The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., January 28, 1960, page 7

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERS EXCHANGE EARLY-DAY STORIES

     The county historical society meeting at Lyle January 16 brought to light a number of small tales and anecdotes, bits of history related by persons at the meeting. The following are typical:

     In connection with comments about the weather, Mrs. Clark, O.P. Kreps, William O'Neil and others said it was common practice to cross the Columbia on ice in the days when Lyle was first settled. Mrs. Clark said her older brother, Van Sorensen, used to put sand on the ice for traction and hauled wheat across the ice; she remembered hogs being driven across the ice to market and said that as a girl she had walked the ice from Lyle to Rowena.
     O.P. Kreps said that in the first years his father spent in the Mt. Adams country, freeze-up of the river was looked forward to look as market time for cattlemen of Glenwood, or Camas Prairie. It was their custom to band together, four or five the driving the mutual herd to the Dalles. In those days they were paid off in gold, and it soon became obvious that one did not trust his neighbors, for he always contrived to give them the slip and make his way home alone.

FIRST SETTLERS HARDY

     Kreps, added that the early settlers were hardy and rugged to a degree unknown today. It was said of George Lyle, son of J.O. Lyle, for whom the town was named, that when he was in a hurry to go to The Dalles he plunged in and swam the river. At other times he rowed across in a boat, swimming his saddle horse behind it.
     Someone else recalled friendship with Lillie Olson, daughter of pioneers at Lyle, who as a girl helped her father row a boat loaded with farm produce from Lyle to The Dalles at various times.
     Another member recalled that during a period of high water a boatman brought a small boat into the vineyard of Mr. Balfour, who rather indignantly said "get your boat out of my vineyard!" To which the boatman replied with spirit "get your vineyard out of my river!"
     Curtis Gould, Lyle School Superintendent, who recorded on tape portions of the meeting at for the benefit of Lyle high school students, said some students had asked about the roadway blasted from the rocks above the highway tunnel east of Lyle.

EARLY HIGHWAY

     It was explained by oldsters present as one of the first attempts to build a highway up the north bank. The work was done by convicts billeted in a "stockade" set up adjacent to the site. The project had been inspired by Samuel Hill, who exerted tremendous pressure to get the highway put through.
     The rock work was never finished, though a considerable bit of highway was blasted and hewn along the basalt cliffs during the life of the job. William O'Neil placed the time as 1912 to 1915. It was brought out that one convict was killed on the job and "was buried in our cemetery."
     Kreps added that convict labor had been utilized for a portion of work on the Klickitat Northern R.R. During the work near Fisher bridge, one convict escaped by leaping into the river and swimming away.
     Mention of construction of the railroad brought out the story of the Indian chief, Skookum Wallahee. Skookum sold right-of-way across his lands after an extended period of negotiation. Contractors were way ahead of the land agent and Skookum, according to O.P. Kreps, had his own way of the hastening the settlement. Every day he went high up on the hill and rolled rocks down on the workmen. "Me rollem rock -- pretty soon they settle," he told friends, and when the settlement was made Skookum chose a lifetime pass in lieu of cash payment.

ON FIRST TRAIN

     When the first line was put in operation, Skookum was ready to ride the first train, which stopped to pick him up. Every day he would flag down a train, ride to Goldendale and return. Eventually the crews tired of stopping to let the old boy on and off, and some of the stops were mere slow-downs.
     After one such occasion the chief, almost cured of riding trains, showed up with his head skinned and black and blue from bruises. "Me almost go to Jesus yesterday," he confided to Kreps. After that, his train riding was limited.
     "Old Skookum may not have looked very big," Kreps observed, "but he was high enough up the Indian ladder that he was invited to Washington two or three times to visit the Great White Father. Once he remarked at our house, "Smellum good - all same like White House. (He wanted us to know he had been there.)"
     "My father, brothers and I grazed cattle on Skookum land for years. In his last year he sat on the floor of his dwelling and died a slow death. He sent four us, and said "Soon me memaloose. After me memaloose you no bring more cattle to pasture. Though Dad protested the old man persisted, and we lived up to his direction. No OK cattle ever ran on Skookum's land again, although we were approached many times with offers of pasturage on what had been his land.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer