The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA., November 17, 1944, page 1

SUKSDORF RECALLS LANDING HERE SEVENTY YEARS AGO

November 11, 1944

Dear Sir:

     Today I am 70 years in the state of Washington. That is at that time there was no Washington State - it was a territory.
     Coming up from Portland by steamer on the Daisy Ainsworth, I and my brother, Friederich, landed at Warner's landing (since called White Salmon landing, and since the middle of then 90s called Bingen Landing).
     Though coming from the level prairies of Iowa, I felt right at home in the mountains and it has been my home ever since.
     At the time there were only four settlers on the lowlands. J. R. Warner, E. S. Joslyn, Gordon Palmer and his brother, I have forgotten his first name; two on the hill, A. H. Jewett, who had arrived from Wisconsin that summer, and J. Turner. There was one settler between here and Camas Prairie; William Gilmer; and five settlers in Camas Prairie; R. Holms, R. Kelly, Mr. Conboy, Noah Chapman and Mr.____ (I have forgotten his name).
     There was a road out to Camas Prairie but hardly passable. Just this side of the Bald Hills the road came up from near the White Salmon river to where it the road now runs; it was called the Chimneys. It was hardly passable, but it was the only way out. In the summer up 1876 we had our milk cows out in Camas Prairie and made cheese. My brother was bringing a load of cheese down and when he came up the Chimneys the hind gate of the box gave way and several of the cheeses fell out and rolled down the road and my brother had to carry them up again. Time has passed and I doubt if anyone remembers the Chimneys. From Gilmer the road went straight up the hill, no grade. What a change in 70 years.

Theodore Suksdorf

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