The Grandview  Herald, Grandview, WA., April 5, 1979, page 10
Includes  photographs as well as portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Bickle.
Permission granted by Mrs. Bardwell for use here.

CHARLES BICKLE'S TOWN 100 YEARS OLD
By Ruth Bardwell

     A century ago, in April of 1879, the travel-weary leader of a group of pioneers prepared to camp for the night. "I'm not going any farther now," the leader said. This is how the town of Bickleton was founded 100 years ago.
     The area was not new to Charles Bickle and his family. They had tried to settle the year before in the Alder Creek area, but fear of an Indian uprising had driven them back to Goldendale.
     Plans were made to build a fort at Goldendale in 1878, but timely intervention by United States Army troops quelled the uprising before the settlers had time to build up their fort.
     Indians were the first inhabitants of the Bickleton area, but Charles Nathaniel Bickle and the David Ransier family were the first white settlers.
     To Charles Bickle the land high above the Yakima Valley to the north, and towering over the Columbia River to the south held promise.
     With his vision, he saw past the Simcoe Mountains' yellow pine and oak forests and beyond the tall bunch grass waving in the ever-present westerly winds. He saw past the rocky sage brush plains and envisioned a prosperous town surrounded by fertile farms.
     And his vision came true. The town didn't grow to the magnitude he had dreamed, but the area became one of Washington's most productive grain producers.
     His choice was wise because the Bickleton country is situated on a high, dry plateau furnished with adequate moisture. The area has never known a complete crop failure.
     Charles Bickle, the second son of 20 children, was born to William and Sarah (Witherell) Bickle in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. His birthday was March 20, 1850.
     He grew to be a slight man, not over five feet, six inches in height. He neither drink alcoholic beverages, nor partook of tobacco. He was 29 years old and the father of five children by the time he and his wife arrived at the Bickleton site.
     Bickle married Fanny Eliza Bacon in her homestate of Iowa in 1869. His bride was born in Illinois on June 12, 1856. She was 13 and he was 19 years old at the time of their marriage. She, too, was of slight build, being not over five feet, five inches tall. It is believed that she suffered from some form of heart trouble; however, this sturdy little pioneer mother gave birth to 17 children during her lifetime.
     Charles and Fanny Bickle were farmers, and the call to travel West seem to forever lure them.
     The recorded birth of their children indicate their progress westward. Charles Edward was born in Iowa in 1871. The Bickles farmed there for three years.
     William Horatio was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1872, during the two years the family farmed in that state.
     The family moved on to Kansas and spent three years in that state. During that time Phoebe Elmira was born in 1874, and George in 1876. George was the first Bickle child called by death. He died on the day of his birth.
     The lure of the West could be evaded no longer and the family traveled by train to San Francisco, California. Minnie Alice was born in 1878 while the family spent three months waiting for a boat to take them to Oregon.
     The family took a smaller boat from Portland upstream. They disembarked at some small river town which has long since vanished. Historians don't know whether the family first settled in Goldendale or whether they settled first at a location on Alder Creek. It is recorded, however, that the family found the Indians too numerous and hostile. The fear of an uprising drove them to Goldendale in 1878. The Bickles set up a store in Goldendale and remained there until 1879.
     The Goldendale Valley with fairly well settled by standards of the day. The land that Charles Bickle loved lay east of Rock Creek, near the upper end of Alder Creek.
     There the land rolled gently. It would provide the family with wood and water, and also provided them with good farmland. He decided to make their home at this site.
     Accordingly, the courageous pioneer decided to fight it out, if necessary, with the Indians.
     Due too a technicality in the law, Bickle was unable to homestead the land of his choice. His brother-in-law, John Skiller, took the homestead title and shortly thereafter deeded it back to Bickle.
     The Bickles set up a store in a tent soon after settling on their land. The family operated out of the tent while Bickle hauled the lumber from Goldendale to build a permanent store. A trip over the present road from Bickleton to Goldendale gives a modern-day traveler an idea of what a staggering task it must have been.
     Rock Creek Canyon extends from the Columbia River to the Simcoe Mountains. If the pioneers traversed the present road, they had a tremendous canyon to descend into. If they chose to cross nearer the mountains, their pathway was strewn with huge boulders and a mass of pine and oak trees mixed with a verdant growth of underbrush.
     Although Indian uprisings seemed to be a thing of the past, problems with an occasional Indian were still a possibility. And it may be stated that each time a wagon loaded with lumber arrived safely back at the fledgling town, a sigh of relief was breathed by those who eagerly awaited its return.
     But the store was built and became the first store east of Rock Creek in Klickitat County. It was also the first public building between Goldendale and Fort Simcoe. LeRoy Weaver assisted Bickle in this first venture.
     The store carried a small stock of staple groceries, some hardware and a few patent medicines.
     Its confectionery department consisted of 30-pound wooden pails, one each of horehound, peppermint and pink and white candy.
     Supplies were bought at Portland and The Dalles, and shipped up the Columbia River by boat to Coyle's Landing (a small landing port no longer in existence). Supplies were ordered in large quantities and hauled by a team and wagon to the new town.
     Weather dictated when supplies could be delivered, and all necessities had to be hauled before the snow fell or before the spring thaws. Horses would sink almost to their knees and wagons would mire down to their hub caps during muddy trips.
     Receipts from the Bickle store indicate that when possible Bickle traversed the long, rough road to the Columbia at least once a month. He went to the small river towns, then by boat, to make purchases for his store. On Dec. 7, 1887, he purchased five kegs of blasting powder for $12.50 and one keg of Q.S. blasting powder for $7. Cartage and ferriage cost him another 50 cents.
     Blasting powder was an essential to all frontier farmers. It was the fast way to remove large tree stumps and huge rocks from their land. They placed a charge of dynamite under a stump or rock, lighted its fuse and ran for cover.
     Dynamite was also the cause of many injuries. Some settlers lost a hand, an arm or an eye when an early explosion occurred. The black powder was the source of much infestation, and many pioneer endured various home remedies in an effort to save a hand or arm after the explosion.
     At Arlington, Oregon, on May 24, 1884, Bickle purchased 31½ pounds of full cream cheese. A.C. Fry, dealer in Staple and Fancy groceries, also dealt in cigars and tobacco and smokers' supplies. His invoice also read, "I carry a complete stock of books and stationery, dolls and doll carriages, boy's express wagons, toys, bird cages and lamp's. We buy all kinds country produce."
     Undoubtedly the large Bickle wagon and traveled to the river towns laden with saleable items from the early settler in Bickleton. Eggs could be exchanged for precious amounts of sugar. Home cured bacon could find its way to Portland from some small pioneer homes. In exchange, yardage for shirts or dresses would return to the little one room cabins to become a Sunday dress or shirt for a Bickleton resident.
     The Bickle home was a large frame house with five bedrooms on the upper floor.
     The home furnished shelter and temporary accommodations to many who traveled through the area. The Bickles encouraged families to settle in the area, and they often provided shelter for them while arrangements were being made.
     While life in the big, new home could not have been lonely for Mrs. Bickle, there was a sadness for her. She longed for some of her own relatives.
     An old Indian once remarked to Bickle, "You skoocum man. Have papoose every year!" Although this was a slight exaggeration, but Bickles became the parents of 11 children during the 17 years they resided at the Bickleton.
     Eva Belle was born February 4, 1880; Charles LeRoy "Roy", May 3, 1881; Fannie Josephine, September 9, 1882; Fannie Marriah, March 10, 1884; Frederick John, Jan. 3, 1886; Grace Harriet, Dec. 13, 1887; David James, April 18, 1889; Ida Louise, March 5, 1891; Helena Dora, Jan. 16, 1894; a stillborn child was born May 13, 1895, and Adelia was born May 10, 1896. Harry Thomas was born on Oct. 13, 1900, after the family moved to Prosser. The loss of only three children in infancy is a tribute to the parents of this large family. George died the day of his birth in Kansas. Fannie Josephine died at 13 months and is buried at the M.E. Cemetery at Bickleton. The stillborn child was the third death.
     During the years that this large family was being raised, contagious diseases sometimes ran rampant. The John Cash family lost five of their children during the flu epidemic of 1899.
     Yet, these two pioneers managed to raise 14 of their brood to full adulthood. There were times when the brave little mother must have wondered if she would ever see them safely through childhood in the little farming town.
     The Indians were wont, on the occasions, to parade through town in full war paint and regalia. It is told that Mrs. Bickle would gather her children in the living rooms in the back of the store, and she kept them there until the Indians had passed.
     When times were plentiful, the Bickle, Skiller, Ransier, and other neighboring children played in the nearby rivers. They fished in the small creek or played in the pine and oak trees.
     The little girls found mud to make mud pies and mud cakes. They baked them in the hot summer sun while they played with their dolls.
     The boys found fun in climbing trees and chewing the little lumps of pitch sap that formed on pines. No doubt many a pioneer mother scolded her wandering son when he returned with the sticky pitch stuck on his clothes. She removed the pungent smelling pitch by either grubbing lard or butter in it. She undoubtedly gave him a thorough scolding for causing her so much work. The soiled clothes then had to be washed by hand on a washboard in hot, soapy water to remove the combined grease and softened pine sap.
     The customers who traded at the Bickle store were the farmers who had settled in the sheltered places in canyons, by creeks, or in the mountains where water was accessible. They sometimes chose to settle in the timber where fuel was more readily available. For the most part, they lived in one room homestead cabins.
     Indians came to barter, loll in the sparse shade or participate in their own games.
     Fences were built of rails or rock, depending on which was the most available. Land was cleared and gardens were planted. Almost all gardens included gooseberries and currant bushes, and, later on, a family orchard.
     As late as 1880 there were no fences south of Bickleton and a pioneer once remarked, "You can turn a horse out and he could wander clear to Walla Walla unchecked."
     In the winter of 1881, snow fell to great depths. Cattle that roamed the area froze to death. Before spring melted the snows the settlers constructed homemade snowshoes and skinned the dead animals. They sold by hides to Bickle. He bailed them and hauled them to Portland where he sold the lot for $3,000.
     Bickleton grew by leaps and bound. In October, 1880, Samuel P. Flower joined Bickle, organizing the firm of Bickle and Flower. That year Flower also built a blacksmith shop. By 1882 the thriving town had a drugstore, a general store, a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a pharmacy erected by Clarence Flower.
     Bickle formerly platted his town in 1882. The government also granted his petition for a post office and he was the first postmaster.
     In 1883, J.C. Chamberlain erected Bickleton's second store, and in 1885 Dr. Hamilton Blair, a pioneer physician arrived. In 1886, Harvey Emigh opened a meat market. 
     School came to Bickleton in 1880. Settlers around Bickleton organized school district No. 28 and built a small box-type school house by voluntary subscription. The building was constructed during the winter of 1880-81. About a dozen students were instructed by H.C. Hackley. A widow, a Mrs. Osborne, taught the second term. And so it was, about one and one-half years after the Bickles arrived at their town site, and before it was platted, their children were being educated.
     About the same time, the settlers formed a stock company and built a public hall measuring 20 by 40 feet in size. It was located across from Bickle's store. In the course of the next two or three years, all of the stock came into the possession of Bickle and Flower, who in 1884, donated the building to the school district. At the same time, Mr. Bickle gave an acre of land for the school site. Another site was also offered by J.C. Sigler, but it was not accepted.
     The Bickle site was on the eastern side of town on a commanding knoll. The hall was moved there and converted into a school house. It served the district until 1897.
     It was then moved and a two-story frame structure was erected. The building housed eight grades. The contract had been let for $1,300, and history records that a much better building was constructed than could have ordinarily be expected for that amount.
     The history of Charles Bickle is crammed with the efforts of a man contributing continually to his town. He was postmaster for 12 years, and the first year he carried the mails at his own expense. In conjunction with his store he conducted a hotel and a livery stable. He also donated land for the sites of the Methodist Church and its parsonage. He was a member of the Independent Order of Oddfellows and attained the rank of past grand.
     Bickleton's first great disaster came about noon on April 27, 1887. Fire broke out in Samuel Flower's new dwelling and before the flames were subdued, every business house in the town, except the blacksmith shop, was burned.
     The aggregate loss was not less than $25,000 of which Flower and Bickle's loss was about $15,000 with only $6,000 insurance.
     Ten days after the fire, the enterprising team of Bickle and Flower were doing business in a tent. Shortly after that Bickle began the construction of a very spacious hotel. Flower reconstructed his drug store and several others erected buildings all better than those destroyed by fire.
     In 1892, Charles Chapman opened a second general store. In 1893, Samuel Flower moved to Mabton and his brother, Charles, took his place in the firm of Bickle and Flower. During these times, Bickleton made a very rapid growth, aided by the development of the farm lands around it.
     Bickle's dream of a large and flourishing town never materialized. The isolated area atop the high plateau failed to lure construction of a railroad. The railroad companies chose to run their rails along the Yakima and Columbia Rivers. The products grown on the high area had to be hauled to the Columbia River for barge or railroad transfer.
     Products going to Yakima were hauled down the steep grades to Mabton, Prosser or Sunnyside. It was a disappointing blow to the pioneers who had longed to hear the howl of a locomotive's whistle as it hauled their wheat, cattle, sheep and farm produce to market.
     In 1897 the Bickle family moved to a farm near Prosser. Their home was built on 190 acres of land. This land was all under irrigation and contained 70 acres of timothy and clover. The balance was devoted to orchard and other farm crops.
     Later the Bickles purchased land in the Grandview area. A large frame house was built at the south end of Appleway Road. The property was later known as the Parker place.
     Members of the Bickle family bartered horses, and the Grandview ranch was often a stopping spot for herds that were being driven to other points for sale.
     Fannie Bickle died in Grandview on Nov. 9, 1904. She was buried in Prosser. Mr. Bickle later married Phoebe Marks.
     Bickle moved to Seattle in 1910. He continued his real estate activities until his last illness. He died June 25, 1931, at the age of 81 years. He was involved in an automobile accident and spent the last nine months of his life bedfast because of his injuries. His body was returned to Prosser for burial.
     Two children survive Charles and Fanny Bickle. They are Mrs. Helen Dora Clark, 85, of Gait, California, and Harry Thomas Bickle, 78, of Vancouver, Canada.
     As the small grass seeds of the Bickleton country are flung to far places by the ever present winds of the area, so too have the Bickleton children and their children's children.
     The wind still sings through the grasses, and in the summer it undulates the huge fields of ripening wheat into ripples of gold. And the sea of golden grain far exceeds the dreams of a modest man of a century ago.
     Charles Bickle may well be proud of the town and the area that bears his name. And this month it is 100 years old.





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