bolon.html

Bolon Monuments
One is located in Section 3, Township 5, Range 15
The other is located at Section 26, Township 6, Range 15
Photographs of these Monuments

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., October 10, 1918, page 1 & 8

UNVEILING OF A.J. BOLON MONUMENT

W. P. Bonney, secretary of Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, made the opening address at the unveiling of the monument commemorating the memory of Andrew B. Bolon, on Sunday, October 6, 1918, at the intersection of the Cedar Valley road with the old Military Road from The Dalles to Ft. Simcoe, about thirteen miles from Goldendale. The monument by the side of the road measures 3x5 feet and is surrounded by an iron railing. A granite marker has been erected on the spot where Bolon was killed, on land belonging to Wells Gilbert, near the George Garner cattle ranch at the summit of the Simcoe Mountains.
General Hazard Stevens, vice-president of the State Historical Society, Olympia, son of Gov. Isaac I. Stevens, the first governor of Washington Territory, acted as chairman of ceremonies at the unveiling of the monument. He was well acquainted with Bolon. The monument was draped with an American flag, and was unveiled by Mrs. George Garner and Mrs. Frank Garner of Centerville, Wash. After the unveiling of the monument, the party in charge of the erection ceremonies, and people attending, went on up the mountain to the marker erected on the spot where Bolon was murdered. There L. V. McWhorter of Yakima read a manuscript account of the story of the killing of Bolon as told by Sul-lil (known to the whites as Yakima George), an aged Indian brave, in the fail of 1916. The story had been recounted some time previously by William Charlie, a Klickitat Indian who came to the Yakima reservation from Vancouver about 18 years ago and has since acted as interpreter for the government at Ft. Simcoe, but so far as known, the story as told by Sul-lil to Mr. McWhorter was the first version of the killing of Bolon that had ever been given to a white man by any of the Indians concerned in the affair. Up to that time the killing of Agent Bolon had been more or less of a mystery, and the only information that government officials obtained about it at the time was in the nature or vague rumors. No authentic government report was ever made of the manner in which the crime was committed or the disposition that was made of the body of the murdered.
William Charley made a lengthy address and went into the history of the killing from the Indian side of it in detail. One thing he said that probably marks a new phase of Indian history in the Northwest was that the murder of Agent Bolon by the small band of Indians who took it upon themselves to avenge fancied wrongs, was detrimental to the welfare of all Indians in the Northwest, as many of the Indians were friendly to the new agent and felt that he favored a plan of keeping them on one large reservation under one agency; whereas the Indian war that followed the murder of Agent Bolon caused tribes to be split up and placed on isolated reservations in different sections of the territory, and in William Charley's opinion they have never been able to prosper as they would have if they had remained intact. He mentioned as an example, that now in sending delegates to Washington to appeal to the President in matters pertaining to Indian affairs, they do not have the prestige that they would have had. William Charley also told of the hardships experienced in making a trip into the Simcoe Mountains with the aged Indian Sul-lil in locating the spot where the marker has been erected. William Charley and Sul-ill, who was very ill and did not expect to live long, together with Mr. McMborter, made the trip in the late fall and encountered a very severe storm. The party was lost for some time, and at one time gave up hopes of being able to get out of the wild region alive.
N. B. Brooks, an early Klickitat Settler, gave a talk on pioneer days in Klickitat.
George H. Himes, assistant secretary of the Oregon State Historical Society, of Portland, gave a talk on pioneer reminiscences.

W. P. Bonney

Andrew J. Bolon came to Vancouver in 1845, according to George H. Hines, assistant secretary of the Oregon State Historical Society. Born In Pennsylvania, he was married to Jershua Short in 1849 at Vancouver. He had three children, a boy named William, a girl named Josephine and a daughter named Anne, born three days after he was killed. He was elected representative of from Clark county and served in the legislature in 1854. In that way Governor Stevens became thoroughly acquainted with him and was attracted to him by his integrity, his honesty and apparent fitness as an Indian agent, and also on account of his athletic prowess.
One of Bolon’s first official acts after being appointed by Governor Stevens was getting the Indians to the council at the Walla Walla plains in June, 1855. He was appointed agent for all the Indians in Washington Territory east of the Cascade Mountains, taking in the present Idaho, parts of Montana and part of Wyoming.
When at The Dalles in the summer of 1855 superintending the transportation of supplies from The Dalles to Spokane, Bolon was informed by a Spokane Indian named Gary that the Yakima Indians had murdered six prospectors on the Yakima River, about where the present Pacific Mill Company’s dam is near Yakima.
On September 18, 1855, Boland left The Dalles on horseback intending to interview Kamican, the Yakima chief, with a view to having the guilty parties punished. He took the old Government Trail from Ft. Dalles to the Yakima Valley, by way of the Simcoe Mountains in Klickitat county, which was later a military road for transporting supplies from The Dalles to Yakima. On his way to kill Kamican’s camp he meant Ice, a younger brother of Kamican, also a firm friend of Boland, who advised him not to go to Kamican’s camp, stating that that the Indians had held a council in which they decided to kill every white man who came into your country, and while Kamican himself might not kill Bolon, some of the others would surely do so. Bolon was convinced of the reasonableness of Ics’s argument and started to return to The Dalles by way of the Simcoe trail.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale WA., October 3, 1918, page 6

BOLON MONUMENT

On October 6 the Washington Historical Society will unveil a monument designating the place where A. J. Bolon was killed by the Indians on September 23, 1855. Mr. Bolon came too Old Oregon in early days. In 1849 he was married to Jershua Short at Vancouver, then Oregon, now Washington. He represented Clarke County during the first legislature of Washington in 1854. He was appointed agent by Gov. Isaac I. Stevens for all the Indians in east of the Cascade Mountains, and was on a trip of duty when he was murdered by Chief Moshele and his party in the Simcoe mountains.
Two of Mr. Bolon’s daughters have visited the historical building during this year, and they are expected to be at the unveiling of the monument on the 6th of October.
General Hazard Stevens, son of Governor Stevens, will be at the unveiling, and in his capacity as president of the Washington State Historical Society will have charge of the program.
The monument will be set of the old military road between The Dalles and Fort Simcoe, at its intersection with the Goldendale-Cedar Valley county road, about 15 miles from Goldendale.
The public is invited to be present at the unveiling.