1951-07-15-sr-p59-colville-road
July 15, 1951 Spokesman-Review Page 59:
COLVILLE ROAD
Oldest of the pioneer highways
THE Colville road is the oldest of the pioneer highways; Indi explorers and mis- sionaries made their way from the Snake river north along the old trails west of the Palouse to the and then on by the way of the Chamokane Creek valley, a natural route to the Colville valley, which
on to the Columbia river at Ket- tle Falls. Not only did the ter- rain indicate the route in a n- eral way, but it seemed to fit into the travel needs of both the In- dians and the whites. There were some variations; the Spokane House traders followed an Indian trail on the north bank of the Spokane river to reach the Col- ville trails—a route which David Thompson went over several times.
This old route was first used as a military road in 1859, the same year that Mullan’s work was started but the road that he planned in that year was aban- doned when it was found that it would be impracticable to go around Lake Coeur d’Alene on the south side and it was not until 1860 that work was under- taken along the route which be- eame the historic Mullan Road.
From the Snake river:to Cow creek, a distance of 25 miles, the Colville and the Mullan roads were identical, but here they di- verged. The Mullan road_turned northeastward to the Spokane river where Antoine Plante’s ferry furnished a crossing, while ‘the Colville road went on to the north past Sprague lake, which David Thompson saw in 1811. From here the road _ passed through southeastern Lincoln and northwestern Spokane counties. After leaving Rock creek and Willow springs, a well-known camping place, it ran about 5 miles west of me creek in sec- tion 29, Twp. 25 N., R. 40 EWM, crossed Coulee creek at the forks and on to the “Winding Ford” in the Spokane River.
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The establishment of Fort Col- ville and the Colville Military road were both developments that grew out of the Indian wars of 1855-58. Although the Indians of north Washington had _ not taken part before 1858 in the hos- tilities that began in 1855, their sympathies were on the side of the hostiles, as they keenly real- ized that the coming of large numbers of settlers endangered the way of life they had followed for uncounted generations.
“In the fall of 1857, when the white population of the Colville valley was not more than 250, the increasing unfriendliness of the Indians brought about the or- ganization of a voluntary local
overnment and petitions asking
‘or the location of a company of soldiers for the protection of the people in the valley were sent to the military authorities. In May. 1858, Lt. Col. Steptoe, comman- dant at Fort Walla Walla, de- cided to examine the situation in the region north of the Snake; but he was stopped and defeated in an engagement near Rosalia by a combined force of Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Palouse In- dians.
The next clash between In- dians and whites occurred in the Okanogan country when a party of 167 miners and packers on their way to the Fraser river rs diggings were stopped at Mc- Loughlin canyon by the Indians, and three white men were killed. The party, however, outflanked the Indian tion and went on to the mining country north of the international border. Then in September of the same year, 1858, Colonel Wright, with a large and well-equipped force, invaded the Spokane country, defeated the Indians in open field engage- ments, destroyed their her of horses, took hostages, and hung a number of Indians who were
By Dr. C. S. Kingston ; Professor Emeritus of History, Eastern Washington College.
charged with the murders of ci-
viliams and other atrocities. After the suppression of Indian resistance it was decided to es- tablish army posts in strategic lo- cations to maintain re- dians and
the loca-
spring
Lougenbeel, with two i of infantry, marched from Walla Walla to the Colville valley and eonstructed the buildings for a four-company army ereek about three mi present city of Colville. This was called Fort Colville, U. S. A., and is not to be confused with Fort Colville of the Hudson’s Bay company, which was on the Co- lumbia- river some 15 miles dis- tant. During the winter of 1859- 66 two more companies of sol- diers that had been detailed to protect the engineers of the Boundary commission were also quartered at Fort Colville, to- gether with the Boundary com- mission engineers.
A few hundred yards from Fort Colville there grew up a little satellite town that_ was known as Pinkney City or Pink- neyville, from the first name of Major Longenbeel. The name was
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The author, Dr. Kingston.changed to “Fort Colville” in 1868, but there was something in the name “Pinkney City” that has kept it alive to the present day, although there is nothing there today—hardly a wide spot in the road—to remind the passer-by that here was once the county seat of old Spokane county when in the early 1860s it extended from the Columbia river to the Rocky mountains. A correspondent of the Pacific Tribune (Olympia) of July 8, 1865, stated that about 60 fami- lies were living in the valley at that time. Of the town he wrote: “Pinkney City, the county seat,
located on a tributary of the Col- ville, deserves a passing notice. The town contains IL or 20
houses, three stores, one saloon, brewery and a blacksmith shop. Churches and schools have not yet come into fashion . . .
. . . The present permanent population of the place consists of about 10 whites, 10 Indians, the same number of Chinamen and from 75 to 100 Cayuse horses. During winter, however, it is usu- ally the headquarters of quite a mining population from the Koo-
tenai and Columbia, at which time it is said to be very lively. os
It was the trading center for the northeastern part of the ter- ritory and its merchants sup- plied the needs of both the, set- tlers and the soldiers at the post. Goods sold here were bought from wholesale dealers, brought up the Columbia in river steam- boats, unloaded at Wallula, the river port of Walla Walla, and then carried on wagons—some- times on pack mules—all the way
to Colville, a distance of some 250 miles.
A surprising amount of oe was carried to Pinkney City. Statesman ( ber 23, 1864) mentions a wagon train of six- mule teams be i to Fa G00
& Co. bri in 5d,
son
a of merchandise, and that his was one of six —_ during the season. The Colville settle- ment was far away and isolated; Saree. transportation costs were heavy. W. P. Winans, one of the Colville merchants, r paying $1950 in 1863 on 13,000 = s of merchandise from Wal- ula to Colville. This averages 15 cents a pound. Im 1856 he states that he paid 12% cents a ——. or $250 a ton from Wal- ula to Colville and sold coffee at 75 cents a pound, sugar 50 cents, salt 25 cents, nails cents, shot 50 cents, a spooi of thread 25 cents and a paper of needles the same.
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The long road to Walla Walla and Wallula was now known as the Colville Military road. Where improvements were necessary, soldiers were detailed for the work; but the crossing of the Spokane river was left to private enterprise. When the river was low the old “winding ford” pro- vided a means: of crossing; but now, with the military establish- ment and the increasing growth of civilian population in the val- ley, a more dependable link in the line of communications was necessary. This meant, first, a regular ferry and later the build- ing of a bridge.
‘he first ferry was put in by J. R. Bates in 1859 and ferry service was maintained by a_suc- cession of owners until 1867, when a toll bridge was completed. Authorization for this bridge had been granted by the territorial assembly to William Nix and James Monaghan in an act dat- ed January 11, 1866. The prep. erty was sold, according to A P. Winana, about 1875, to Joseph LaPray, who operated the bridge for-many years. The site is now covered by the backwater from the Long Lake dam.
In the 1860s and 1870s_ the Colville military road from Walla Walla and Wallula continued to be the principal means by which the Colville valley and Fort Col- ville were supplied with merchan- dise and mulitary requirements from the outside world. Some freight was hauled from White Bluffs, but most of the freight wagons were operated by men who had their homes either in the Colville valley or in the Walla Walla country, and they pre- ferred the older route across the
Snake river and thence north- ward.
The situation altogether changed in the 1880s with the building of the Northern Pacific railroad. The line reached Spo-
kane Falls from the west in 1881, and this point now became the supply center for northeastern Washington. In that same year the old road from Cottonwood Creek south of Chewelah, which had been cut through the woods in 1867 by the inhabitants of the Colville valley to reach Spokane bridge was improved with some changes by detachments of the men from the fort, under the command of Captain Hunter, with John Hefstetter as overseer who had laid out the original 14 years before. From Spokane Falls this road was shorter by several miles than the old milli- tary road by way of the LaPray bridge and Walker’s Prairie. Consequently, most of the freight and travel now crossed the Little Spokane by a bridge south of Chattaroy and then on ast Loon lake on the height of and between the Spokane and Colville river drainage systems.
This continued to be the freight- ing road until D. C._ Corbin’s Spokane Falls and Northern
railroad was completed in 1
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This was used as a military road in 1359, the year Mul-
lan started his road. This article is the second in a series which Dr. Kingston has written for the Inland Empire Magazine. The first, on the Mullan road, ap-
in the July 1 issue. The next article will be on the Kentuck trail. All of the roads and trails covered in this series were the pioneer routes of this region, the fore- runners of today’s roads and highways. Readers are advised to save these maps and articles, affording as they do an excellent sidelight on region history. The auther, professor emeritus of history at Eastern Wash- ington college, Cheney, is the dean of region historians.
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, JULY 15. 1951
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