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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., November 13, 1909, page 3

THE EARLY HISTORY OF KLICKITAT COUNTY

Some time in the spring of 1859 Amos Stark came to the Klickitat valley and built a log house. There was no settler then in all of that country. Save for the soldiers at the blockhouse and a few roving Indians, the entire district to the north of the Columbia was unpopulated. Mr. Stark was obliged to build his cabin alone, as there was no one to whom he could apply for aid, but he managed to raise the logs by sliding them up inclined skids. First he would pull one end up a distance with a rope, then fasten it and work the other end up a little way. By this means he managed to raise the logs although the process was tediously slow. He finally by this method completed the walls without assistance, then covered the structure with roof. He thereupon went back to California where he meant Stanton M. Jones, whose acquaintance he had previously made. They planned to return to Klickitat county together, but Mr. Jones was delayed for a few weeks in California by business affairs, so Stark came back alone, Jones following a little later.
During Stark's absence in California a number of settlers had arrived in the valley. Among the first of these were Willis Jenkins and family. Willis Jenkins was one of the earliest settlers in Oregon. He had brought his family across the plains as early as 1844 and had settled in Polk county, near the present town of Dallas. In 1849 he moved to California to the nearly discovered gold fields. During the first winter there he washed out about seven thousand dollars in gold dust, most of which he invested in merchandise. The following spring he returned with his goods to Oregon, where he started a store. As most of his neighbors had likewise sought their fortunes in the new El Dorado, money was about the only thing that was plentiful and Mr. Jenkins dispose of his merchandise at a good profit. From Polk county he moved to Wilbur, a small settlement in southern Oregon named for Father Wilbur, and there he also kept a store and a wayside lodging house. He lived at Wilbur during the Rogue River war. Later the family moved to Forest Grove, in Washington county, and finally in the summer of 1859 he came to Klickitat. They settled near the blockhouse, where the garrison was stationed, and when, in 1860, the soldiers were removed Jenkins filed on the claim. They brought with them to Klickitat one hundred and fifty head of cattle and a few horses.
The Jenkins family were not yet settled in the valley when Lewis S. Parrott and his son-in-law, John J. Golden, came. With the Parrots and Goldens came the Tarter family, also from the Willamette. Mr. Golden preceded the party into the valley, arriving with a large herd of cattle July 9th, 1859, to the best of his recollection. They settled on the swale, a few miles southwest of the site of Goldendale; John Golden afterward moved to Columbus and lived there for a time. The party brought with them herds of stock, as did most of the early settlers. While living at Columbus, Mr. Golden took a contract to deliver one hundred cords of wood to the boats and wood hauling soon afterward became one of the chief industries of the county.
A little later John W. Burgen and his brother Thomas came, also bringing in a large herd of cattle and horses. In 1868 John Burgen settled on the Columbus road, near Swale Creek, about four miles south of the site of Goldendale. His family have ever since occupied this place, to which forty-four years ago he purchased the prior right of a young man for a twenty-dollar greenback. Here, in the following year, his son Newton, to whom belongs the distinction of being the first white child born in Klickitat, was born. The first house built on the place, a substantial log one, is still standing, although it has long ago been replaced as a residence by a more comfortable dwelling. Thomas Burgen also settled in the valley for a time, but in 1864 moved to Chamberlain Flats, where his family still live.
Among the others who came into the valley during the first year was Mortimer Thorp, who settled on the site of Goldendale. His house stood just north of the lot on which the Methodist Church now is. Alfred Henson settled just below Thorp, building a cabin, and Charles Splawn settled near what is known as the Alexander place. Just above his was Calvin Pell. John Nelson and Robert Carter led farther down the Swale, Alfred Allen and A.H. Curtis lived at Rockland Flats across from The Dalles. Besides those mentioned there were also Jacob Hallstead, James Clark, Nelson Whitney, William Murphy, Captain McFarland and his son Neil; Francis Venables, Marion Stafford, Jacob Gulliiford, and Tim Chamberlain, who came to Chamberlain Flats some time during the year. In all about fifteen families passed the winter of 1859-60, in Klickitat county.
The Klickitat country was so thinly settled in 1859 that it was generally considered by the citizens of the new district that the necessity for county organization had not yet arisen. Few people were anxious to hasten a time when they will be required to pay taxes, especially when no apparent benefits is to be derived from their payment. The territorial government, however, insisted that the settlers must organize and pay taxes. As early as December 20, 1859, it passed an act setting off Klickitat as a separate county and naming officers for the new organization.
As this act is of interest as being the first reference in the statues to Klickitat county, it is given in verbatim below:

AN ACT

To Create an Organize the County of Clicatat.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington:

Section 1. That all portion of Washington Territory embraced within the following boundaries, to-wit: commencing in the middle of the Columbia River, five miles below the mouth of the Clicatat river; thence north to the summit of the mountains, the divide between the waters of the Clicatat and Yakima rivers; thence east, along said divide, to a point north of the mouth of Rock Creek; thence south to the middle of the Columbia river; thence along the channel of said river to the place of beginning. The same is hereby constituted into a separate county, to be known and called Clicatat county.
Section 2. The said territory shall compose a county for civil and military purposes, and shall be under the same laws, rules, regulations and restrictions, as all other counties in the Territory of Washington, and entitled to elect the same officers as other counties are entitled to elect.
Section 3. That the county seat of said county, be, and the same is hereby, temporarily located on the land claim of Alfred Allen.
Section 4. That Alfred Allen, Robert Tarter and Jacob Hallstead be, and the same are hereby, appointed a board of county commissioners; and that Willis Jenkins be, and he is hereby, appointed probate judge; that James Clark be, and he is hereby, appointed sheriff; that Nelson Whitney be, and he is hereby, appointed county auditor; that Edwin Grant be, and he is hereby, appointed treasurer; that John Nelson be, and he is hereby, appointed a justice of the peace.
Section 5. That the persons hereby constituted officers by the fourth section of this act, shall before entering upon the duties of their respective offices, qualify in the same manner, and with like restrictions, as those elected after an annual or general election.

Passed December 20, 1859.

By this act Klickitat county (it was spelled Clicatat previous to 1869) was organized and its boundaries outlined in a general way. But the early settlers gave little thought to the organization of a county. The government of Olympia could appoint county officers, but it could not compel them to qualifying, and this the majority of the new officers refused or neglected to do. Without having qualified, they could not act in the capacity to which they were appointed, so no efficient county organization was elected, no assessment roles were made, and no taxes were levied. The Klickitat county was, therefore, in much the same condition as before it had been organized.
The absorbing problems of the time were not governmental, but industrial, as they must needs be in a new and sparsely settled community. As early as 1860 the people of Klickitat began taking contracts for the delivery of wood to boats on the Columbia river. These boats ran only to Wallula at this time, but the discovery that winter of gold in the Clearwater country of Idaho caused an effort to navigate the snake and Clearwater rivers. The first boat to attempt this got as far up the later stream as the Big Eddy, but no later efforts were made to penetrate the country with steamboats beyond Lewiston. The subsequent discoveries in other parts of North Idaho, in the Boise and Powder river basins and elsewhere, gave a tremendous impetus to navigation on the Columbia, creating a great demand for fuel. A wood-yard was established at Columbus and placed in charge of a man named Hadley, and at Chamberlain Flats, about 13 miles further up the river, another wood-yard was put into operation by Tim Chamberlain. At both these points large contracts were let by steamboat companies for the cutting and hauling of wood.
In this way remunerative employment was furnished who for all of the men who had not brought into the valley sufficient stock to require in their whole attention. The first contract prize was ten dollars a cord for wood delivered at the landing. After that the price was cut to eight dollars. At this rate the business was only moderately profitable, for all the wood had to be hauled across the Swale from the hills beyond where Goldendale now stands, a distance of 12 miles, as no timber grew in the valley or on the hills along the Columbia. The first settlers brought very few American horses with them to Klickitat, and what few they had were considered very valuable, so all the hauling was done with ox teams, which, because of their slowness, made two days necessary for the round trip. One day they would go to the woods and load; the next day they would make the return trip to the river. With six yoke of cattle to each wagon it was possible to haul about five cords at a load. The cost of feeding the ox teams amounted to nothing, as they could be turned out at night, and the luxuriant bunch grass, which grew everywhere plentifully then, was sufficiently nutritious and rich to keep them in good working order.
During the summer of 1860 the first road to Columbus was opened by private subscription.
That year witnessed also the first efforts to test the value of the soil for agricultural purposes, a little grain of having been sown for hay and a few feeble efforts having been made at gardening. The results of these early day attempts were not so flattering as to inspire further efforts in the same direction, for the first settlers did not as yet understand the soil and climate sufficiently to enable them to get the best results. It was only after some years of experimenting that they learned the lands best suited to the different crops, and for the first years even the vegetables they used were brought to the valley on pack horses. Most of the clothing they wore was hand-spun and hand-woven.
The first county election was held in 1860, conventions were held and the nominations were made on strictly party line. Complete Democratic and Republican tickets were placed in the field, although the Republicans, being very much in the minority in those days, experienced some little difficulty in finding enough men for all of the offices. The result of the election was a complete victory for the Democrats. The county was divided into three precincts, two polls being at Rockland, the site of Goldendale, and the Blockhouse. All were Democratic. The most of the officers elected again failed to qualify. A general understanding existed among these settlers that the men elected were not to qualify and thus to set at naught the organization of the county. The government at Olympia was persistent, however, and passed an act, January 24, 1861, appointing the following officers to fill vacancies: John Nelson, probate judge; Willis Jenkins, treasurer; G.W. Phillips, auditor; William T. Waters, sheriff; James H. Herman, A. Waters, A.G. Davis, county commissioners; C.H. Farland, S. Peasley and W.T. Murphy, justice of the peace.