belonging to the Northern Pacific Company, and as soon as they provided their own, they were allowed to put in the crossing.

The year 1889 was a blow the early settler of Lincoln County. Times had been fairly hard, and this year seemed to be the best yet for crops. The grand crop was the largest they had ever raised, but a sudden withering blight of steady hot winds, followed by a siege of dry hot weather caused the farmer to lose half their crops.

Luck seemed to be against these early settlers, for in 1890 Lincoln County had one of the worst snow storms in its history. The settlers were without communications for more than a week. The town of Wilbur was cut off from the outside for 31 days. Another fierce snow storm followed soon after. During this one winter there was a loss of 80 to 90 percent of the stock.

A fire in Sprague in 1895, which destroyed most of the town, and the moving of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company’s division headquarters, were tragedies to the town.

In 1896, after much petitioning, another election was held on the location of the county seat. Sprague, Harrington and Davenport became candidates. The Davenport residents argued that the county seat should be more centrally located in the county and also agreed to replace without any expense to the county, county buildings similar to those in Sprague, move the records, give land to the county for the building and in 1897 a courthouse was erected, which after a few additions and other changes is still being used today.

The courthouse at Sprague was sold and is today [1959] the St. Joseph’s Academy, the only private school in the county [this closed in 1965].

The great man-hunt for desperado, Harry Tracy, came to a close in Lincoln County in 1902. He had escaped from the penitentiary in Oregon and in his flight, killed two men. He came to a farm in Creston and the boy, who notified the sheriff, led them there. A posse was soon formed and closed in on Tracy. Several shots were fired that evening and a guard was kept all night. At dawn they found Tracy dead. Besides having been hit by a bullet, his leg was broken. It is believed that Tracy took his own life after his leg was broken since the bullet was fired from his own gun.

Lincoln County had gradually grown in population, town, and changed throughout the following years, keeping up with the other counties ahead of some to become one of the richest counties in the state. The major industry is wheat, and the county now ranks second in the state for wheat production, and about fourth in the United States.