saloon.html

The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., January 4, 1918, page 1
"Klickitat Intelligence"

The first saloon in Klickitat county, says a correspondent of the Agri., was at Columbus, in the late '60s. The man, whose name is now unknown, had no license to sell liquor store, and his business was illegal. But trouble with the Indians, who became so noisy and quarrelsome, made conditions unbearable. There was no satisfactory manner of proceeding against him, as the county then had no effective organization. Thomas Jenkins, who at that time was loading wood for the boats, lived with his family at Columbus. As he had a sick child, these orgies were annoying to him. He asked the saloon keeper to desist from selling liquor to the Indians, as it made the town unsafe to live in. This the saloon keeper refused to do. Exasperated beyond endurance, a number of the citizens of the valley decided to put an end to the whole matter. It was agreed by a committee of men, among whom were Thomas Jenkins, Nelson Whitney, Lewis Parrott, Stanton H. Jones, and Wm. Hicinbotham, and two or three others, now unknown, that they would enter the saloon and empty out all the liquors. As the men of the party were respected citizens, and no mob, they chose the daylight in which to execute their designs. It was known that the owner of the saloon was a desperate man and kept a gun, -- and liable to use it. Jenkins walked into the saloon alone, and taking the gone from the counter, discharged both barrels in the air. When the others entered, each of whom took a keg or demijohn out to an old hole where once had stood an Indian hut. They emptied the contents into it. They kept this up as long as any liquors could be found. The saloon keeper, who was deeply intoxicated at the time, (which may have been lucky for the party), made all manner of dire threats, but in the end did nothing. He shortly afterwards left Columbus. Of the men of this committee all have passed away, except one, Thomas Jenkins, now living north of Goldendale. That the above ……. Missing the rest of the article