wherry.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., April 9, 1959, page 9

WHERRY, READER TALK ON HISTORY OF EAST COUNTY

Wherry stated that Richard A. White was the first settler of the Harrison area, with A.O. Woods coming soon after, some time in the 70s. J.W. Hardison, who was the first white man born at Monmouth, Ore., in 1846 came to the area about 1880. Henderson Murphy and Hamilton Mulkey were other early settlers there, he said.
Indians gave the early settlers some trouble, and Wherry recounted the story of how "White and Woods respected them sufficiently that they cut hay with a scythe and raked it by hand, all at night, and slept during the day to avoid trouble with the natives. There was one skirmish with Indians at by the Chapman family who were located at the "old Walker ranch, where Horace Allen White now lives."
The White Creek Grange hall was originally built as a Presbyterian church, Wherry said, about 1899, by Will Faulkner. Jim Moffitt was the stonemason. Jess Wherry's father and Charlie Runyan hauled lumber to build the Hardison school, using J.W. Hardison's equipment.
"As late as 1880 there were no fences in the country south of Bickleton," Wherry said. "You could turn a horse out and he could wander clear to Walla Walla unchecked.
Bub Reader, telling about Roosevelt's early days, said that T.B. Montgomery, later a county treasurer, owned all land around Roosevelt, including where the town now is. He used it as sheep range, but "together with some fellows from Seattle," he started a land boom to make Roosevelt a fruit town and built a livery stable, store and hotel and laid out streets. Sam Waters, Goldendale merchant, established a store there, with Clarence McLain as manager. The first railroad agent, Reader said, was a man names Jones.
Reader's father came to Roosevelt in 1907 and established a lumber yard. Mrs. Reader came as soon as her husband had a home for her, and Bud and his sister Helen, who had been in school at York, Neb., came to Roosevelt in 1908. The railroad was still under construction at that time.
The Waters store was taken over by the Readers in time, and during the following years they had many dealings with the Indians as well as the white residents.