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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., February 28, 1936, page 2
"Political and Public Interest"

AN EARLY SETTLER

Mrs. James Michell of Stevenson, Wash., celebrated her 85th birthday on November 20. When I interviewed her at her home there recently, said Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal, she said:
"Late in 1872 my husband bought a farm of 160 acres near what is now Goldendale. That town was just started. Tom Johnson, a Canadian, said to my husband, 'I'm going to start a mill and if you will start a carpenter shop at Goldendale you will do well.' Johnson built a store. My husband dressed the lumber for it. My husband bought a horse-power outfit used by a threshing machine and started a sash and door factory. Later he bought…
"While we were living at Goldendale," said Mrs. Michell, "there was a surge of the diptheria. In those days people didn't understand diptheria nor seem to realize it was a contagious disease; so whole families were swept with it. Dr. McCauley one day said, 'I can hardly stand to see so many children dying. I don't seem able to get hold of the trouble. If the disease does not abate soon there will be no children left in Goldendale or vicinity.' My husband often furnished four or five caskets a day, practically all for children.
"We moved to Columbus, where we ran a store and kept the postoffice. My husband bought an interest in the steam ferry and served as engineer. I kept busy in the store and postoffice. My husband and his partners, Mr. Morris and Mr. Price, made considerable money on the ferry, for they ferried large numbers of sheep and other livestock. Later and they put in a larger ferry to take wheat from the Klickitat valley to Grant to be shipped by train. We lived at Columbus, now known as Maryhill, 12 years.
While we were living at Goldendale my husband served as city recorder and during our 12 years at Columbus he was justice of the peace.

The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., February 28, 1936, page 1
"Latest Doings in County Given in a Brief Form"

The Oregon Journal, Portland, OR., February 22, 1936, page 4

Impressions and Observations of The Journal Man
By Fred Lockley 2-22-36

When the Mr. and Mrs. Philip Michell moved to Goldendale, Wash., in 1873, the town was just being started. When I interviewed Mrs. Michell at her home in Stevenson recently she told me that her husband had owned and operated the first sash and door factory in Goldendale. Before starting this factory he had planed by hand the lumber used in the first store put up there.
"While we were living at Goldendale," said Mrs. Michell, "there was a surge of diptheria. In those days people didn't understand diptheria nor seem to realize it was a contagious disease, so whole families were swept with it. Dr. McCauley said, 'I can hardly stand it to see so many children dying. I don't seem able to get hold of that trouble. If the disease does not abate soon there will be no children left in Goldendale or vicinity.' Hy husband often furnished five or six caskets a day, practically all for children.
"My husband sold his sash and door factory at Goldendale in 1888 and we moved to Columbus, where we ran a store and kept the postoffice. My husband bought an interest in the steam ferry and served as an engineer. I kept busy in the store and postoffice. My husband and his partners, Mr. Morris and Mr. Price, made considerable money on the ferry, for they ferried large numbers of sheep and other livestock. Later they put in a larger ferry to take wheat from the Klickitat valley to Grant to be shipped by train. We lived at Columbus, now known as Maryhill, 12 years. My husband sold his interest in the ferry and we moved to Portland so our daughter, Ursula, who was named for my husband's mother, could enter Portland academy.
"Our oldest boy, William, started to learn telegraphy when he was 16, at The Dalles. He also learned railroad bookkeeping. He became a railroad telegraph operator but died when he was 22. Our daughter Grace learned to set type at the office of her uncle, John Michell, editor and publisher of the Times-Mountaineer at The Dalles. She and Rose set most of the type. Graced later worked at the Binford Bros. job office in Portland, now the Metropolitan Printing company. Our daughter Nellie attended Normal school at Ellensburg. She was at Hood River when Hood River county was created, and secured a position as expert account. Eddie, our next child, became a printer and worked in Portland for a while, and later in the state printing office. Still later he bought a half interest from Fred Warnock in the Heppner Gazette. He was there during the Heppner flood. He traded his interest in the Gazette for the printing plant at Stevenson. When the North Bank railroad was built he put up a printing office in Stevenson, which he later sold and went to Hood River, where he worked for a paper. For four years he was auditor of this county, Skamania. Our daughter Nell was his deputy four years. After Eddie had served two terms, Nellie was elected county auditor and Eddie was her deputy four years. Eddie is now publishing a paper at Aurora, Or. Ursula, who went to Portland academy, later worked for the Blake-McCall company. She married Dr. Clarence Irwin, a dentist, and they live at La Grande, Or.
"We moved from Portland to Stevenson in the year of the Spanish-American war. My husband had a store here and was postmaster. We lived here winters and stayed in our cottage at Seaview in summer. My husband died at Seaview 13 years ago and is buried in the I.O.O.F. cemetery at The Dalles. While we were living at Goldendale my husband served as city recorder and during our 12 years at Columbus he was justice of the peace, as well as a justice of the peace also here at Stevenson."