This 3-part story appeared in issues of The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA.
The issues were: July 8, 1965, page 4; July 15, 1965, page 4; July 22, 1965, page 4

GLENWOOD HISTORY SHOWS STURDY STOCK FORMED THAT COMMUNITY
Herman F. Kuhnhausen

     In the spring of 1871, a man by the name of Noah Chapman left Portland, Oregon in search of a new home for his family. He arrived at Warner's Landing, now the town of Bingen, White Salmon, where he heard vast meadows to the north. By following the Indian trails after several days travel, fording creeks and rivers and hills always toward Mt. Adams he finally came out on open meadows with grass two to two and one-half feet tall with Mount Adams in the back ground.
     This made a beautiful spot to call home for here there was hay in abundance to feed livestock without even having to clear an inch of ground. There were also wild game and berries to help in providing for his family. The Indians used in this territory to pick wild roots, camas and berries. They called it Camas Prairie.
     These meadows were created by the run off water of Mt. Adams and the surrounding hills draining into a basin in the late winter and early spring. As the season progressed the water would go down through evaporation and natural channels leading exposed many thousand acres of meadow grass.
     Here he staked out a homesite and built a cabin and made preparation to move his family. In the spring of 1872, he moved his wife and three children to this location, becoming the first permanent settler, raising beef and dairy cattle and sheep.
     In the year of 1873, the first government surveyor by the name of Samuel J. Spray came into the valley and located sections 32, 33, 34 and 35. In his notes he commented: "The land is a level prairie marsh, soil first rate. The marsh part of what is known as Camas Lake, the water of which is one to six feet deep and spreads over several thousand acres. When this tract is drained, which will be done in time and recovered for agriculture purposes, it will be a region of great fertility and productiveness".
     This basin was divided by a low ridge somewhat to the northeast of the middle making two basins referred to as the upper and the lower lakes. In 1873, evidently the first settlers on the lower lake was the Nancy Conboy Myer's family who had four children. Before many years the region was called Conboy Lake.
     By the year 1875, the area surrounding this basin was well settled, including Jo Shaw founder of the town of Glenwood and two brothers by the name of Cole. H.D. Cole was a member of the Confederate army and the older brother of Sam Cole was a member of the Union Army. Homesteading across the road from each other. As far as anyone knew what they never spoke because of the strong feelings between the north and south.
     There was also another Cole family unrelated to the first. Several members of this family were believed to have been former members of the Jesse James Gang. Many descendants of the family still live here. Other members of the Jesse James Gang settled here. One of which was L. Allie who started the first store in Glenwood Valley about one and one-half mile southeast of Glenwood now. The quick settling of this region was due to the fact that all the new comers had to do was to wait for the water to recede and harvest his crop of hay. With abundance of grazing on higher ground it is doubtful that there being any place in Oregon or Washington territory more inviting.
     Dairying was the leading industry. The salable product being butter, which was salted down in wooden kegs for preserving. This was the easiest to move to the river over early day trails where it was shipped to Portland markets. Receiving cash or provisions to carry them over the winter. The beef industry was slower as it took about three years to receive any income for beef stock.

EARLY CATTLE & SHEEP MEN FEUD; HELL ROARING DITCH CO. FORMED

     By the year 1880, all the meadow lands around the lakes where homesteaded and developing into a thriving livestock industry.
     In 1880, Antone Wellenbrock arrived in this territory. After locating his homestead, to encourage German immigrants to come to the valley as he ran an ad in a German paper which circulated in Chicago saying that the apples were lying on the ground for the picking. This sounded like the promised land to the German people working in the iron industry.
     In the year 1884, encouraged by this ad the Restorf family, Oscar and Herman Kuhnhausen, the latter being my father, came to this territory. After looking around Restorf asked Wellenbrock where the apples were. Wellenbrock pointed to the ground and said "pineapple." Which in German would mean a pinecones.
     From then on the new settlers had a much harder time to establish themselves, as their homes were on higher ground which was covered with thick stands of pine and some fir. There was no income from this ground. Clearing was very hard. In most cases the men held jobs for about ten months of the year in The Dalles, Portland or logging camps along the Columbia River. Only about two months out of the year to work on their homestead. It would take six or seven years to get a small acreage into production. By this time that they would start a small herd of livestock. By exchange of labor with established stockmen on meadow ground they would receive enough hay to keep enough cattle to provide them a living, so they could put and most of their time on their homesteads. By hard work of the whole family at times grabbing stumps by lantern light they were able to get into production sixty or seventy acres during a man's life time.
     In one of the severe winters the Conboy family ran out of the hay in the early spring. During a mild spell they drove their livestock to the Klickitat Hills, which were covered with grass. Overnight the weather changed with snow coming down to the depth of five feet in a short time. They tried to break trails to the livestock with horses but failed. Pete and Johnny Conboy took bundles of hay on their backs and went 14 miles by skis each day to keep their livestock alive. They kept this up for several days until a Chinook wind took the snow off. In spite of this they lost a good many of their livestock.
     As livestock build up and with the heavy winter is it took more hay to winter them. The need for more hay became urgent. The first step to provide this was the cleaning of an overflow channel to bypass the portion of Bird Creek water so it could not enter the upper lake. This was promoted by Will Fraizer for whom the channel was named Frazier creek. This step done in the early 1880's added more meadow ground to the valley.

GRANGE

     The Glenwood Grange No. 94 was organized in the year of 1890. The people were able to voice their opinion on state and government affairs more effectively through this organization.
     From this time on the cattle population became so large that there began to be feuds between the cattlemen and sheepmen over grazing in the Mt. Adams foothills. There were many incidents created through this that were as colorful as the movies of the early western day.
     An early day sheepman, driving his sheep to Lyle to be transported to market, trespassed upon a stockman's range. The stockman became so enraged that he pulled his gun and shot the sheepmen, clipping his ear. It was either good or poor marksmanship that saved this man's life.
     By the turn of the century, due to development of ground around the lakes and herds of cattle becoming larger, it became necessary to drain the lower ground and develop irrigation for the higher ground. In 1909 a drainage district was formed and two years later the water in these basins was under control adding a great deal more a matter of meadow land.
     Shortly after completion of the drainage canal Henry F. Troh, his son Peter J. Troh, and my father Herman Kuhnhausen entered a partnership as Hell Roaring Ditch Company. This company did not fare as well as the drainage district and was reorganized a number of times taking in more people.

LAST CHAPTER OF GLENWOOD SAGA SEES END OF FARMING IN DECADE

Editor's Note: This is the final installment of the "Early History of Glenwood" written by Herman F. Kuhnhausen. His previous two chapters describe the hard lives of the first homesteaders, the feud between cattle and sheep men and the long struggle to develop more grassland to support a beef industry. This episode begins where the other left off -- with formation of Hell Roaring Irrigation Company.

CHAPTER III

     In March of 1925 it was organized into the Glenwood Irrigation District which was termed as one of the biggest projects for the development of Klickitat County. Due to the huge undertaking, this again met with failure. It fell again into the hands of the original organizers and some years later a new company was formed by the name of Hell Roaring Irrigation Company. The name derived from where the water was too have come.
     This company thru hard work and determination, trial and failure, only to try again, finally succeeded in bringing irrigation water into the valley. This was accomplished in the year of 1931.
     These two developments made the valley one of the very best livestock areas of the northwest. Providing hundreds of head of cattle for the state of Washington would still doesn't produce enough beef feed its population . It provides hay and grazing for the many cattle from every section of Klickitat County. There are cattle and sheep that come in from Yakima Valley grazing upon these meadows, also.
     With the state of Washington meeting only about sixty percent of its meat production, does it sound reasonable to destroy this livestock producing country? For the state suffering for a need of more taxes it doesn't make good sense to turn this over to the federal government to raise birds on from which there will be neither revenue nor taxes, furthermore the fact that the federal government now owns forty-two percent of the state of Washington upon which they don't pay taxes.
     Our State Game Commission on February 10, 1964, approved this territory for the take over by the Sports Fisheries & Wildlife Service. It did so in total secrecy to everyone in Klickitat County. There were no public meetings or hearings to inform the people of what they were about to do.
     The first knowledge anyone in Klickitat County had of this passage was on July 20, 1964, when the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife Service appeared before our County Commissioners in regard to this project. Our County Commissioners have never approved the creation of this refuge at any time.
     By the time this became public knowledge it was too late to organize any great amount of opposition. It seems that the people of Klickitat County are being railroaded by an unethical decision of our State Game Commission.
     In the name of honesty and fairness the people of Klickitat County should have been informed months ahead of any decision so vital to less.
     We are told in a letter from Daniel J. Evans, April 23, 1965, that the Game Commission is responsible in speaking for the State in these matters. If this is so it looks like they very sadly abused their rights and we have very poor representation. We were informed in a meeting in Goldendale, Wash., by L.A. Werkema, president of the Lower Columbia River Sportsmen's Council: "If the farmers have any problems, take them up thru our organization and they will be quickly resolved." Then he stated still further, "If John Biggs, director of Game, doesn't do as we wish we will have his neck with within twenty-four hours." This doesn't look like the state of Washington is being very well represented by the Game Commission and agriculture has no representation whatsoever.
     Glenwood has a very nice school and well maintained roads and electric power to every home. Through this refuge a good deal of this will be destroyed and lost to everyone. I believe within less than ten years after this refuge goes into operation there won't be a farm left in Glenwood do to lack of control of these birds.
     Does it look right to destroy this valuable agriculture industry which the state so badly needs to create a new economic situation of motels and service stations of which success would be questionable?
     Now we have but one more question to ask. If our state Game Commission can destroy, without notice and at will what it has taken several generations to build, what future do we have as a free country?

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer