Copyright , 1956, Jean Hazeltine THE HISTORICAL AND REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF

THE WILLAPA BAY AREA

Volume I

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State U n iv e r s ity

By JEAN HAZELTINE, B .A ., M.A

*****

The Ohio S ta te U n iv e r s ity 1956

Approved by:

' Adviser partment of Geography ACKNOWLEDGEMENT!:)

In the research for this study, aid and a d v ic e w e re most willingly given by many individuals and organizations.

Some of these are mentioned in the bibliography and f o o t­ notes. Special thanks is due to the following: the vaor-ious members of the staff of the Pacific County Courttiouse who assisted the writer In perusal of the County records; Mr.

Robert Bailey, who permitted the use of his extensive scrap book of P acific County historical items; Mr. D ean E astm an,

Vice President, Northern Pacific Railway Company j Mrs. James G. Walker, Jr., Secretary, Pacific County H istorical Society; the local manufacturing plants--Olympic Hardwood

Company, Twin Harbors Lumber Company, Weyerhaeuser Tim ber Company, Willapa Branch, and VI ilia pa Cedar Sales Company-- a l l of which provided sta tistic s unobtainable e ls e w h e re ;

the South Bend, Raymond, University of Washington, W ashington

State, and The Ohio State University libraries and th e ir respective staffs; and for their encouragement a.nd fore "bear — ance, Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Hazeltine.

Special tribute is given to Professor Guy—Harold.

Smith for his most helpful editorial assistance, and e sp e ­ c ia lly for his patient guidance and advice which c o n s i d e r ­ ably sharpened and improved the focus of this sturdy.

l i . TABLE OP CONTENTS

Chapter Page

INTRODUCTION...... 1

I DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA

The Cultural Features...... 8 The Physical Setting...... 11

II THE WILLAPA BAY AREA PRIOR TO I 8 5 O

The Discovery of Shoalwater Bay 38 The Indian Community ...... 65 The P o litic a l H istory, Economy, and Settlement Prior to 1 8 5 0 ...... 73

I I I THE SETTLEMENT OP THE BAY REGION, I 8 5 O-I8 9 O

The Extra-R egional In flu en c es...... 82 Settlement and Population...... 94 Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation ...... I l l The Economy in the Period 1 8 5 0 -1 8 9 0 . 117 Sum m ary...... 129 The Cultural Landscape in 1 8 6 5 ...... 131 The Cultural Landscape in 1 8 8 5 ...... 132 The Development of a Region ...... 134

IV THE SECOND WAVE OF SETTLEMENT, 1890-1920

The Extra-Regional Influences ...... 1 36 Settlement and Population ...... 144 Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation ...... 158 The Economy of the Bay Region, 1 8 9 0 - 1920...... 163 i l l TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont«d.)

Chapter Page

Summary...... l 80 The Cultural Landscape in 1920 ...... l 8 l Beginnings of Regional Disjointment. 184

V THE FRONTIER OF PIONEER SETTLEMENT PASSES, 1920-1945 The Extra-Regional Influences.*..... 186 Settlement and Population ...... 186 Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation ...... 193 The Economy of the Region, 1920 -1 9 4 5 203 Summary...... 219 The Cultural Landscape in 1945 ...... 220 The Region, and Its Parts ...... 227

VI THE POST-WAR PERIOD, 1945-1955 Introduction ...... 230 The Extra-Regional Influences ...... 231 Settlement and Population ...... 232 Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation ...... 2 3 8 The Economy of the Region, 1945-1955 244 The Cultural Landscape in 1955 ...... 275 The Region...... 281

VII FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Summary of the Historical Geography of Willapa Bay ...... 288 The Influence of Geographic Factors. 294 The Settlement of the Willapa Bay Area...... 302 The Rise and Decline of Regionality. 3 0 6

APPENDICES...... 316-339

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 340

Iv LIST OP TABLES

Titles Page 1. Birthplaces of Pacific County Residents.. 104-5

2. Categories of Employment ...... 108-9 3. An Analysis of the Origins of the Foreign Born in Pacific County, 1910-1920 ...... I 57 4. Cranberry Production In Washington ...... 166

5 . Value of Production of Oysters at Willapa (Shoalwater) Bay and at Puget Sound...... 168

6 . Market Value of Processed Salm on...... 170

7. Value of All Pish Taken, 1915-17 ...... 171

8 . Value of Output In Fisheries Industries.. 171

9» Foreign Born in Pacific County by Country c f O rigin, and Number of In d ian s, Chinese, and Japanese ...... 192 10. Vessel Passengers on Willapa Harbor...... 195

11. Number and Destination of Vessels Leaving Willapa Harbor ...... 198 12. Accumulated Federal Expenditures and Ap­ propriations and Annual Shipping by Selected Years for Oregon and Washington Coastal P orts...... 200

13* Cranberry Production ...... 207

14. Oyster Production from Willapa Harbor... 208

15* Fish and Shellfish Landed at Willapa Harbor ...... 209

16. Number Employed in Fisheries Processing 210

v VI

Title Page

17- Log and Lumber Production In P a c ific County ...... 211-12

IS. Per Cent of Foreign Born Whites in Pacific County and Selected Statistics Concerning Their Native Countries, and Number of Indians, Chinese, and Japanese 2 3 6

19. Number and Destination of Vessels Leav­ ing Willapa Harbor ...... 242

20. Annual Landings of Shellfish In Willapa Harbor District in Number of Pounds 2 5 8 21. Log Production in Western Washington and Pacific County in M Board Feet ...... 262

2 2 . Lumber Production and Number of Mills in Pacific County ...... 262

23. Distribution of Forest Stands ...... 2 6 7 24. Distribution of Timberland Ownership In P acific County...... 270

25* Manufacturing Statistics for Pacific County ...... 318

26. Value of Agricultural Production in Pacific County ...... 320-22

27. Agricultural Statistics for Pacific County ...... 324-29 28 . Farm Ownership by Amount of Acreage 331-32

29. Distribution of Population in Pacific County ...... 334-339 LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS

Titles of Figures Page

1. The location of Pacific County and the Willapa Bay re g io n ...... 6 2. The distribution of population in Pacific County ...... 7 3» Land Use Map of Pacific County ...... 10

4. Relief map of the Willapa Bay area,... 13

5. How Cape Shoalwater has eroded ...... 15

6 . Distribution of oyster beds in Willapa Bay...... 21

?• Clim atic charts of North Head and South Bend ...... 26

8 . Isohyetal map of the Willapa Bay area. 2 8

9. View looking north from the mouth of the Columbia River...... 33

10. Typical scene of tidelands with for­ ested hills in the background ...... 34

11. View of the middle peninsula , with the ocean in the foreground and the bay in the background ...... 33

12. Part of the Naselle River valley 36

13« The c ity o f Raymondj beside the W illapa R i v e r . . . , ...... 37

v li v i i i

Titles of Figures Page

14. Above: A portion of the map entitled "A Chart of the Northern Pacific Ocean, con­ taining the Northeast Coast of Asia and the Northwest Coast of America": Below: A portion of the map entitled "Chart of the Northwest Coast of America and the Northeast Coast of Asia, Explored in the Years 1668 and 1779 by Captain Cook, and Further Explored in 1788 and 1789 by John Meares."...... 43 15. Part of Vancouver’s map ...... 47

16. A portion of a map by Clark which depicts the area immediately north of the mouth of the Columbia River ...... 57

17* A portion of the map entitled,"Recon- naissance of the Western Coast of the United States (Northern Boundary) From Umpquah River to the Boundary." ...... 60

18. A portion of the map entitled, "Map of the Western Portion of Washington Terri­ to r y ." ...... 64

19. Location of Indian villages in the Willapa Bay a re a...... 68

20. Location of settlements surrounding Willapa Bay in 1 8 8 5 ...... 76

21. Location of Donation Land Claims in Pacific County ...... 110 22. A typical "plunger." ...... 116

23» The location of settlements in the Willapa Bay region in 1920 ...... 143

24. Portion of the topographic quadrangle showing South Bend ...... 151

2 5 . Portion of the topographic quadrangle showing Raymond ...... 152 ix Titles of Figures Page

26. Roads, trails, and major railroads in the Willapa Bay area between 1890 and 1 9 2 0 162

2 7 . Location of large timber holdings in Pacific County in 1913 ...... 175 28. A splash dam operation on North River c irc a 1 9 1 0...... 177

2 9 . Logging with oxen on a skid road be­ side the Willapa River...... 179

30. Raymond, Washington, in 1945 ...... 191

31. South Bend, Washington, in 1 9 4 5...... 191 32. The main land transportation routes in the W illapa Bay area in 1931...... 19^ 33* A Willapa Valley farm in the process of being cleared and drained in 1 9 2 1...... 2 0 6 34. Distribution of land ownership in Pacific County, 1938 ...... 216

35* A log raft on the Palix River, circa 1920...... 217

3 6 . Logs being dumped from railroad flat­ cars into the upper Willapa River 217 37* A comparison of the growth of popula­ tion in Pacific County with that of the State of Washington.... 233 3 8 . Population growth of the four incorpor­ ated communities in Pacific County.... 234

39. Pacific County, Washington, 1955 ...... 237 40. Typical seasonal fluctuations about the average monthly employment, by industry. 246 X Titles of Figures Page

41. A tide land ranch ...... 251

42. A dairy farm in the Willapa Valley 252

43* A cranberry farm on the peninsula 252

44. Land use map of a farm near Brooklyn... 254

45* Woodland a n aly sis map fo r farm shown in Figure 44 ...... 255

46. Weyerhaeuser m ill in Raymond, 1955*•••• 265 47. Condition of forest stands in Pacific County ...... 269 48. Raymond, Washington, 1955...... 277

49• South Bend, Washington, 1955 ...... 2 77

5 0 . Long Beach, Washington, 1955 ...... 2 79

51. Menlo, Washington, 1955 ...... 279

52. Ilwaco, Washington, 1955 ...... 2 7 9 INTRODUCTION

The major purposes of this study in the beginning were two in number. One was to analyze the degree of separate regionality of the Willapa Bay area from the be­ ginning of settlement to the present time. Concurrently it was desired to ascertain the historical geography of this region, that is, to understand the region, say in

1 8 8 5 t through an analysis which although actually done in 1955 might have been done in that earlier year. His­ torical geography is herein understood not as just that information which helps to explain the present areal pic­ ture or landscape but also as a series of cross-sectional analyses at different times in the past which give the geography of the region on these selected dates. In pur­ suing both these purposes came the additional project of noting the roles of different geographic factors in the development of the area. Analyses of the three main phe­ nomena of settlement and population growth, the economy, and transportation were used to describe the geography of the area at different dates and also to measure Its region a l i t y .

Chapters I and II set the stage for the development which followed. A brief introduction to the area and a

1 2 description of the physical setting are given in Chapter

I. Thereafter, throughout the text, various facts of the physical setting are mentioned when necessary to ex­ plain in part a geographical relationship. Chapter II deals with the discovery of the bay area, a description of the Indian community of which it was a part, and the various events, id eas, and movements which led to white and fixed settlement of the area.

Chapters III, IV, V, and VI describe and interpret the geography during different periods and at different dates, and also discuss the structure of the region. In each chapter the main extra-regional Influences on the bay region are presented first. There follow the analyses in terms of the three phenomena c ited above, and then comes a brief summary followed by a description of the cultural landscape at a specific date. These last two sections together are Intended to crystallize for the reader the information given in the pages immediately pre­ ceding, and at the same time to summarize the historical geography for a selected period. Following this there is a short section analyzing the regional structure.

There is no summary in Chapter VI because the period of time covers only ten years and It is believed that the information usually included in the summary could be car­ ried over from the text and retained in mind by the reader as he reads the description of the cultural landscape. 3 Finally, Chapter VII gives the findings and con­ clusions of the study and consists of four sections: (l) a "brief summary of the historio-geographic development of this region, accompanied by a general forecast of its future; (2) a discussion of the more prominent geographic factors Involved In the developments discussed In section

1 and In the changes of the structure of the region; (3) an analysis of the role of tills region in the westward movement of settlem ent of the United S ta te s . A ctually, this might have been discussed under section 2, since the westward movement Is re a lly an e x tra -re g io n a l fa c to r, but its importance merited separate discussion; and (4) a review of the development of this bay area as a separate regional unit, the changes which took place within it, and the eventual decline of its separateness or region- a l i t y .

From the standpoint of historical geography, this area was a good choice for study. The findings offer the basis for comparison with similar regions of coastal set­ tlement, and, allowing for differences In timing, such comparisons might yield certain significant generaliza­ tions. Because little, if any historical geographic work had been done concerning this area, this study fills in part of a gap apparent in discussions of the westward movement of settlem en t. F in a lly , th is work afforded if opportunity to note in action here observations or generalizations recorded in similar studies elsewhere — such as the decreasing dependence of the inhabitants upon the physical setting as their society and technology ad­ vanced., or on a sm aller scale, the decline of the u se fu l­ ness of natural advantages as technology and the extra- regional factors changed, or the manner in which the settlement located according to the dictates of trans- portational accessibility.

Concerning the study of the reglonality of this area, within the defined limits, this study demonstrates that there was at one time a definite, strongly evident region encompassing and surrounding Willapa Bay, and a l­ though the structure of that unit weakened, a few vestiges of its regionality remain today. This study also examines the forces and influences which brought about that decline. The conclusions from this facet of the study add a few more concrete examples to the concept of regionalism. The main sources of information for this study were books, learned journals, federal and state governmen­ tal data, newspaper and magazine articles, maps, original sources such as letters and handwritten manuscripts, per­ sonal interviews and correspondence, and over a dozen trips by the writer through the area for purposes of com­ prehending the present landscape and searching for remnants and results of former periods and landscapes. 5 The writer is a resident of the area and many facts, ideas, and concepts which she has concerning the region may be the result, in part at least, of a child­ hood spent in the area and further insight gained subse­ quently during the long summer vacations when the ties of home took her back to the Willapa Bay area.

To construct historical geography it is necessary to know the sequence of chronological events of the area concerned as well as the various aspects of the geography.

Concerning the Willapa Bay area so little work had been done in arranging the significant events in their chron­ ological order that It was necessary to do a considerable amount of that type of research before the piecing to­ gether of the historical geography could be attempted. It is not claimed that every single piece of information pertinent to this study has been perused, but the writer is satisfied that for the extent of detail and consequent generalizations to which this study extends, the amount of material reviewed was more than adequate and inclusive, and its validity well documented and established. 6

- 48* s

SEATTLE

SHELTON TACOMA

0 W MONTESANO OLYMPIA ABERDEEN

RAYMOND • CHE HA LIS

CASTLEROCK

ASTORIA LONGVIEW

r««* KALAMA

VANCOUVER

PORTLAND

13 a i .,o

Scale in Miles

Fig. 1 - The location of Pacific County and the Willapa Bay region. 7

••

Each dot equals the population number opposite it .

100

• 1,000

Q 5,000

— ______Fig. 2 - The distribution of population in Pacific County. (Source: Population Distribution Washington: 1950, Washington State Census Board, Seattle, 1952.) CHAPTER I

DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA

The Cultural Features

The Willapa Bay region Is nearly coincident with Pacific County which includes an area of about 925 square miles in the southwest corner of the State of Washington.

The county *s total population was 16,558 in. 1 9 5 0, and over 9000 people are located in the northern end of the county. The average density of population for the total area is between 17 and 18 per square mile, but in reality many parts of the county are unpopulated and the population is clustered in the larger river valleys, on the peninsula between the bay and the ocean, and along the mouth of the Columbia River.

The population is almost entirely white, but also includes a small scattering of Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Negroes, and mixed bloods. There is a high percentage of people of Scandinavian descent throughout the county, a concentration of German, Swiss, and Polish folk in the Willapa Valley, and a number of Finns in the Naselle River a re a .

8 9

Transportation within the area is almost entirely by automobile. There is one bus daily between the north end of the county and Chehalis, Washington, a city due east of the bay and located about midway between Portland,

Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. There are also two ra il­ roads entering the county, but these carry freight only. Federal highway No. 101 passes through the region and con­ nects at the south end of the county with Astoria, Oregon, by means of a ferry across the Columbia River. The region is linked by highway with Aberdeen to the north, Chehalis to the east, and Vancouver and Portland, Oregon, to the so u th e a st.

The Port of Willapa Harbor, on the Willapa River, has facilities for ocean shipping, and a few private wharves are also available. The entrance channel to the bay is maintained at about 26 feet and that in the Willapa

River at 24 feet. There is an airport on the north side of the river, but up to 1955 it had had no commercial t r a f f i c .

The economy of the region rests overwhelmingly on the forest products industrj.es. Second in importance are fisheries, of which oyster farming ranks first, followed by salmon and crab fishing. Agriculture is limited as forests cover 92 per cent of the area. Dairying is the main agricultural pursuit with livestock and fruit and 10

'lf Woodland Urban C ultivated Pasture Idle

Fig. 3 - Land Use Map of P acific County. (Source: 5oil Conservation Service, South Bend, Washington.) 11 nut production as secondary activities. Tourism also furnishes some of the region’s income.

The county has good hospital and primary and secondary educational facilities. For power, electricity is used almost exclusively, and most of it is supplied by the Bonneville Power Administration. There is some use of bottled gas. The county is situated about half way between the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

The Physical Setting

Physiography and Hydrography

Willapa Bay, located approximately between the latitudes of 46°15’N. and 46°45*N. and the longitudes of

123°15’ W. and 124° W., is an estuarine extension of the Pacific Ocean in the southwestern portion of the state of Washington. Until about 1900 it was known as Shoal- water Bay. It lies between the Columbia River on the south and Grays Harbor to the north and covers an area of about 109 square miles at mean higher high water and 62 square miles a t mean lower low water.

_ Willapa River and Harbor, and Naselle River, Washington (H. Doc. No. 425, 8 3 d Cong., 2d Session, 195*0 P* 3* 12

The entrance from the ocean Is located at the northern end of the bay, 28 miles north of the mouth of the Columbia and 17 miles south of Grays Harbor. The en­ trance itself is five miles wide with Cape Shoalwater on the north and Leadbetter Point to the south.

The bay has two major extensions: to the east and south, about 12 and 19 miles in length, respectively.

Both have numerous tidal flats which are exposed at low tide, with transecting channels formed by tributary streams.

The southern arm Is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a sandy peninsula about 20 miles long, with an average width of one and one h a lf m iles, and with an average e l e ­ vation of 25 feet and several crests of 40, and a maximum of 80 fe e t.

The peninsula is covered by a dense, rather scrubby forest and brush vegetation except for four miles at the north end and a one half mile strip on the ocean side.

These two l a t t e r parts are composed of sand dunes and loose sand primarily. The peninsula is dotted with several marshy lakes. Structurally It consists of several north- south trending beach ridges.

The eastern arm of the bay leads into the Willapa River, which rises in the Willapa Hills to the east and flows a distance of about 37 miles. The main thoroughfare for ocean going commerce is through the bar and entrance Miles Pig. k - Relief may of the Willapa Bay area. (Reproduced by permission of 'Rrwln Ralsz) u channels, the east arm of the bay, and the lower portions of the Willapa River. A federal improvement project pro­

vides for a depth of 25 fee t a t mean lower low water

over a minimum width of 5 0 0 feet in the bar channel, and

a depth of 2H feet over a width of 200 feet in the east arm from deep water in the bay up the Willapa River to the forks at Raymond.

According to surveys made by the United States

Coast and Geodetic Survey at irregular intervals since

1 8 5 2 , the depth of the bar channel has varied through

the years between the depths of 18 to 25 feet, on the average. The Coast Pilot of 1 8 6 9 noted:

This bay, as its name implies, is so full of shoals th at a t low tides about one h a lf of its area is laid bare. Good but narrow chan­ nels are found throughout its extent, but no direction can be given for running them. Without a knowledge of them, or without a p ilo t, follow them only at low w ater.

Coast and Geodetic surveys have also revealed

t h a t :

(a) The bar channel has shifted in location, generally from north to south in cycles of some 20 years or less;

2 George Davidson, Coast P ilo t of C alifo rn ia, Oregon and Washington Territory^ United States Coast Survey, Washington! 1869 > p. 157. 15

Fig * 5 “ HOW Cap* Shoahratar hat arodad in th* patt 64 yaan it illuitratad in that* mapt, drawn by Alan Pratt, Time* ttarf artitt, from Unitad State* Enginaart' chartt. Alto thown are th* formation of an island naar Toka Point and the building up of a ipit on Shoalwatar. (Source: The Seattle Dally Times, Seattle, Washington) 16 (b) Dredging In the bar channel during the years 1931 to 1950 apparently did not halt or delay the shifting in location, and did not produce materially greater channel depths than prevailed before dredging or during the period 1942 to 1948 when no dredging was done;

(c) The entrance throat has moved northward about 7*000 feet since 1890* with a c o r­ responding northward movement of the Cape Shoalwater shoreline in the vicinity of Willapa Bay Light Station. (See Pig. 5 )

(d) Since 1890, Leadbetter Point has remained relatively stationary* showing only minor changes; however* the shoal area north of the point has developed materially. Available charts and maps indicate that after the bar channel has reached its ex­ treme southerly position* a new channel will form to the north. During its form­ ation the southerly channel will begin to shoal* eventually closing completely, but during this formative period there are for a time two distinct channels. When fully formed* the n orth erly channel is usually shorter and has greater natural depth. The most hazardous condition with respect to shipping exists when the bar channel is in its extreme southerly position and vessels entering or leaving Willapa Bay must neces­ sarily travel broadside to the westerly storm seas for several miles.3

North River enters the eastern arm of the bay from the north about three miles west of the mouth of the Willapa and is navigable for about five miles. The Willapa River itself is navigable for about 12 miles from the

3 H. Doc. No. 425, op. c l t .* p. 35* 17 mouth and varies in width from 300 feet at the head of navigation to 2000 feet at the mouth. Six and two thirds miles from the mouth, near the site of Raymond, the river branches into two forks. The South Fork is 16 miles in length, and the rest of the Willapa, or north fork, continues in a general eastwardly direction to the drain­ age divide between that stream and the Chehalis River.

The main channel of the southern arm of the bay is the Nahcotta Channel and extends from the main entrance channel in the north to within three miles of the south­ ern end of the bay. The depth of this channel varies from 20 to 68 feet, and its course follows generally the eastern side of the bay.

Several tributary streams enter the southern arm of the bay from the south and east. The important ones are: Bear River from the south and navigable for four miles by small craft; the Naselle from the southeast, navi gable for nine and one half miles; and the Nemah and the

Palix, both from the east and navigable for one half mile and to the head of tide water, respectively. An improved channel, 10 feet in depth, connects the village of Bay Center with the Palix. Long Island, five and one half long and of irregular width, lies near the head of the 18 4 southern arm. The two largest waterways of the region are the

Willapa and the Naselle. The Willapa drains an area of

240 square miles and is a short, quick run-off river.

Raymond and South Bend, the two largest communities of

the area, are located beside it. The river's average

discharge is 706 cubic feet per second, but throughout

the water-year 1953-54 there was a range from a minimum of 40 cubic feet per second to a maximum of 8,240. These gauge readings were taken at a point where the drainage

area was 130 square miles.^

The Naselle River rises in the Willapa Hills, flows southwest to the village of Naselle, and northwest

to Willapa Bay. It drains an area of 153 square miles, and the record of its annual discharge reveals the similar wide fluctuation exhibited by the Willapa. The river has an average discharge of 428 cubic feet per second and in

the water-year 1953-54 had a minimum discharge of 60 cubic

feet per second and a maximum of 5,630 cubic feet per , 6 second.

4------Ibid., p. 11. 5 Unpublished data from the Surface Water Branch, Water Resources D ivision, Tacoma, Washington. 6 Ib id . 19 The average diurnal tidal range in the hay and its tributaries varies from eight to ten feet, but ex­ tremes up to 19 feet have occurred. As may be deduced from the river discharge figures given above, there is no shortage of water in the area, at least for the use thus far demanded, except occasional­ ly in late summer and early fall at the height of the summer dry season. The waters of the bay are somewhat polluted by the wastes received from the communities situated on the two largest tributaries. However, the degree of pollution is not yet serious.

The area with waters tributary to the bay covers about 1000 square miles including most of P acific County and a very small portion of western Lewis County. The bay shore consists of the mouth of the several rivers plus many smaller openings of small tidal sloughs. There are small sandy peninsulas, diked and undiked tidelands, and behind these are low h ill3 , 100 to 400 feet high, which merge into the higher Willapa Hills beyond. These hills are maturely dissected and there is little level land in the region except that of the river valley bottoms. The bay is surrounded on the north, east and south 20

7 ■by these Willapa Hills which are listed by Fenneman1 as a subdivision of the Oregon Coast Range. The highest

elevation in the county is a little over 3000 feet, near

the eastern boundary, which is about coincident with the crest of the Hills. There are several hill crests at

elevations between 2000 and 2500 f e e t.

However, on the south, the elevations are not so

high and the distance between the southernmost part of the bay and the Columbia River waters is only four miles.

The terrain on the north bank of the mouth of the Columbia begins abruptly with high rock cliffs. To the north along the coast, the rugged terrain is bordered by flat tidelands.

On the north bank of the Columbia, the Wallicut and Bear rivers flow south across tidelands and into the Columbia R iver.

In addition to the low portage between the bay and

the Columbia, there are two other low elevation routes

into the region. One leads from Grays Harbor south along

the ocean shore to Cape Shoalwater. The other is the low pass, maximum elevation about 750 feet, on the drainage divide between the Chehalis River drainage basin on the east and north and that of the Willapa River which flows

7 Nevin M. Fenneman, Physiography of Western United S ta te s , New York, 1931* p. 450. 21

124° O 123*10

*

Scale in Miles (A d ap ted from: Trevor Kincaid, Sc.D., The Oyster Industry of Willapa Bay, Washington, Seattle, 1951, p. 2.) I?4° /)O

Fig. 6 - Distribution of oyster beds in Willapa Bay. 22

In a general westerly direction toward the bay.

The Earth Base and Its Resources

The bedrock of the region is largely composed of

Eocene and Oligocene basalts, with associated sandstone and shale and a very few limestone deposits. These are overlain with Pliocene and Pleistocene clays, sands, and gravels, especially on the western side of the area. The peninsula is an elongated sand spit formed in comparatively recent time. The structure of the region as a whole is that of a main northwest-southeast trending anticline, with a minor syncline on each side, both of which are nearly coincident with the courses of the Willapa and Naselle rivers. There appears to have been some faulting Q in the area near the Columbia River.

During the Pleistocene glaciation when the flow of the Columbia River was much larger than that today, it is believed that part of the river's course went in around to the east of the North Head-Cape Disappointment basalt bluffs and flowed into the Shoalwater Bay area. Part of the evidence for this is the presence of Columbia River gravel at certain points in the bay. Such an occurrence

8 ------This information is largely derived from Charles E. Weaver, "The Tertiary Formations of Western Washington," Bulletin No. 13, Washington Geological Survey, Olympia, 19IF: 23 may also explain why the hills on the south inner side

of the bay terminate in high bluffs. These bluffs con­

sist mostly of hard Pleistocene clay—too soft to with­ stand direct sea battering. Black Lake, an unusually

deep, fresh water lake, located on the narrow neck of land between the Columbia and the bay, was undoubtedly in the course of the overflow. Minerals and Rocks

The commercial minerals of the region are few, these being minor deposits of titaniferous and magnetic sands,

limestone, structural clays and shales, sand and gravel, and basalt. Commercial production has been limited to

sand, gravel, and stone. The basalt in the region is of a poor quality, with a few exceptions, and generally un­

satisfactory for road use. Three quarries have been in recent operation. A quarry operated by the U. S. Engi­ neers produced thousands of tons of stone for jetty con­ struction and maintenance on the lower Columbia River. Some of the clays and shales are suitable for red-brown structural wares but have been utilized but little.

There are few limestone lenses in the Teritiary rocks. One deposit near Bear River is reported to cover 80 acres and may contain some 185,000 tons. However, the country is difficult of access because of dense vegetation and 2K swamps, and the stone is deeply w eathered.^ Another de­ posit is located adjacent to the Chehalis—South Bend highway, 11 miles southeast of Raymond, but it also is a small deposit. The titaniferous--magnetic sands, known as the

McGowan Deposit, is an occurrence of a recent bedded deposit of unconsolidated black sand and in a low ter­ race adjacent to the lower Columbia River. It is esti­ mated to cover 550*000 square feet and have a weight of 133*000 tons. The deposit is just barely within the limits of feasibility for commercial exploitation at this time but so far none has been attempted.^

The southwestern portion of the county has been judged by petroleum geologists as an area in which the presence of oil deposits is possible. Several test drills have been made here but so far only gas wells have been drilled.

9 Edwin T. Hodge, Northwest Limestone, Vol. 1, U. S. Engineers, Portland, Ore., 1933* PP» 21-25. 10 James W. Kelly, Columbia River Magnetite Sands, Clatsop County, Oregon, and Pacific County, Washington, Washington, D.C., 194?• 11 See Richard N. Highsmith, Jr., Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, Resources and Development, CorvalUs, Oregon, P- 73. 25 The Climate of the Area

The climate of the region is Marine West Coast, with a summer dry season of two to three months. The rest of the year is quite damp, the average yearly rain­ f a l l a t South Bend being 86.5 inches, and a t North Head about 50 inches. Weather observation records at South

Bend show an absolute maximum temperature of 103°F., a absolute minimum of 4°F., and a mean of 51°F. Extreme temperatures occur rarely and are of short duration, as Illustrated by the average minimum temperature of 34.8°F. for December, the coldest month, and the average maximum of 72.1°F. for August, the warmest month. The average annual snowfall is 5.9 inches, although some years none occurs.

Severe storms occur along this coastal area in winter. Wind velocities up to 95 miles an hour have been recorded at the mouth of the Columbia Fiver. The prevail­ ing winds are northerly and northwesterly during the sum­ mer months. Some reports Indicate that wave heights ex­ ceeding 40 feet may occur along the coast adjacent to the harbor entrance. Fogs may occur at any time, but are most 1P common in spring and Summer.

12 H. Doc. No. 425, op. c i t ♦, p. 12. 26

North Head, Washington Elevation, 211* In.Ri. Temp. 100°F. 25 90° F.

::o° F . 20 70° F .

30° F. 15 .'0° F.

kO ° F. 10 30° F .

10 F .

JFMAMJ JASOND

South Bend, Washington Elevation, lliO1 In. Rf. Temp. 100° i. 25

20 70° F 60° F

10

10° F

0 0° F JFMAMJJASOND Fig* 7 - Clim atic charts of North Head and South Bend. (Sources U. 3. Weather Bureau.) 27 13 According to data from the North Head and South

Bend weather stations, the growing season in the vicinity

of the former is 284 days and that of the latter, 198 .

The rainfall regime and march of temperature of the two

stations are illustrated in Figure 7 and Figure 8 . The latter, an isohyetal map of the region, reveals the dis­ tribution of rainfall in the region and how it varies.

This can be considered, in most respects, a direct result

of the topography and the prevailing southwesterly winds in the winter months.

The Soils, Vegetation, and Fauna 14 In the region surrounding the bay, the soils are

primarily forest podzols and consist mainly of clays and

silty clay loams. Near the shore are areas of old beach

deposits interspersed with acid peat bogs. All the soils are In a highly leached condition. Most of the soils are of the Astoria series, which are deep upland soils formed principally from shale and sandstone. Generally, they are not high in fertility.

13 ' Discontinued in 1955* 14 The soils of this region have not been surveyed since 1911 and are In the process of being r e 3urveyed now, approximately one third of the county having been cov­ ered. 28

1» j «A

UNDER f)0

4 5 '

OP” - 30

OVER 100

Scale In Miles Isohyet

(Source: U.S. Weather Pureau)

1* 4 '

Fig. 8 - Isohyetal map of the Willapa Bay area. 29

The best soils are found in the bottom lands.

They are brown, reasonably fertile, generally consist of a silt loam surface soil and clay loam sub-soil, and are formed by wash from the sandstone, shale and basalt of the surrounding hills. The tideland alluvial soils are also f e r t i l e , but need good drainage.

The original vegetation of the area was very simi­ lar to that which prevails today. The only significant changes have been wrought by logging and farming. Basi­ cally, the type of vegetation has remained the same as that encountered by the early settlers except for a few species of weeds and grass introduced by agriculture.

One example of a foreign intrusion is that of gorse, the rapid growth of which has made it a major weed menace.

Originally, Pacific County, which has a total land area of 596,^70 acres, excluding urban areas, was complete ly forested except on the coastal tidelands'^ and the river deltas. The original volume of timber is not known, but one estimate is that in 1850 there were over 23 b i l ­ lion board feet.*^ According to 1950 figures, there are

15 " ’ “ The term Mtideland,” in this study, refers to land areas adjacent to 3alt water bodies but which are above water most of the time and are subject to inundation only occasionally. 16 F. L. Moravets, personal communication, Nov. 16, 1955* 30 now 550,400 acres of forest land In the county. The non­ forest land, 46,070 acres, consists of 30,230 acres In agricultural use and 15*840 acres of tidelands. The lat­ ter, In their natural state, are covered with coarse grass .■*-?

Of the total acreage of forest land, 548,830 were classed as commercial forest land, and of this roughly 50 per cent of the acreage was saw timber, 19 per cent pole tim ber, 19 per cent seedlings and saplings, and 12 per cent non-stocked areas.

About two th ird s of the saw timber Is old growth

(more than 180 years of age) with the greater part of the remaining saw timber being snail young growth (40 to 70 years) rather than large young growth (70 to 180 y e a rs).

The volume of liv e saw-timber trees (11 inches d .b .h . and larger) on commercial forest land was estimated in

1953 to total 13,178 m illion board fe e t. The volume of growing stock (live trees five inches d.b.h. and larger) was estimated at 2,502 million cubic feet.^

The main species of trees in the area are softwood

17 P. L. Moravets, ’'Forest Statistics for Pacific County, Washington," Forest Survey Report No. 109, Portland, 1953, p. 1. 18 Ibid., pp. 2,3* 31 conifers, including primarily western hemlock, Douglas fir, western redcedar, and Sitka spruce. The coastal fog

climate is especially favorable for western hemlock, and this species prevails on almost three quarters of the saw

timber area. In much of this area it forms pure, even-

aged stands, and it comprises the major portion in the mixed stands with Douglas fir and Sitka spruce. The lat­

ter tree Is indigenous to the fog belt. On the other hand,

the 19 per cent of the saw timber stands in which Douglas

fir is the major species is located almost entirely In the eastern one fifth of the county. The other saw timber stands are divided In composition among Sitka spruce, western redcedar, true fir, mountain hemlock and red alder,

but western hemlock and Douglas fir also occur here, a l­

though to a limited degree. The alder is mainly in pure stands along stream bottoms and lower slopes. On logged-

off land where reforestation is taking place, alder will often penetrate the young evergreens. In small amounts,

there are also Pacific Silver fir, big leaf maple and lodgepole pine. The fauna of the region originally included great quantities of sea life and some exists today. The sea

otter were eliminated by the fur trappers. Likewise the numbers of whale and sturgeon have been greatly reduced.

However, the salmon still persist in sizeable quantities. 32 Originally there were great numbers of native oysters in Shoalwater Bay, closely similar to the better known

Olympia oysters of Puget Sound. The disappearance of the Willapa native oyster is reserved for telling in a later chapter. Along with the oysters were and are mussels, quahog and razor clams. The hard shell little neck clams originated from the east coast of North

America and were introduced to the bay via San Francisco.

Among the native land fauna there were originally beaver, otter, deer, bear, racoons, muskrats, mink, cou­ gars, wolves, and elk, and most of these persist today, though in greatly reduced numbers. I

3 3

Fig. 9 ~ View looking north from the mouth of the Columbia River. The southern end of Willapa Bay may be seen at the top of the picture.' {Coast Calendar Company) Fig, 10 - Typical scene of tidelands with forested hills in the background. This land, If diked, is p o te n tia lly good a g ric u ltu r a l land. (Source: Soil Conservation Service) 3 5

Fig* 11 - View of the middle peninsula, with the ocean In the foreground and the bay in the background* (Coast Calendar Company) 36

Fig, 12 Part of the Naselle River valley. (Source: Soil Conservation Service) F ig , 13 - The city of Raymond, beside the Willapa River, (Source: Soil Conservation Service) CHAPTER I I

THE WILLAPA BAY AREA PRIOR TO I 85 O

The Discovery of Shoalwater Bay

The northwest coast of North America was unexplored

until the latter half of the eighteenth century. Sir

Francis Drake had cruised near it in 1579 £>ut discovered little. By 1745 the Russians had sent two expeditions under Vitus Bering to scout the northwestern shore of Alaska, and by 1774 the Spanish had dispatched fifteen ex­ peditions north from Mexico to explore and claim land for Spain.

The most notable of these voyages were those of Juan Perez, Bruno Hecata, and Juan Francisco de Bodega y

Quadra. In 1775* Heceta, cruising off shore in the lati­ tude a little north of 45° north, noted evidence of a great river, but was unable to cross the bar to gain

proof of his discovery. However, he named it the Rio de San Roque, and the mouth area, Bahia de Asuncion. The purpose of these explorations had been to

search for harbors advantageous to the Manila trade, take possession of new lands, and gather all possible

38 39 1 information regarding Suitable sites for colonies. On

Bodega’s la s t tr ip in 1779 lie missed encountering the

Russians at Kodiak Island, and returned thinking there had been no foreign encroachment in the North. Even

then, however, the Russian-American Company was exploit­

ing the furs from the Aleutians east and south, and the

English, under Cook, Meares, Vancouver, and others, were on their way into the Spanish realm.

From 1785 to 1795j Nootka Sound was the center of fur trading operations for ships of all nations. The coastline north of Cape Mendocino was still imperfectly mapped--the Straits of Juan de Fuca were yet undiscovered,

It was not known that Nootka Bay is in an island, not the mainland, and the existence of Rio de San Roque, or Entrada de Heceta, was still unconfirmed.

At first the English and Spanish dominated the trade, but soon came Russian and Boston ships. Among the

English traders, in the season 1785-87 (it often took al­ most two years to complete a voyage from England and re­ turn), was a trader and amateur explorer named John

Meares. While there he became embroiled in a squabble with the Spanish commander, M artinez, and th is culminated

1 Gordon Speck, Northwest Explorations, Portland, Oregon, 1952*, p. 81 . 4 0 ultimately in the Nootka Sound Treaty, which consider­ ably weakened the Spanish claims in the Northwest coastal a r e a .

In July, 1788, Meares, commanding the East India Company ship Felice, of London, was sailing south near shore in the vicinity between latitudes 45° North and 48° North. He had left part of his company at Nootka and was proceeding south to explore the great river discovered by Heceta. On July 5th, he wrote in his log:

"At noon our latitude was 47° QL 1 north, and the lofty mountains seen the preceding day bore east-northeast distant seven leagues. Our dis­ tance might be four leagues from the shore which appeared to run in the direction of east-south­ east and west-northwest, and there appeared to be a large sound or opening In that direction. By two o’clock we were within two miles of the shore, along which we sailed, which appeared to be a perfect forest, without the vestige of a habita­ tion. The land was low and flat, and our sound­ ings were from fifteen to twenty fathoms, over a hard sand. As we were steering for the low point which formed part of the entrance into the bay or sound, we shoaled our water gradually to six fath­ oms, when breakers were seen to extend quite across it, so that it appeared to be quite inac­ cessible to ships. We Immediately hauled off the shore till we deepened our water to sixteen fath­ oms .

The point obtained the name of Low Point, and the bay that of Shoalwater Bay, and a headland that was also named Cape Shoalwater. . . From the mast head it was observed that this bay extended a considerable way inland, spreading into several arms or branches to the northward and eastward. The back of it was bounded by high and mountainous land which was at a great distance from us. 41

. . . We had concluded this . . . shore was uninhabited, but this opinion proved to be erroneous, for a canoe now came off to us from the point with a man and a boy. . . . they held up two sea-otter skins . . . but could not be persuaded to come on board . f,2

Meares having discovered and named Shoalwater Bay, it so appeared on his famous charts which accompanied his book, The Voyage of John Meares, published in London in 1790. Sections from two of these charts are presented in Figure 14.

He subsequently searched for Heceta’s river:

"On the morning of the sixth, the wind blew from the north, with a strong, heavy sea. At half past ten, being within three leagues of Cape Shoal-water, we had a perfect view of it, and with the glasses we traced the line of coast to the southward, which presented no open­ ing that promised any thing like a harbor. A high, bluff promontory bore off us southeast at the distance of only four leagues, for which we steered to double, with the hope that between it and Cape Shoal-water we should find some sort of a harbor. We gave the name of Cape Disappointment to the promontory.”3

Meares later named the mouth indentation area of the river

2 ' — — From John Meares, The Voyage of John Meares, London, 1790, as quoted in James G. Swan, Three Years Residence in Washington Territory, New York, 1857, pp.' 21-23. 3 ^Ibid., p. 2 3 , k2

Fig. 1A - Above: A portion of the map entitled, ”A Chart of the Northern Pa­ cific Ocean, Containing the Northeast Coast of Asia and the Northwest Coast of America,” in Voyages of John Meares, J. Walter, London, 1790, opposite page A-2.

Below: A portion of the map entitled '’Chart of the Northwest Coast of America and Northeast Coast of Asia, Explored in the Years 17?8 add 1779 by Captain Cook, and F arth er Explored in 1788 and 1789 by John Meares,” in Voyages of John Meares, J. Walter, London, 1790, opposite page xli. ffTlSl.ANDS* » \ *#i —- * rr \ ( A*#' r*»«. >*' “* v 9-• *v*

'*■*•«. d o F iic a 's Z ^ \ V SY^,. Siraits >_ /fvAs- I** W'f'rtWJ*t ' • »*- — aler Hav -#.

* ! y ' f (MoilU eathei A 7// ?7 /V/V K '.Or<(f< >/r iC. Blanco <3 / y ’. ^& M t'/niouno *t>/ •■■;Soy.i^88 \ /* / /'S’ •yf TV*f * / C. AfcMidociiio®^' / - ■ f 4 4 Deception Bay. Then, having failed to discover the river, he sailed north again to his headquarters. Wishing to gain further knowledge of Shoal-water Bay, he fitted out a longboat, to be manned by th irte e n men and provisioned for one month, but the boat was attacked by Indians while in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the project was aban­ doned. Then, in 1792, Captain George Vancouver, sailing under the English flag, made an exploring and charting cruise in the northwest coastal area. In April he was searching for the river mentioned by Heceta, notwithstand­ ing that its existence had been denied by Meares. Although he examined the coast under favorable weather conditions, he did not find it. He noted a promontory and at first thought it Cape Shoalwater, but on determining its la ti­ tude decided it must be Cape Disappointment. This was not the last time these two points would be confused by mari­ ners. Vancouver viewed the area and concluded that what

Meares had called Deception Bay was just that. He then moved north again near Cape Shoalwater. The journal reads that this opening, like the one south of it, " for a time flattered our expectation until the breakers extending across each of them, gave us reason to consider them in­ accessible, and unworthy any loss of time whilst ^ 5 accompanied by so favorable a breeze

He continued northward and not far from the Strait of

Juan de Fuca encountered Captain Robert Gray, commanding

the ship Columbia, of Boston. Gray told Vancouver of

seeing evidence of a great river about where Heceta had

mentioned there being one. When the two parted, Gray

started south again. On May 7th he discovered what is

now known as Grays Harbor, spent a short time there trad­

ing, and continued south. On May 11, 1792, he crossed the bar of the river in question, and named it after his

ship. Either ignoring or unfamiliar with Meare’s naming

of the land features, Gray termed the projecting land to

the south of the mouth Point Adams, and the cape to the north (Meare’s Cape Disappointment) Cape Hancock. He left

the river on May 20 and returned north. Vancouver, learn­

ing of his discovery, dispatched his Lieutenant Broughton, with the ship Chatham, to explore the Columbia.

Ifeus Varucover’s expeditions at least twice traveled near the Shoalwater Bay region. Yet on his map, which a c ­

companied the publication of his journals in 1798 , he shows no bay, but merely a small projection of land labelled Cape

^ _ _ _ _ _ , . Clinton A. Snowden, History of Washington, The Rise and Progress of an American State, New York, 1909, Vol. 1, p. 187. Fig. 15 - Part of Vancouver’s map, as given in Clinton A. Snowden, H istory of Washington The Rise and Progress of An American State, The Century H istdry Company, New York, Vol 1909, opposite page 214. -..V

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• - - , . i . ' X V - ^ t s-:-- ^ ' -UXJ' X. *• fJ- ju! *

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Shoalwater. The conclusion must be that he did not miss seeing the bay, but believing it to be of minor impor­ tance as far as navigation was concerned, he deliberately omitted the detailed information from his chart. This omission had a more than ordinary influence on the subse­ quent cartographic recognition of this bay, because Vancouver's map had a strong influence on most maps drawn of the North Pacific coast during the next fifty years. Partly this was because he had, in most respects, done a very thorough job of mapping, and partly because many years elapsed before there were any further such ex­ ploring expeditions.

The English cartographer, Aaron Arrowsmith, who must have derived much of his data from Meares, published a map in 1790 on which there appears a small bay labeled

Shoalwater Bay. Also, J. Russell's map, accompanying

Wlnterbotham's History,^ 1795 > shows the bay. Yet

Arrowsmith's map of 1804, apparently now following

Vancouver's information, omits the bay but includes

Whidbey's Harbor, which was Vancouver's name for Gray's

5~ — ------Reproduced in Narrative & Critical History of North America, Edited by Justin Winsor, Boston and New York, 1 8 8 8 , p. 5 5 7 . 49

Harbor.^ Vancouver had discovered several errors in

Meares* c h a rt.^ Arrowsmith probably felt that if Meares

could be wrong about some items, his other data might be

unreliable also, and thus his strong reliance on

Vancouver's data is explained. So, for the next thirty years at least, Shoalwater Bay was seldom shown or la­

beled on a map.

The next exploring expedition which entered the vi­ cinity of the bay was not by sea but by land, that of

Lewis and Clark. The Louisiana Purchase had been announced

on July 4, l803« The expedition left St. Louis in May,

1804 with voluminous orders from President Jefferson to

explore a route to the Pacific and bring back careful and detailed notes on the botany, geography, wild life, and

Indian customs and languages of the regions traversed.

The group arrived near the mouth of the Columbia, on

the north side of the river on November 7> 1805, but be­

cause of storms, it took them another week to get around a point of land to their first encampment within view of

the ocean. The group spent less than three weeks there and then moved south across the river to spend the winter

E Although used in the original place names, the posses­ sive apostrophe is later omitted in most of these. This study uses it whenever such use was contemporary with the period under consideration. 7 See Henry R. Wagner, The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year lBoo, Berkeley, Calif., Vol. 1, 1937, p. 247. 5 0 a t Fort C latsop. They s ta r te d for home on March 23, 1806 and arrived In St. Louis on September 23rd of that year.

Thus Lewis and Clark were in the Columbia mouth area about four months, but only a small portion of this time was spent on the north side of the river, and evidently the exploring done on what is now the Washington side of the river was during that period.

So far as knowledge of Shoalwater Bay might be in­ volved, there was only one significant exploring excursion, done by Clark and a few o th ers. Snowden s ta te s that on November 17th, Lewis made a trip down Haley's (Baker's)

Bay--so called for a white trader who, according to the

Indians, occasionally visited it, to and around the point of Cape Disappointment, and,

upon his return Captain Clark set out by land, rounded the cape and followed the shore north ten or twelve miles, until he could see the entrance to Shoalwater Bay. He there carved his name with the date in the bark of a fir tree, after which he crossed the peninsula and returned, reaching camp on the 2 0 th. °

The reader gains the impression that Clark knew he was looking at the entrance of Shoalwater Bay and that the bay's existence was known. However, neither Clarke's notes nor maps substantiate this. Clark wrote:

8 ------Clinton A. Snowden, op. c it., p. 2 9 7 . 51 . . .after taking a Sumptlous breakfast of Venison which was roasted on Stiks exposed to the fire, I proceeded on through ruged Country of high hills and Steep hollers on a course from the (Tapp N 20° W. 5 miles on a Direct line to the commencement of a Sandy coast which extended N. 10 W. from the top of the hill above the Sand Shore to a Point of high land distant near 20 miles, this point I have taken the Liberty of Calling after my particular friend Lewis, at the commencement of this Sand beach the high lands leave the Sea Coast in a Direction to Chinnook r i v e r , 9 and does not touch the Sea Coast again below point lereis leaveing a low pondey Country, maney places open with small ponds In which there is great number of fowl. I am informed that the Chinnook Nation Inhabit this low country and live in large wood houses on a river which passes through this bottom Parrilal to the Sea coast and falls Into the Bay.10 I proceeded on the sandy coast 4 miles, and marked my name on a Small pine, the Day of the month & year, etc., and returned to the foot of the hill, from which place I intended to Strike across to the Bay.. 1

Clark drew a sketch map of the mouth of the Columbia, and

on it marks part of the route followed by the expedition

above cited. This leaves no doubt that the journey "on

the sandy coast 4 miles 11 was on the lower part of the

9 This river is known as the Wallcut. The direction im­ plied was generally north-east. 10 This refers to Haley’s Bay. 11 Reuben Gold Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-130 5, New York, 1905. Vol. Ill, “p. 236. ~ ~~ 52 peninsula which forms the western arm of Shoalwater Bay.

Considering the hills, timber, and brush which must have obstructed his vision while he yet stood on the high cliffs, it is not surprising he did not see the southern end of the bay. However, assuming that he was a good judge of distance and that the weather was clear, the high point of land twenty miles distant, called Point Lewis, would nearly have coincided with Cape Shoalwater. His descrip tion of the high lands receding from the coast and not returning until at or beyond Point Lewis also fit the picture. Yet on a larger map of a portion of the coast 12 and the mouth of the Columbia, he shows a Cape Shoal­ water, and then Point Lewis half way between it and the cape. This stretch of land today consists only of dunes and north-south trending beach ridg es, and i t seems prob able that it was the same then."^

Clark also accepts the information, probably rendered by Indians, that the area inland was a low ly­ ing land crossed by a stream parallel to the ocean and

12 Ibid., Vol. VIII, Plate 32 iiir 13 Thwaites does not assLst in solving the confusion, for in a footnote on page 236, he states that Point Lewis is the present day North Head which is not p o ss ib le . 53 which emptied Into Haley's Bay. Yet he must have known

or suspected there was an opening near Lewis's Point be­

cause on the map he has the river emptying both there and

on the south into the Bay. Also, although on the map, Cape Shoalwater is not mentioned in the Journals. Thus, the Lewis and Clark expedition did nothing in furthering

geographical knowledge of Shoalwater Bay. The episode was only another in a series of events in which this bay

because of its proximity would be indirectly but never immediately concerned in the activities about the mouth of the Columbia River.

From l 8 l l to 1 8 1 3 , the Pacific Fur Company, the Astor enterprise, existed at Astoria, until it was bought

out by the Northwest Fur Company. From this time forth,

the traders working in this area probably knew of Shoal­ water Bay, but their contact with the outside world was limited, especially with cartographers. Yet in 1816, a map by John Mellsh again shows Cape

Shoalwater and another map by him in I 817 shows the bay, although not in its correct shape. An account of one of the first expeditions of white 14 men through the bay is found in Journals of John Work,

p . ------. . _ . "Journal of John Work, November and December, 1824," Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. Ill, 1908, pp. 1 9 8 -2 2 8 . 5^ a Hudsons Bay trader. In these Journals he recorded a

trip undertaken In 1824 hy himself and his men starting

from Fort George (Astoria), crossing the hay to Gray’s

Harhor, Puget Sound, and on to the Fraser River, and then

returning, mostly via the same .route. That It was among the first such expeditions is evident, because their pur­ pose was to examine the coast from the mouth of the

Columbia north to the Fraser with a view toward finding a

location for the permanent headquarters of the company. (At this time Fort Vancouver had not yet been selected for t h i s .)

The party portaged across the narrow strip of land

dividing the bay from the Columbia, and down a small creek

--probably that known as Tarlett Slough-~and into the bay

i t s e l f . He remarked upon the number of wild ducks and

cranberries. The next day they went part way up the bay, and the following day completed the crossing, then begin­ ning the portage to Grays Harbor and the Chehalis River. Work mentions seeing no inhabitants except one small v il­ lage of "Chennoks, consisting of five inhabited and one un­ inhabited house.”

The knowledge that the bay was there although the shape had not yet been defined was sufficiently widespread

th at in 1838 it was included, though not labelled, on a map which accompanied a Senate report concerning the 5 5 occupation of the Oregon Country.^ This map was reported

to have been compiled by the U. S. Topographic Engineers from the best and most reliable sources available.

All that really remained was to have the bay ac­

curately surveyed. In 1838 there began a world wide

scientific enterprise known as The United States Exploring Expedition; sponsored by the United States government and

commanded by Commander Charles Wilkes, i t is generally known as the MWilkes Expedition.M Its mission was to explore different parts of the world, and one paragraph of the instructions read:

”Thence you will direct your course to the North­ west Coast of America, making such surveys and examinations, first of the territory of the United States on the seaboard and of the Columbia River, and afterward along the Coast of California, with special reference to the Bay of St. Francisco, as you can accomplish by the month of October fol­ lowing your arrival.”16

Accordingly, after nearly three years* work in the South seas, on April 28, 1841, most of the expedition appeared off the mouth of the Columbia. Wilkes carried out orders and surveyed the shoreline, the Strait of Juan de Fuca,

15 Senate Document 370, S eries 318, p. 8 (2 5 th Congress 2 nd Session) 1 6 Edmund S. Meany, History of the State of Washington, New York, 1930, p. 73* Pig. 16 - A portion of a map by Clark which depicts the area Im­ mediately north of the mouth of the Columbia River. Fror. Reuben Gold Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1606/ Vol. 6 , £>odd, Mead, & Co., New York, 1905 > P late 32 - C. " V ■

\ 58

Puget Sound, and the Columbia River. During these activi­

ties he sent an exploring party down the Chehalis River to Gray's Harbor and then to Shoalwater Bay and the Columbia.

In Wilkes's Narrative, the report on this trip reads:

The coast between Gray's Harbour and Cape Shoalwater is bordered by sand hills, behind which, from the Indians' account, there are lakes and streams of fresh water, in which plenty of beaver are found. . . . .They hired another canoe and . . . pro­ ceeded through Shoalwater Bay towards Cape Disappointment. The two canoes separated, which caused them to pass over the two portages between Shoalwater and Baker's Bay: that to the east is about four and a half miles in length, while that to the west is six or seven miles across. The former is usually preferred by the Indians and is one of the main passes of communi­ cation between the different tribes on the sea c o a st. '

1 ft There is no further mention of the bay. The map Wilkes

drew of the Northwest Coast does not show the bay, despite

the fact that he obviously knew it was there.

Thus the first definite survey of Shoalwater Bay

did not come until 1 8 5 2 , when the United States surveying

steamer Active, commanded by Lieutenant James Alden, made a reconnaissance of the bay and on October 4th of the same

17 Charles Wilkes, U.S.N., Commander of Expedition, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition Dur- Ing the Years 1 8 3 8 , 1«39, 1840, 1541, 1842, FKiiadelph'ia"Vol. 5 , 1845,— pV 133"; ------18 Ibid., Atlas, Map IV. Fig. 17 - A portion of the map entitled, "Reconnaissance of the Western Coast of the United States (Northern Sheet) From Umpquah River to the Boundary," Hydro - graphic Party under the command of Lieut. James Alden, U.S.N. Assistant, U.S. Coast Survey, Washington, D.C., 1 8 5 5 . 60 ------

ft. 9 V,

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( '.y t '1 INs.i/*fn>inlut!» \ 'f* H* , . "'-S' i>ii i'* h _ , /V f,W v c ■ •> '., ^ '

:,M .S 61 year In a letter to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey he w rote,

"We have made a reconnaissance of the entrance to Shoal-water Bay, and all the northern por­ tion of It, comprising an area of about one hundred square miles. The remainder, which we were prevented from examining for want of time, Is a broad sheet of water, from four to five miles wide, extending In a southerly di­ rection to within four miles of Baker's Bay, Columbia River, and Is shut out from the sea by a narrow peninsula, which commences just behind Cape Disappointment, and runs due north some twenty-five miles, forming at its terminus the south point of the entrance. It is full of shoals, as its name implies, but there is plenty of water among them, and they are gen­ erally bare at low water. They are easily found, and quite accessible. The land is well timbered, and I suppose there is plenty of it sufficiently good for agricultural purposes. At present there are no whites In the Bay, except a few who are employed in 1Q collecting oysters for the California market.' ^

20 Based on Alden's survey, the Coast Survey map of 1855 shows Shoalwater Bay in nearly i t s true shape and p o sitio n , and from this time forward the bay was recognized by car­ tographers. As white contact with the area progressed and settlements began, there arose some confusion as to the location of the latter. For instance, on the map of

19 ______James G. Swan, op. c i t . , p. 2k. 20 Reconnaissance of the Western Coast of the United States, Northern Sheet, from Umpquah River to the Boundary, United States Coast Survey, 1 8 5 5 . 62 21 Washington and Oregon Territories, published in 1 8 5 6 , and known as the "third map of Washington," the settlement of Bruceport was apparently mislabeled Bruceville and lo­ cated incorrectly. This error occurred on several other maps. One of the earliest accurate maps of the bay area was th at drawn by James G. Swan to accompany his book, op Three Years in Washington Territory, in 1 8 5 7 . In summary, then, i t is seen that although the bay was discovered and charted in 1788 by Meares, it was short­ ly thereafter omitted by Vancouver from his map, which in turn strongly influenced other maps of this area for the next half century. By 1815 it was probably known to those white men in the area. The Indians had undoubtedly known of it long before that date. By 18 ^5 , the bay was appear­ ing on American maps, although incorrectly delineated.

Alden's survey in 1852 and the subsequently published map in 1855 accomplished that task, and from then on, the bay was on the map.

21 ' — — Washington and Oregon, J. H. Colton and Co., New York, I 8 5 6 . 22 James G. Swan, op. c it., frontispiece. Pig. 18 - A portion of the map entitled "Map of the Western Portion of Washington Territory," Compiled by J . G. Swan, in J . G. Swan, Three Years Residence In Washington Terri­ tory, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1 8 5 7 , opposite page 1 . 64

PT. CREN VILLE

c a p e : s h o a l *

* o C. Dl SA PPOINTM ENT fl to HIV EH

K a n ie r : FnrR St.Helens M ilton conver

B A S E LIME 6 5 The Indian Community

In the Pacific Northwest there were two main types of Indian culture, th e c o a st and the plateau. Both, were of a hunting and fishing type, but the coast leaned es­ p ecially toward the l a t t e r . The Cascade Range e ffe c tiv e ly barred it from the cultural development associated with the horse, and in addition, certain of the coast tribes were quite early brought into contact with white men via maritime exploring and fur trading.

The native Inhabitants of the Shoalwater Bay area were mainly of two main coastal tribes--the Chehalis and the Chinook. The Chinook were the best known tribe of the Chinookan linguistic family which included those Indians living beside the Columbia River from the Dalles to the mouth, on the lower Willamette River as far as the present site of Oregon City, and for a short distance along the north side of the mouth of the Columbia from the northern part of Shoalwater Bay south to Tillamook Head in Oregon. There were a few Chehalis tribes on the north part of

Shoalwater Bay, but the Chinook were the more powerful and always played the dominant role.

One of their important characteristics was that be­ fore the white man ever entered the scene, these Indians were skilled traders, this being in part a consequence of 66 the position they occupied around the mouth of a great river. Among the coastal tribes slavery was an accepted institution, and the trading in slaves was the main com­ mercial pursuit of the Chinook. They did a thriving busi­ ness with the Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island because the Nootkas had a monopoly on the shell money supply. The

Chinook obtained their slaves by making raids upon their neighbors and conquering tribes and villages.

Lewis and Clark estimated the total number of

Chinook at about 16,000, but in 1829 an epidemic of fever swept through them and annihilated four fifths of the na­ tiv e population.Thus, by about 1 8 5 0 , when white settle­ ment about the mouth of the Columbia and Shoalwater Bay really began in earnest, the Indian population was undoubt­ edly a mere fraction of its previous size and offered no effective block to settlement. Culturally speaking, these Indians had a strong sense of caste. The leader in the village was usually the wealth­ iest man who also had some qualities of leadership. The prevailing social system was based on the possession and distribution of surplus goods or wealth in the form of in­ vestment, generally embodied in a potlach--a feast to which

2 3 F. W. Hodge, Handbook of the American Indian, Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnography, Washington, B.C., 1912, p. 224. 67 guests were invited, given gifts, and were then expected

to return one larger by fifty to one hundered per cent.^^

In obtaining food, these Indians had an easier

time of it than their counterparts inland. For shelter they built houses, sometimes several hundred feet long,

constructed of hand hewn planks. Cedar was also used for clothes, baskets, and canoes.

A discussion of the meaning of the word tribe in connection with these Indians is pertinent. Among these

folk, there was a lack of political unity in the modern sense of the term. There was little, if any, agriculture.

The economy was based upon hunting, fish in g , and the g a th ­ ering of wild plants, especially berries, and shellfish. Such an economy needed a greater area for subsistence than

an agricultural group. As Gunther expresses it:

. • . they did not use most of this area the greater part of the year, but every part of it had some place in the annual subsistence cycle --one place for fishing, another for hunting deer, a long sandspit for ducks, a mountain trail to berry fields . . . The unit of po­ litical organization therefore is the village . . . A number of v illa g e s occupying contigu­ ous territory share many culture traits, in­ cluding the language they speak. . . Their relationship is in a constant state of flux.

2% ; ■ — ---- Erna Gunther, "Indian Life of the Pacific Northwest," in The Pacific Northwest, Second Edition, edited by Otis W, Freeman and Howard H. M artin, New York, 1954, p. 20. 68

It 3* 30'

43'

10 Scale in Miles Chinook Indian V illage S ite Chehalis Indian Village Site (often formerly occupied 124' by Chinook) F ig, 19 - Location of Indian villages in the Willapa Bay area, (Compiled from John R. Swanton, The Indian Tribes of North America, Washington, D* C,, 1952, pn. 4l5, *n 8 >) 69 Consequently a more accurate way of recording the location of Pacific Northwest tribes would be to mark each village. New villages were of­ ten settled by people who left an old village because of quarrels.25

Thus In the Shoalwater Bay area, the villages were not really where the Indians lived, but merely outposts at which they stopped during certain times of the year. The villages were not permanently occupied, but generally there were some Indians at those points.

The bay region occasionally was also part of the living area for tribes from other parts. Indians from the upper Cowlitz and Puget Sound areas would make trips 2 fi to the Shoalwater and Columbia estuary for food.

With the coast Indians* propensity for trade, there was naturally considerable travel, and Shoalwater Bay was on the main north-south route. The portages from the Columbia across to the south end of the bay and on north to North Cove and along the beach to Gray's Harbor and the Chehalis River valley were long used before the appearance of the whites. However, whenever possible, the Indians traveled by canoe, and for this reason of ease of communi­ cation, Shoalwater Bay was a distinctive region or unit.

_ I b id . , p . 1 9. 26 "Thrilling Tale of Indian War Given to Explain Naselle Prairies," South Bend Journal, Feb. 1 5 , 1924; Also Thomas Nelson Strong, Cathlamet on the Columbia, Portland, Ore., I 9 0 6, p. 9 9. 70 Yet it was always linked with the Columbia estuarine com­

munity.

Before l 8 ll, the white contact with these Indians had been the maritime explorers and fur traders and the

Lewis and Clark expedition. In l 8 ll came the founding of Astoria and between then and 1821 the fur trade was taken over by men who would live among the Indians, intermarry with them, raise half-breed families, and influence their

customs, languages, and habits of thought. To the Chinook jargon were added many English and French words, and the

language was used extensively in the coast trade. The first permanent white settlers on the north side of the Columbia were the retired employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, a few of English and Scotch descent and several French Canadians. This settlement probably began sometime in the late 1830 *s or e arly 1840 !s. From th is time fo rth the Indian community and way of lif e would diminish in importance. As has been mentioned above, their numbers by th is time had been su b s ta n tia lly reduced. Lewis and Clark estimated 400 in the Columbia River mouth area a lo n e ;27 In 1855 Swan gives 112 . 28 In l851< tason

27 ' ~ John R. Swanton, op. cit., p. 4l8. 28 James G. Swan, op. c i t ., p. 3^6. 71 29 concluding treaties with these Indians, remarked that the Wheelapa hand of Chinook Indians consisted of only two males and several females and children.

For some time after 1 8 5 0 , the Indians maintained some sort of tribal unity, but this, as has been pointed out earlier, was tenuous to begin with. They soon became employees of the whites, and though the period of 1 8 5 0 -6 0 was a time of Indian uprisings in other parts of the Terri­ tory, the Shoalwater Bay Indians remained peaceful.

The United States Government attempted more than once to treat with them. In 1855 the territorial governor,

Isaac Stevens, held a conference of all the coast tribes which was not too successful, the main stumbling block being that the Indians did not take to the idea of their being placed on reservations, especially with tribes from east of the Cascades.

In I 8 5 I, Dart had concluded treaties with the Shoal­ water Bay and Lower Chinook tribes, but these were never ratified by the United States Senate. Nevertheless, in

1 8 6 6 , a sm all 355 acre reservation was established on the north shore of the bay, undoubtedly more to satisfy white

29* ' ' — Briefly outlined in 0. F. Coan, "The First Stage of the Federal Indian Policy in the Pacific Northwest, 1849-52," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 22, 1921, pp. 46-86. 72 requests than Indian needs, and it exists today. The land was not especially desirable, and consequently never heav­ ily inhabited, most of the Shoalwater Bay Indians prefer­ ring to continue living where they were. Today, the few

Indians who reside there are members of the Quinaielt Tribe (Chehalis ) and have allotments or inherited inter­ ests in lands on the much larger Quinaielt Reservation to the north.

The Shoalwater Indians and mixed bloods have grad­ ually concentrated in a few areas, the most important being Bay Center, where several descendants of these

Indians now live. Strictly speaking, there are no pure- blood living members of the original Shoalwater Indian group. The anthropologist, Franz Boas, in 1891 interviewed at Bay Center what he believed to be two of the last three remaining full blooded Chinooks.

So the story of the Shoalwater Indians was closely linked with that of the Chinook. They were a primitive but reasonably intelligent people whose culture, system of life, and very existence were quickly erased by the white advance. The only difference in this story from similar instances which had preceded it in the American westward advance was that there was no place further west to push these Indians. In the area concerned there were no wars 73 to reduce their numbers, but disease accomplished the same r e s u l t .

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it all is how well the Shoalwater Indians fitted their mode of life into that of the white men’s, and were assimilated into the white's society economically as well as socially.

This may have been because the white settlers derived their livelihood essentially from the same activities as had the Indians, only they used different systems. It should also be noted that, especially in the beginning, the whites followed the lead of the Indians concerning routes to travel and places to settle in the bay area.

The P o litic a l H istory, Economy, and

Settlement Prior to 1850

The Political History

By the Treaty of Paris, in 1783* the boundary between the British and American possessions in North America was drawn from the northwesterly angle of the Lake of the Woods due west to the source of the Mississippi River. Unfortu­ nately, this line was impossible to draw. In 1 8 0 3 , the United States purchased from Prance the territory of Louisiana, with its vague northern and western boundaries.

By 1825 the only two remaining contenders for 7 4 possession of the Oregon country were Great Britain and

the United States, the claims of Spain and Russia by this

time having been disposed of by treaty. There is consider­

able evidence that all through the ensuing dispute the British viewed things with a more practical and less stub­

born eye than did the citizens of the United States, who

were in the throe3 of the fever of "Manifest Destiny."

The American claims were supported by the Adams-Onis Treaty, which relinquished Spain *3 rights to the United States; by the explora­ tions of Captain Gray, who in 1792 discovered the majestic river that bears the name of his ship, the Columbia; by the Lewis and Clark over­ land expedition of l8o4-l8o6; by the e s ta b lis h ­ ment of the American fur trading post at Astoria, in 1 8 1 1 ; and by the principles of continuity and c o n tig u ity .3 0

Note that three of the five above-stated bases for claims

concern activities in and around the mouth of the Columbia,

with which the Shoalwater Bay region was indirectly asso­ cia te d .

The Oregon problem would not be acute until the area was actually occupied by settlers, and so it was to the ad­

vantage of the United States to postpone settlement of the problem. The Treaty of l 8 l 8 with Great Britain changed the

30 ' Thomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History of the American People, Third Edition, New York, 194 6 , p. 22 H. 75 lin e of 1783 to the 49th parallel from the Lake of the

Woods to the Rocky Mountains, "but beyond the mountains the

territory was left open to joint occupation for ten years.

In 1827 the agreement was extended indefinitely, subject

to abrogation by either country on one year's notice. By 1845, the only area really in question was the

territory between the Columbia River and the 49th parallel, which included the prized harbor of Puget Sound and Inci­

dentally the coastline down to the mouth of the Columbia, thus also including the harbors of Shoalwater Bay and Gray's Harbor. No matter how treacherous the bar crossings might appear, these two Inlets were more Important than might be realized, when it is considered that there were few navigable harbors on the coast.

The story of what followed is well known--of President Polk and his campaign of "54°40lor fight," and

the treaty of 1846 which set the U.S.-Canadian boundary at

the 49th parallel. It was a victory of diplomacy, not of war or settlement, for although the Hudson's Bay Company

In 1845 began to move its main depot from Port Vancouver on the Columbia to Vancouver Island, there were only eight

Americans in the whole region north of the Columbia in

1845 . 31

Frederick Merk, "The Oregon Pioneers and the Boundary," American Historical Review, Vol. 29, 1924, p. 2 8 3 . 76

North Cove Tokeland

Brucenort South BendCWlllapa Bay Center

Sunshine

Chinook 10

Scale In Miles

124” Fig* 20 - Location of settlements surrounding Willapa Bay in 1 8 8 5 . 77 The Economy and Settlem ent

The maih economy of the area up to about 1845 was the fur trade. First came the maritime fur trade, which owed its origin to the third voyage of Captain Cook, who in 1778 discovered Nootka Sound and traded for furs, es­ pecially sea otter.

For a time the East India Company and the South Sea Company monopolized the British trade, but later the North­ west Company also entered. The Americans became the main competitors. During this stage all trading was done by ships, and the numbers of vessels, counting none twice, in the Northwest in the period from 1 7 8 5 -1 8 1 5 were:-^

B ritis h American

1785-1794 25 15 1795-1809 9 50 1805-1814 3 40

The trade was of a predatory character and soon practically exterminated the sea otter.

Although the maritime traders talked of establishing permanent settlements, they did not attempt It, and so the main importance of the maritime trade was that it led to later efforts to establish overland trade, which led even­ tually to settlement.

35 F. W. Howay, W. N. Sage, and H. F. Angus, British Columbia and the United States, New Haven, Conn., 1942, p. 67 78

With the founding of Astoria in l 8 l l by A sto r's

Pacific Pur Company came the first attempt to establish in the area a permanent trading post with an overland con­

nection to the east. For various reasons--poor connections,

back luck, and the War of lSl 2 --the enterprise failed and was sold to the Northwest Company, which later merged with the Hudson's Bay Company.

British and American trappers, both feeling that

their nation had a right to the area, competed in trapping,

and in the follow ing years the region became much depleted.

Also, the Hudson's Bay Company perceiving the way events would turn, concentrated on trapping the southern part of

the area while it could, and thus leaving the northern

part as a fur reservoir when the company would have to move.

In 1824 the post of Fort George, or Astoria, was abandoned and the headquarters moved to Port Vancouver on

the north bank of the Columbia about opposite the mouth of

the Willamette River. The abandonment of Fort George was brought about partly because of the divergent views of the effect of the return of that post to the United States in

1818 under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. The post was reopened by the Americans in 1829* In 1830 the ship Owhyhee

took out the first export of Columbia River Salmon - -5 3 79 33 barrels salted for the Boston market.

By 1841 the American westward movement had begun to head toward Oregon. The visits of Captain Bonneville,

N athaniel Wyeth, and H all J . Kelly had helped to publicize the region but the Methodist missionary activities for and in this area deserve the most credit for starting the

Oregon immigration movement, which eventually gave the

Americans the ascendancy in Oregon south of the Columbia

River. The concentration of settlers in the Willamette

Valley was partly brought about by the chief factor of the

Hudson's Bay post, Dr. McLoughlin, who, believing that the area south of the Columbia was lost for Great Britain any­ way, encouraged the American settlers to locate there rather than on Puget Sound.

By various books, the schemes of Kelley, debates in Congress, and lastly the lectures of the missionaries Rev.

Jason Lee and Dr. Elijah White, the attention of the pio­ neers was directed toward this region. Added to this im­ petus were: the belief that old Oregon was American terri­ tory where an intruding foreign company held sway, the hard times after the Panic of 1 8 3 7 , and the facts that many people were land hungry, money was scarce, and business

33 ~ Ibid., p. 72. 80 34 was d u ll.

Knowledge, economic pressure, patriotism, and religion combined under the stimulus of organ­ ized effort to set in motion those successive waves of immigration which in a few years trans­ formed the valley of the Columbia from a fur trading land to a land of pioneer homes and in­ dustry. 35

The first significant migration was in 1842, and by 1846, at the time of the Treaty of Washington, there were

5000 American settlers in Oregon. The migrations con­ tinued thereafter, but were reduced somewhat when gold was discovered in California in 1848, and the flow of set­ tlers diverted to that area.

One thing should be noted about these earliest mi­ grants to Oregon and that is that by and large they were not land speculators but pioneers who wanted to settle, own, and farm land. Primarily they appeared to be mostly from 36 the western states and territories, especially Missouri.

Soon after the Treaty, the American settlers began to overflow from the Willamette Valley into the newly ac­ quired territory. The two natural routes for them to p------Ibid., p. 100 35 Ibid . 36 Ibid., p. 100 81 follow were up the Cowlitz River to the Puget Sound region and down the Columbia. As has been mentioned earlier, the white settlement, though not by Americans, on the mouth of

the Columbia had begun earlier.

The white settlement on the north side of the Columbia came to be called old Chinookville and was not far from the main Chinook Indian village which was located on a protected beach about opposite from present day Astoria.

It was beside this village that Gray had anchored the

Columbia and traded with the Indians. Lewis and Clark had also camped near th is v illa g e .

It was only a matter of time before Shoalwater Bay would be penetrated by the white advance. Probably the first man to settle on the bay was a whaling ship cooper named John Douglas. He is reported to have visited the bay in 1841 and to have erected a residence on the northeast side of the peninsula in 1847* His tenure here was evidently only periodic, because when the next white group arrived in

1 8 5 1 , one later reported that there "wasn't a white man on the bay."3^

37 — Albion Gile, "The Early Pioneers of Pacific County," Manuscript in files of Raymond Library, Raymond, Wash. CHAPTER I I I

THE SETTLEMENT OP THE BAY REGION, 1850-1890

The Extra-Regional Influences

With the establishment of the Oregon country as a Territory In 1846 It was anticipated that rapid settlement

would continue. However, the discovery of gold in Cali­

fornia in 1848 deflected a great deal of immigration to that area; yet the movement to Oregon s till continued.

In 1849, Oregon had a population of 9083 and by i860

Oregon Territory alone had 52,465 people, whereas Washington

Territory created in 1853 with a population of approxi­ mately 3>965, in i860 had 11,594 people.

The Formation of Pacific County

In 1851, two years before Washington Territory was separated from Oregon, there were already three counties north of the Columbia; Clark, Lewis, and Pacific. The

first two had been in existence for some time, comprising the two spheres of activity around Port Vancouver and Puget Sound. The settlers in the vicinity of Shoalwater Bay and

1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, i860. 82 83 the north hank: of the mouth of the Columbia were next to desire their own county organization, and the County of

Pacific was accordingly organized by an Act of the Oregon

legislature on the fourth of February, 1 8 5 1 . The bounda­

ries began at Cape Disappointment, extended north along

the coast for 25 miles, then east 30 miles, and south to the Columbia River. The settlement of Bruceport was probably outside of this boundary, but its residents took

part in county affairs anyway. With Clatsop County south of the river, it formed a representative district, and th is d i s t r ic t together with the one composed of Lewis and Clarke counties, was entitled to one member of the Oregon

Legislative Council. It will be noted that the boundaries cited above en­ compass an area smaller than that included in Pacific County today, the additions having been made on the north and the east. Apparently the original boundaries were in­ tended to include the bay. Or putting it another way, it was the presence of this bay and the separate region which i t was beginning to rep resen t, together with the community on the north bank of the mouth of the Columbia, which stim­ ulated the formation of a separate political division.

In later years the boundaries were modified several times. The most significant change was in 1879 when a por­ tion in the southeastern section of the county was given to 84 neighboring Wahkiakium County. This included the greater

part of the drainage basins of Deep and Grays rivers, thus making nearly all the drainage of Pacific County

tributary to the bay. Later, there was added one more tier of townships on the eastern end of the county, which

area encompassed the remainder of the headwaters of the Willapa River and its main tributaries.

The Acquisition of Public Lands

Besides the settlement of the Oregon boundary ques­ tion and the establishment of a territorial government, another stimulus for American settlement in the Northwest was the Donation or Oregon Land Law, passed by Congress in

1 8 5 0 . This law granted to

every white settler or occupant of the public lands, American half-breeds included, over 18 years of age, and a citizen of the United States, or having disclosed his intention ac­ cording to law of becoming such, or who should make such declaration on or before the first day of December, 1 8 5 1 , then residing in the territory* or becoming a resident before Decem­ ber l 8 5 0 --a provision made to include the immi­ gration of that year--S40 acres to a married man, half of which was to belong to his wife in her own right, and 320 acres to a single man, or if he should become m arried w ithin a year from the first of December, 1 8 5 0 , 320 more to his w ife, 8 5 no patents to Issue until after a four years re sid e n c e . 2

The Donation land Act was in operation for only five or six y ears. While some of the choice land in western Washington may have been taken up under the Pre-Emption Law of 1 8 3 0 , there were several Donation Land Claims taken in the Shoal­ water Bay area. In this region, some settlers did not care to take as large a claim as permitted by the law. These persons were usually oystermen or fishermen who did not want a large farm but wanted a small area as a base for operations. The next important land law to affect this area was the Homestead Act of 1862. Under this law, title to land could be secured up to 160 acres of land upon completion of five years ’ residence thereon and cultivation and Im­ provement of the land. As this law existed for a much longer time than the Donation Land Law, and is still in ef­ fect today in amended form, there were more homesteads than

Donation land Claims taken up in Pacific County.

Some of the public lands went by direct sale, for

2 H. H. Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume XXX, The History of Oregon, Vol. II, San Francisco, 1 8 8 6 , p. 2 6 1 . 86 which various laws, dating from 1 7 7 6 , had provided.

By various acts, passed in the last half of the

1 9th century, when transportation development was aided through grants of public land, the Northern Pacific Rail­ road Company obtained large areas of land in Pacific

County--under both the alternate section and the "in lieu" rule. Some of this land was later sold in big blocks to large timber companies. The 1893 tax list of the Northern

P a c ific R ailroad shows th at i t paid taxes on 7 0 , 298.99 acres of land in the county. In 1955, its remaining owner­ ship in the county amounted to 850 acres. The acreage shown for 1 8 9 3 , plus considerable acreage acquired In sub­ sequent years, less the 850 acres, was disposed of to lumber mills, logging companies, municipalities, and indi­ viduals .3

The Act of February 22, 1 8 8 9 , granted the State of

Washington two sections, 16 and 36 usually, out of every township in the state for support of schools. The State has retained title to most of this land.

Some land in Pacific County was sold under the pro­ visions of the Timber and Stone Act of June 3, 1 8 7 8 , which

_ _ — Personal letter from Dean H. Eastman, Vice President Northern Pacific Railroad Company, Seattle, Sept. 7, 1955* 87 made possible the sale of large quantities of timber lands a t $2 .5 0 per acre, with each purchase limited to 160 acres.

Briefly speaking, then, records indicate that the

lands of the Shoalwater Bay area went into non-federal

ownership by means of pre-em ption, donation, homesteads,

direct sale, railroad grants, and school grants held in

trust by the States.^

The Mineral Rushes

Another significant influence on settlement and pioneer life in the period 1 8 5 0 -1 8 9 0 was the occurence of ’’gold rushes” at various dates. More than any other single factor, the various discoveries of gold would cause a mad influx of settlers to the region concerned. The centers, after the California rush, were: in 1855 i-n the Port Colville area between the Spokane and Pend d* Orielle rivers; the British Columbia rush in the

Fraser, Caribou, and Kootenai rivers region in the late

1850*3 and early l860's; western Montana, at its peak be­ tween 1862 and 1864; and in eastern Oregon, in the Malheur, John Day, and Powder riv e rs country in the e a rly l860*s.

5 ------Much of the public lands information pertinent to Pacific County was obtained from a personal letter from F. W. Merewether, Lands & Range O fficer, Bureau of Land Manage­ ment, U. S. Dept, of Interior, Spokane, Wash., Aug. 24, 1955- 88 No matter where these discoveries were In respect to the coast, the easiest method of travel was by water

whenever possible. If the mineral producing areas were

sufficiently north of San Francisco that It was more

convenient to travel by water to Portland or Puget Sound

before disembarking, there was always the possibility some of these travelers would pass through the Shoalwater Bay— Lower Columbia area, and if attracted to the region, would

settle there then or on the return trip from the mineral producing areas.

Also, several of the settlers already established

would leave their families and claims to make quick money

at the mines in order to return and make a go of it on their claim. This is another illustration of how stub­

bornly determined many of these settlers were to engage in farming.

The inland mines needed supplies, and such produce

that could be raised, preserved, and shipped from the bay

country had a ready market. Most of the farm production, especially butter, went to Portland.

The effect of the mining activity which most bene­ f ite d Oregon and Washington, however, was th at good and a c ­ cessible markets opened up for timber products and such products as could stand the t r ip . The demand of C alifo rn ia for timber products contributed to the growth of the 89 settlements on Puget Sound and, to a lesser degree, along the coast. One reason for the fairly steady and high de­ mand was the regularity with which San Francisco experi­ enced destructive fires, in consequence of which the timber immediately tributary to the city was soon exhausted.

The important export to San Francisco from Shoal­ water Bay, though, was not timber products at first, but oysters. It was this more than any other single factor which brought about settlement on the bay.

The Indian and Civil Wars

While there was never any instance of armed conflict between Indians and whites on Shoalwater Bay, the period of 1850 through the early l860's was one of Indian wars and general unrest in Washington Territory. While the wars caused no damage in this region, they did prove an unsettling influence and deterred settlement. As for the Civil War, the settlers were too preoc­ cupied to take much notice of it, and other than the es­ tablishing of a few regiments and arousing some patriotic fervor, the War had little effect on the Northwest at the tim e.

There had developed during the war and its aftermath the national policy of stimulating the development of pro­ perties that would later yield taxes and revenues, so 90 helping to pay war debts. Under this policy came the acts of granting new land to railroads and homesteads to settlers. It is difficult to estimate exactly the effect of the homestead act, although it is not disputed that it encouraged settlement. However, helping the railroads also stimulated settlement. More than anything else the

Northwest needed an ’’iron horse” linking with the East.

The Coming of the Railroad

The first Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, had completed surveys for a northern route in 1 8 5 3 , and there was agitation for a railroad from then on, In varying de­ grees of intensity. The Jay Cooke failure, caused pri­ marily by over investment in the Northern Pacific, and which brought on the Fanic of 1 8 7 3 , blighted the hopes considerably, but in 1 8 8 3 , under the management of Henry Villard, the road was completed to Spokane, where it con­ nected with the Oregon Steam and N avigation Company's facilities to the coast. This route was via the Columbia River gorge to Portland, with a line north to Tacoma, and a branch line on to S e a ttle . In 1 8 8 7 , the Cascade route from Walla Walla to Tacoma was completed and then Puget Sound had a d ire c t r a i l o u tle t to the E ast. This had a b en eficial e ffe c t upon the economy of the T e rrito ry and thus the Shoalwater Bay are*a. However, there was no d irec t 91 Influence on the latter from the railroads until the period following 1890.

Washington Becomes a State

In 1 8 5 3 > Washington Territory was separated from Oregon. The latter "became a state six years later, but

Washington remained a territory for 36 years. There were several reasons for this. Because of its natural fertility,

plus the urgings of Dr. John McLoughlin, the Willamette Valley had received most of the settlers of the large im­ migrations in the late 1 8 4 0 *3 . Oregon, in 1 8 5 3 , had a population of over 7000 plus a well functioning political and economic system. Washington, on the other hand, had been a no-man's land until 1846. It had just begun to be settled when the California and other mineral rushes drained the supply of settlers. Then came the Civil War, and after that the westward movement was more widely dif­ fused over western United States. There was no recurrence of the concentration of energy in settling the Northwest area as there had been previously. This was primarily caused by the various mineral rushes to the Inland western states, and the completion of the railroad to these areas but its delayed extension to the coastal states. The Panic of 1873 and the delay of the Northern Pacific slowed set­ tlement In Washington in the 1870's. In the following 92 decade, when the promise of the ra ilro a d showed signs of

being and eventually was fulfilled, the population surge

to Washington really began, and in 1889 statehood was achieved. The table of population statistics below re- 5 veals the story.

Washington P acific Co

1853 3,965* 152* i 860 1 1 , 1 3 8 * 406* 1870 23,955* 73 8 * 1880 75,116 1,645 1885 129,292 1887 143,699 1889 239,344 1890 349,390 4,538

(* white population only)

Conclusions

Generally speaking, the historical events in the period, 1 8 5 0 -1 8 9 0 , which were significant to the Territory and the Northwest as a whole, usually affected the Shoal- water Bay area only indirectly.

Probably the most important single direct influence was the consistent growth and prosperity of San Francisco. This provided an available market for the region's main commercial product of oysters.

5 Statistics were obtained from Clinton A. Snowden, op. clt., Vol. Ill, p. 220, and U. S. Bureau of the Census. 93 Secondly, as California's prosperity stimulated the growth of Washington and Oregon, this regional pros­ perity filtered down to the hay settlers.

Of the major events and forces in this period, namely the political organization of the county and ter­ ritory, the land laws, the Indian and Civil Wars, the coming of the railroad, and the ultimate achieving of statehood for Washington, probably the political organi­ zation and the land laws had the most direct effects upon the Shoalwater Bay country. Also, the length of time it took Washington to settle and become a state also helps explain the preoccupation of the bay region with the lower Columbia and Oregon areas. For while Portland and the Puget Sound settlements grew, competed in exports, and developed transportation facilities within the Puget

Trough, the bay settlers remained relatively isolated and unconcerned, and were Interested primarily in exports to

San Francisco and gradually increased participation in the commerce and economy of the lower Columbia. 9b

Settlement and Population

The origin of settlements or community centers in

Pacific County falls roughly into two categories: those which developed gradually as a consequence of increasing numbers of farms or claims in the vicinity; and those which developed because a specific industry, such as oys-

tering or sawmilllng, was established there. In the fol­ lowing paragraphs, only those settlements which truly developed into communities will be discussed. There were several towns given on maps which were never more than a house and a boat landing.

Settlements Beginning in the Period I 8 5 O-I875 The Lower Columbia Area

As indicated earlier the settlement of Shoalwater

Bay began on the north bank of the mouth of the Columbia.

The first community originated by white men was Pacific

City, founded by Dr. Elijah White. At that time, the har­ bor on the inner side of Cape Disappointment was deep and the site did bid fair to compete with Astoria across the river. A hotel and sawmill were erected and the city had attained a population of about 500 when in 1852 the United States Government reserved most of the townsite as a m ili­ tary reservation. Most of the population moved elsewhere, 95 some over into the Shoalwater Bay region. A few remained and took claims a short distance up the river. This was the beginning of the present town of Ilwaco, although this village was termed Unity during the i860's.

A ctually, the f i r s t community on the north side of the river was the Chinook Indian village, located opposite present day Astoria. In 1 8 5 0 , a surveyor founded a town by settling in the midst of this village, thereby encom­ passing the tribal lands as a Donation Land Claim and call­ ing his town Chinookville.

Soon after this Donation claims were taken up nearby; other whitesg moved in , and Chinookville became the f i r s t county seat. It remained thus until i860 when this of­ fice was moved to Oysterville. Settlem ents on the Bay

White men had been visiting the bay for several years before any actual settlement occurred. They came either by portage from Pacific City or by sailing schooner to pro­ cure oysters and piling.

However, in 1 8 5 1 , a small schooner, the Robert

Bruce, carrying five partners and an apparently disgruntled cook, arrived to gather oysters. One evening, the cook

6 ~ ~ 1 1 ' Although Pacific City was termed the first Seat of Justice. 96 drugged the men and set fire to the ship. The partners, who were rescued by a white man and several Indians and who were now deprived of transportation, founded the set­ tlement of Bruceport on the east shore of the bay and began to harvest oysters for a livelihood. This village per­ sisted until approximately 1900. With the oyster business as lucrative as it was, the "Bruce Boys" could not long maintain a monopoly on It. By

1853 other oystermen had settled on the west side of the bay. Eventually, this settlement was platted into the v illa g e of O y sterv ille and by 1855 had a population of 500 people. By i860 it had taken the county seat away from

Chinookville and for the next 35 or 40 years th is v illa g e was the focal point of the bay community. A very sm all v illa g e was Diamond C ity, s itu a te d on the north end of Long Island. It was dependent entirely upon oystering and was practically non-existent by 1 8 9 0 .

A slightly different type of settlement was that of Wilsonville, on the mouth of the Palix River opposite pres­ ent-day Bay Center. The first settler arrived in I 8 5 3 , and by 1873 there was a settlement of about 50 persons. The original settlers were primarily farmers. Later settlers included more oyster workers and fishermen. This village was the first site of the annual camp meetings which began in 1874. 97 The north, end of the bay never supported any size­ able settlements, but there were several claims taken in

the vicinity of North River, a Lighthouse-Life Saving

station at North Cove, and always a few Indians living in the Toke *s Point or Tokeland area. In the latter part of

the period I 8 5 O-I8 9 O, Tokeland and North Cove also had

some tourist business. Settlements in the Willapa River Valley

Although re lig io u s communal type settlem ents were

common enough in the midwestern and eastern states, the

Pacific Northwest had comparatively few. However, in

I 8 5 3 i seven advance scouts for such a colony entered the upper Willapa Valley and decided it would serve as the

future western home for their 1000 and some brethren back

in Bethel, Missouri. This was notwithstanding the fact

that there were already four or five Donation Land Claims taken in the valley. The scouts were led to their choice partly because of the magnificent growth of timber, appar­ ently fertile soil, and the abundance of fish, clams, and native oysters.' Accordingly, in 1 8 5 5 , their leader, Dr.

William Kell, with 2 50 members, crossed the plains by wagon

train. On arriving at the Dalles, on the Columbia River,

_ _ _ _ - Robert J. Hendricks, Bethel and Aurora, An Experiment in Communism as Practical Christianity, New York, 1933, P» 21. 98 Keil left the group and came ahead to the Willapa Valley.

Unfortunately, he did not share his scouts' enthusiasm

for the site.

The spies had given too literal heed to their Instructions to select a timbered site for their prospective sawmill and other wood work­ ing operations, and one removed from trouble­ some neighbors and with room for expansion.

Further, it was remote from markets, and the cost of clear­ ing the land for their orchards and general farm crops too

great. Dr. Keil also lamented that the output of a dis­

tillery could be disposed of only to the few oystermen who resided on the bay. Another objection was that a few claims in the valley were already taken and the colony could not therefore own all the land.

N evertheless, the e n tire wagon tra in did spend one w inter of 1 8 5 5 -1856 in the Willapa Valley, but the follow­ ing spring they removed to Aurora, Oregon. However, the family and relations of a few of the scouts remained as permanent settlers.

Whether Keil was completely just in his criticism of the Willapa Valley is a moot point. As stated by one s c h o la r:

8 ------Ibid., pp. 106-107. 99 Whether Aurora was a "better location than Willapa at this time Is debatable. Subsequent history seems to vindicate Keil's choice, but at the time the decision was undoubtedly due to additional motives and objections. He did not like the winter rains; . . . The neighbors here were worse than at Bethel-- Bruceport with its ex-seamen and Indian squaws was not a model place for morals. . . “

At any rate, the Willapa settlers kept up contact with the main colony at Aurora, where it thrived, and summer visitors to Willapa from Aurora were numerous. The Willapa Keil Colony, plus the few other sett­ lers, built Fort Willopa during the Indian Wars, and the upper v alley was g enerally known by th is name for some

time. In the late 1 8 7 0 's and l 8 8 0 's , i t was known as

Woodard's Landing; but later the name changed again to merely Willapa. In 1885 the settlement was listed by

Polk's Directory as having a population of about 5 0 .

Farther down river, just east of where the river widens into the bay, a small sawmill was erected in 1 8 6 9 .

Its output was at first relatively small and the ownership changed hands later and the mill was torn down, and another time burned, but in both instances was rebuilt. In 1875 a post office was established there, and the settlement

9 John E. Simon, "Wilhelm K eil and the Communist C olonies," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 35* 1936, p. 1 3 6 . 100 which probably had about 50 people, was named South Bend.

The Period 1 8 7 5 --I 8 9 O

Settlements on the Peninsula

By 1 8 7 5 , the Portland area had a population suffi­ ciently large that a sizeable portion of it desired recre­

ation at summer sea-shore resorts. As water transportation was the easiest and best method, the peninsula on the north

side of the mouth of the Columbia was more accessible than the Oregon beaches. Thus the small villages of Long Beach,

Seavlew, and Ocean Park began--each of which had one or more big homes or "hotels" to accommodate the Portland families who came to stay , o ften for the summer. Ocean Park was founded in the l880's by the Ocean

Park Camp Meeting Association as a Christian summer resort

for its members. The Association was incorporated, and

each member was given a perpetual lease on the land. In the leases and deeds were always provisions prohibiting the

grantee, his heirs or assigns, from the practice of manu­ facturing, drinking, or selling any kind of alcoholic li­ quors, and from gambling. For a time these provisions probably restricted settlement at this location. Settlements on the Bay and Rivers The development of a community in the Naselle Valley was similar to that in the valley of the upper Willapa In 101 that there was never a town or center established, but more claims were taken up until there was a recognized settle­ ment. If any dominant center were to be cited, probably the confluence of the Naselle and its South Pork would be judged the most important. In this vicinity the first white man settled in 1 8 5 2 . He named the riv e r the Kennebec after the river of the same name in his native state of Maine. However, the river eventually came to be called after one of the local Indians, Nasel, and later Naselle.

Most of the early settlers came from the Pacific

City-Chinook-Ilwaco area, but until the middle l 8 7 0 's s e t ­ tlement was slow. In 1884, a sawmill was constructed near the mouth of the Naselle, and this settlement was labeled Sunshine. The mill attracted further population to the valley and furthered the development of logging camps.

The mill only operated for about 10 years, but Sunshine continued to exist for a short while thereafter. The population probably never exceeded 150 and was composed entirely of mill personnel.

On the Willapa River in the period 1 8 7 5 -1 8 9 0 , the only new center was the small one of Riverside. This was brought about by there being several claims taken at or near the forks of the Willapa, the first claim being in

1 8 5 7 . In 1886 Riverside had a post office and a popula­ tion of 5°* There was a small saw mill here occasionally. 102

Knappton

There was one Pacific County settlement that was

very little, if ever, associated with the Shoalwater Bay

region. This is the community of Knappton, located on

the Columbia River several miles east of Chinook. Origi­

nally settled in 1866, it was called Cementvllle because

of a cement factory which ran there for a short time. In

1869 a sawmill was built which proved to be very successful

and was in steady operation up until recent years. The

name was changed to the present one in 1 8 7 1 . The town was

always a mill town, and in 1886 had a population of about

1 5 0 , in 1910--210, and in 1940—120.

It is mentioned here because it is the only sig­ nificant community in Pacific County which cannot be con­

sidered a part of the bay area, its only transportational

links with the latter were down the river to Ilwaco or a

rough trail through the rugged terrain between it and the Naselle area.

Character and Distribution of the Population

The Origins

In a sm all way, an an aly sis of the b irth p lac e s of the

settlers of Pacific County reflects the larger picture con­

cerning Oregon and Washington. The only difference is a

slightly higher proportion of English and Canadian born 103 along the coastal area* because of the early presence of

Hudson's Bay Company men. The s t a t i s t i c s also show an un­ usually high percentage of residents from New England and

the Atlantic states. Undoubtedly part of this was due to the bay region's coastal location. Apparently, many New Englanders came to the west coast and continued the busi­ ness of maritime commerce so common in their home area.

Some of these settled near Shoalwater Bay. Then too, in the early days of traveling to the west coast, the route from New York via Nicaragua to San Francisco was easier than crossing the plains. Later, when the Union Pacific

Railroad was completed, much overland Immigration still came to the Northwest via boat from San Francisco.

Table 1 gives the various birthplaces of Pacific

County residents in i860 and 1 8 8 3 . For both years the number of residents cited amounts to about only three fourths of the official U. S. Census figure for that date, but even so should represent a reasonably accurate pro­ portionate picture of birthplace distribution. Also it should be pointed out that many of those cited as born in

California, Oregon Territory, and Washington Territory would have been children, especially in the i 860 census.

It appears from the figures that the percentage of foreign born residents in Pacific County in i 860 was about 19 per cent, and in 1883 was 24 per cent. 1 0 4

T able 1 Birthplaces of Pacific County Residents

(Source: Original U. S. and State Census Books, on file at Washington State Library, Olympia, Wash.)

United States Born i 860 1883

New England states 49 78 New York 37 58 Pennsylvania 25 2 6 New Jersey 1 5 Maryland 1 2 Ohio 9 33 Indiana 13 32 I llin o is 22 48 Iowa 8 2 6 Michigan 2 9 Wisconsin 2 31 Minnesota - 6 Kansas - 14 Kentucky 6 9 Tennessee 2 5 M issouri - 33 North Carolina 1 2 V irginia 2 12 Louisiana 1 1 C alifo rn ia 3 58 Oregon 40 111 Washington Territory 80 402 Others: (less than 5 ) Florida, Indian Territory, Alaska, Washington, D.C., Mississippi, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Arkansas, Idaho Territory 18 105

Table 1 (C o n t'd .)

Foreign Born i860 1883 British Isles (England, Scotland Ireland, Isle of Man) 29 88 Northern Europe (Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, P russia, Denmark, Switzerland, Bohemia) 22 65 Norway 1 20 Sweden 4 42 Finland - 51 Australia and New Zealand - 7 Canada 15 20 Nova Scotia - 9 New Brunswick - 17 China - 54 106 Occupations

Table 2 lists the business occupations pursued In

i860 and 1883 and the number of men employed in each. In comparing the two dates, several items will be noted: the

increase of farmers; in i 860 the lack of lumber workers

and the dominance of those in oystering. In i 860 the three leading occupations, in order of importance, were:

oystering, farming, and general labor. In 1883 they were: farming, fishing, and lumbering.

It should be borne in mind that, especially in i860, what a man listed as his trade was not necessarily that in

which he made his living. For Instance, one of the tailors

listed in i 860 ran a boarding house and worked on the oys­

te r beds .'*'0 In comparing the figures of birthplaces and occupa­

tions, it is unwise to make generalizations concerning what

might be just coincidence, but a few observations may be

noted. Most of the foreign-born Swiss and Germans were

farmers, many of them in the Keil group, and they continued to pursue that occupation. On the other hand, the New

Englanders exhibited a marked preference for the lumbering and sailing activities, Pennsylvania--boatmen and teachers.

10 See "Letters of Charles Stevens," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 37 j 1916, pp. 137-l59» 107 and a surprising number of Ohioans were fishermen.

Distribution of Population

As the enactment of the Donation Land Law and the

advent of settlers into the bay region about coincide,

the location of these claims well illustrates which were

the preferred lands at that time. (See Figure 22). Note that the claims are on as level land as could be found,

and are near some waterway--a river or the bay--so as to

have easy transportation. The D.L.C.'s, with the excep­

tion of some of the Keil claims and some of the claims on

the peninsula, also generally encompassed the best agri­

cultural lands in the county. As mentioned earlier, the

smaller D.L.C.'s usually belonged to oystermen or fisher­ men .

Table 29, in the Appendix, depicts the distribution of population in the county at various dates between 1853 and 1 8 9 0 . During this period there were few population

centers which had concentrations of any one nationality.

However, the Keil group, as has been described earlier, was largely composed of German-North European stock. To­ ward the l a t t e r part of th is period, a few Finns began to move into the Naselle area, and Swedish-Finns into Ilwaco. The Chinese were mainly located around the mouth of the Columbia. 108

Table 2

Categories of Employment

Source: Original U. S. and State Census Books, on file at Washington State Library, Olympia, Wash.

i860: Numbers 1 8 8 3 : Numbers Oystermen 48 Oystermen 24 Farmers 31 Farmers 175 Laborers 25 Laborers 52 Fishermen 14- Fishermen 62 Carpenters 10 Carpenters 15 Merchants 7 Merchants 7 S a ilo rs 7 S a ilo rs 15 Teachers 5 Teachers 5 Master mariners 3 Lumbermen 49 Boatmen 3 S oldiers 35 Doctors 3 Cannerymen 14 Blacksmiths 3 Life Saving Station 10 Lighthouse Keepers 3 Lighthouse Keepers 3 Ret ired 2 2 Each: coopers, mail Hotel 3 carriers, graziers, Doctors 3 t a i l o r s . Preachers 2 Saloonkeepers 6 1 Each: saddler, saloon­ Engineers 7 keeper, mason, surveyor, Boarding House 6 teamster, engineer, Steamboat Captains 4 hunter, boatbuilder, P ainters 2 boarding master, garden­ Loggers 6 er, shoemaker, glazier, Blacksmiths 3 m illin e r . Bookkeepers 2 Clerks 2 County Officials 3 Mechanics 3 Teamsters 3 Cooks 10 Waiters 2 Students 2 China Bosses 9 109

Table 2 (C o n t'd .) i8 6 0 : N umbers I 8 8 3 : N ambers

1 Each: dairyman, gardener, stage driver, cabinet maker, printer, fireman, landlord, boatman, servant, watchman, mule driver, butcher, millwright, chop man, jack-of -all-trades, cranberry boss, cranberry superintendent, tinner. 110

124*0 123*30

Scale In Mllee

124® o o ’ T T g '. O ' location of Donation land Claims in Pacific County. (Pounce: Proceeding?? , Pacific County Commissioners. and rcap of Pacific County. Wash­ ington. Revised. 1936, Pacific County Fmgineers I l l

Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation

Routes of Travel

The early routes of travel used by the pioneers were the same as those of the Indians—by water wherever possible. The two main routes into and through the

Shoalwater region came north along the coast, then either entered the bay through its mouth, or by short land por­ tage from the Columbia to the southern end of the bay. Two minor entrances were: (l) from the north along the narrow land portage between Shoalwater Bay and Grays Har­ bor, and (2) the pass between the Willapa and Chehalis watershed. Few settlers came via the first mainly because they came from the south, not the north. Portland, on the

Columbia River, was the immigration center, not Puget Sound.

Some pioneers entered the valley via the low pass. A very few settlers traveled overland from the Chehalis River valley across the headwater area of North River and Smith Creek to about the location of the forks of the Willapa.

Also, there had been an old Indian trail from the Columbia to the upper reaches of the Naselle, but this was not used extensively by the settlers. The route of access Involv­ ing the Columbia River and the short portage always remained the most Im portant, however. 112

Concerning broader networks of communication, there were two main routes of travel north of the Columbia

River on the west side of the Cascades. One of these went from Fort Vancouver north to the headwaters of the

Cowlitz River and across into the southern end of the Puget Sound area. The other went from A storia, north along the peninsula, across the mouth of Shoalwater Bay to North Cove, along the short land connection to Grays

Harbor, and up the Chehalis River valley to Black Lake, which is near Olympia. The inter-connecting link between the southern ends of these two routes was the Columbia

River.

Internally, the bay region developed some land routes in the period 1 8 5 0 -1 8 9 0 , but these were merely tributary to the water routes. Few of the roads inter­ linked and water remained the main highway for the set­ tlers. The first roads, or trails, established included one which connected Oysterville with the ocean beach, and a road which connected the southern end of the peninsula with the Columbia River settlements. Along the west side of the peninsula there was the natural route of the hard sand beach, available at all times except when the tide was completely in. Other roads authorized in the first few years were in the vicinity of Bruceport, the upper

Willapa Valley, North River, and from Toke's Point to the 113 shore northwest of North Cove.

Prior to 1873 there was a series of mail routes and stages, but neither was consistently in operation.

At first the mail route went from Astoria to Chinook, Oysterville, and Grays Harbor where it connected with the route to Olympia. Later the mail went from Astoria

to Olympia via Chinook, O y sterv ille, Bruceport, W illapa,

and Boisfort Prairie. No matter what the route, though, there was always a land trip along the peninsula involved, and because of this there began a stage service.

Methods of T ransportation By Land

The peninsula stage service was not operated steadi­

ly until 1873* At this time there was still no satisfactory

road from Ilwaco to the weather or oceanside beach. Three

saloons were assessed $300 apiece by the county and a wood­ en road was built.

The stage remained the mainstay of transportation on the beach until 1889 and was supported by mail contracts, freight, and passenger traffic. Outgoing freight consisted of oysters. Records reveal that of the incoming general freight from Ilwaco, beer and saloon supplies, plus minor amounts of flour and bacon had priority. m By Water

However sig n ific a n t the stage lin k , though, the most important part of transportation was still by water.

The sailing schooners carried the oyster and lum­ ber freight to Portland and San Francisco. Eventually there was an increase of steamer service both from Portland to Astoria, to Ilwaco, and Chinook, and between the various points on the Shoalwater Bay, Oysterville being the operational center. Beginning in l88l, there were steamships on the bay which connected with the pen­ insula stage, and a stage from North Cove to Grays Harbor.

In 1863, the district’s state representative, in traveling to Olympia, first went to Astoria where he took the steamer for Monticello at the mouth of the Cowlitz

River; then he rode horseback 30 miles along that river valley, and then boarded a stage for Olympia.^ The 1886 Polk’s D irectory lis te d the following schedules: daily steamboats between Astoria and Portland, connecting with the daily stage to Oysterville; steamboat semi-weekly between Willapa, South Bend, Bay Center, and Oysterville; and mail semi-weekly to Bay Center, North n Charles Bars tow, "Some Experiences in the Territorial Legislature, 1 8 6 3 -I 8 7 2 ," manuscript on file in the South Bend Public L ibrary, South Bend, Washington. 115 Cove, Riverside, South Bend, Willapa,—daily to Oysterville and Ilwaco,-- and weekly to Sunshine and Naselle.

The work-horse of the bay and the lower Columbia was a sailing boat called a "plunger.” Typically, this boat weighed about eight tons, was 36 feet long, with a 12 foot beam, a rounded bottom, and drew three fee t of water or less. Such a shallow draft made it not only excellent for oyster work on the bay but also good for navigation up the rivers and sloughs. (See Figure 22) Conclusions

So, the story of travel and transportation in the bay area between 1850 and 1890 is mainly that of water­ borne carriers, with the peninsula an important land link. The relative ease of transportation on the peninsula un­ doubtedly pulled the settlements thereon into more of a single community. There was no such ease of transportation in the Willapa Valley, but the river was a unifying factor and there were some trails. These two main colonies were connected by the bay, which also gave linkage to North Cove,

North River, Bruceport, Bay Center, and Naselle. The strongest transportational link was to Astoria and Portland. Summing it up, it can be said that if possible the Shoalwater settler traveled by boat; where available, he rode the stage; if the terrain permitted he might ride a horse; otherwise he walked. 116

Fig. 22 - typical "plunger." (Reproduced by permission of Charles Nelson.) 117 The Economy in the Period I 85 O-I890

Agriculture

The greater majority of the first settlers in

Pacific County came with the intent of farming. Some may have sought employment in oystering or fish in g , hut most partially supported themselves and their families by agriculture. Many of these people were farmers who had first gone to the Willamette Valley and then came to the Shoalwater region. The tidelands, supporting a luxuriant growth of grass, appeared fertile and were called prairies.

A few pioneers cleared land on slightly higher and more hilly terrain, but the size of the trees made this a dif­ ficult task, thus presenting another reason why the mouth areas of the various sloughs and rivers were settled first.

Where these first farms were located was not neces­ sarily an indication of where future settlement growth would occur. The vicinity of North River is a good example.

For almost as long as the county has been occupied by white men, there has been some sort of settlement here. Yet today, it is relatively more isolated and deserted than at any previous time since white settlement began. Although Pacific County was not the best region for agriculture, the settlers, especially the Kell group, were determined to farm. The products Included wheat, rye, oatsj 118 barley, potatoes, apples, plums, hay, and butter. Figure

27 in the Appendix, gives farm statistics for i860, 1 8 7 0 ,

1 8 8 0 , and 1 8 9 0 .

It bias been mentioned that there were wild cran­ berries native to this region growing in the bog areas near the bay and on the peninsula. In 1 8 8 3 , two New

Englanders cleared a 35 acre bog, ditched and sanded it in the New England manner, and planted a variety of eastern cranberry. This specialized type of agriculture grew but slowly, being hindered by weeds, grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and fireworms.

Oystering

In the Shoalwater Bay area, the dominant industry of the period 1 8 5 0 -1 8 9 0 was oystering. The origins of the various settlements dependent upon this form of business have already been described.

The native oyster beds in the Northwest were located mainly on Shoalwater Bay, Grays Harbor, Yaquina Bay, and

Puget Sound. Of these, Shoalwater Bay had by far the greater abundance of oysters. Before the coming of the white men, the Indians were harvesting these shellfish. The inland Indians made annual trips to gather them, and at many of the old campsites along the Columbia River there are still piles of native oyster- shells from Willapa Bay. 119 The first settlers soon took advantage of this re­

source and In 1851 the first shipment of oysters was sent

to San Francisco. A brisk trade soon developed and by

1854 the shipments amounted to some bushels a year. 1 o Swan states that in 1 8 5 5 , there were employed in

the oyster trade in the bay:

One Schooner of 20 tons, capable of carrying 600 baskets of Oysters. 28 boats capable of carrying 2200 baskets of oysters. 21 scows ’’ " ” 1980 ’’ ” ” 13 canoes ” ” " 670 " " ”

T o ta l 5450 ’’ ” "

Another account reads:

"The arrival of a schooner from San Francisco was a time of great excitement as that was the only way to get supplies and when the day of loading was designated, each man exerted himself to get as many baskets on board as possible. The scows, boats, and canoes were loaded at low tide and as soon as they would float, they were started off for the vessel.

’’First come, first served was the motto, and a bustling scene ensued.”^3

The oysters brought, on an average, $1.00 per basket, and were paid for on the spot in $20 gold pieces. As specie

12 James G. Swan, op. c1t., footnote p. 6 3 . 13 Albion Gile, ’’Old Oysterville, ” South Bend Journal, August 5 , 195^> p . 1. 120 was generally hard to obtain in the western states,

Oysterville had an exceptionally high ratio of gold per c a p ita .

At first there were several oyster companies, but gradually some of these consolidated. One of the reasons for this was that it was a more profitable way to conduct the business, but another reason, in at least one instance, was th at sev eral of the competing oystermen became brothers - in-law . The oyster business continued to grow and reached a peak in the early 1870*3 when the annual production av­ eraged more than 200,000 baskets per y ear. Though the original supply of oysters had been plentiful it could not long withstand this exploitation. In the late lSyO's the harvest declined rapidly and at the lowest ebb in the

1 8 8 0 's the annual production was less than 2 0 0 0 sacks per year.-^ There may have been other causes of this decline, such as severe frosts and storms, disease, and spawning failure, but by far the most important was the overfishing of the natural beds.

This decline stimulated the development of individu­ ally planted and harvested beds, occupied under a rude law

P _ George D. Esveldt, "A Review of the Oyster Industry of the State of Washington," South Bend, Wash., 1948, pp. 4,5. 121 of squatter's rights. Within a few years the commerce in native oysters was restored and continued for another 25 years, but the production figures of the l 8 7 0 's were never again attained.

Another factor which contributed to the waning of the Shoalwater oyster business was the planting of eastern oysters in San Francisco Bay sometime in the i860's. This ind u stry quickly became very p ro fita b le and several S hoal­ water oystermen left the bay for San Francisco to engage in the trade there. Thus, as the Shoalwater Bay oysters were declining in production, the eastern oyster growers in San Francisco rapidly took over the market.

Eastern oysters were not planted successfully in Shoalwater Bay until the mid l890's. Why this was so was explained by one early oysterman as follows:

Eastern oysters were not grown in this (Willapa) bay until nearly thirty years after they were in San Francisco Bay. It was not that there was ever any reasonable doubt that the oysters would do well here. The difficulty was that it took a good sized chunk of hard money to import the seed. The oystermen who had not the money could not get in to the game. Those who had the money were mostly interested in the California enterprises, even though some of them were residents here. Their goose was laying golden eggs. They were carefu l neither to kill her nor to start a rival poultry yard. . . Their first importation of seed was three cars. . . CThe oystersf) grew famously and more were brought the next year. . . The company 122 made large profits on their venture, . . . and their only problem, in fact, seemed to be to meet the demand. . . 5

Fishing

The fishing industry on Shoalwater Bay in this

period was always a minor adjunct of the major activity

carried on around the mouth of the Columbia. In the lat­

ter area, the growth of this industry contributed to the

increase of population in Chinook and Ilwaco.

As early as 1852 white men and their Indian em­ ployees were seining for salmon at the mouth of the

Columbia River. Most of this activity took place between Chinook Point to Point Ellis, a strip about eight miles

long and an ideal spot for shallow seining. It was early observed that on entering the river, the salmon usually moved toward the north shore, possibly because this gave them more protection from the northwest winds which pre­ v a il in summer.

In 1 8 8 5 , Pacific County had four salmon packing es­

tablishments whose aggregate production was 8 1 ,0 0 0 cases per year, valued at $243,000. Only one of these canneries was located on Shoalwater Bay. Much of the fish canned on

L. L. Bush, "The Oystering on Willapa Bay," "Oyster Edition," Willapa Harbor Pilot, South Bend, Wash., 1 9 0 6, p. 7 * 123 the Oregon side of the river was caught by fishermen liv­

ing in Chinook and Ilwaco. By 1890 there were two canner­

ies on the bay, one a t Bay Center and a sm aller one at

North River. The production of these was small compared

to the Columbia River output. The figures for fish, oysters, and clams sold

during the year 1890 are as follows

F is h :

Columbia River $ 1 , 0 5 9, 3 4 5 .7 5 Puget Sound 132,760. Shoalwater Bay 3 5 0 .

Oysters and Clams:

Shoalwater Bay $ 64,700. Puget Sound 31,488.

The job of canning salmon was performed almost exclusively by Chinese, who took the job by contract and were paid 35 cents per case.

The various methods of fishing were: gillnets, beach-seining with horses (this method was especially used on Sand Island in the Columbia River), fish traps, and fish wheels. The traps consisted of nets attached to pil­ ing which were driven 10 to 15 feet apart and extended out

IB------Report, State Fish Commission, Olympia, 1890, p. 7 . 124 into the river up to a distance of 800 feet. The north side of the Columbia was the most advantageous site and the first trap was driven near Ilwaco in 1 8 7 8 . Ownership of a trap site came to be highly prized, as it was a very effective method for catching salmon, and the number of

traps was lim ited by space a v a ila b le . Traps became the main means of livelihood for the residents of Chinook.

Lumbering

The lumber industry in Pacific County developed gradually. From the beginning of white settlement, the timber resources west of the Cascades were appreciated but the e x p lo ita tio n of them had to wait upon the develop­ ment of acc essib le markets. As these increased, the number of sawmills in Oregon and Washington increased. Unlike the oyster business, which was largely unique to the bay region, lumbering in Pacific County was merely part of the larger lumber industry in The Pacific Northwest. Saw­ mills came to be ubiquitous. Locally, the settlers needed lumber. For sales in other regions, the mills depended upon San Francisco and California primarily, and the various mineral rushes. All of these, though, were served mainly by water transportation.

With the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1 8 8 3 , and in 1887 to Seattle, a new era in Northwest lumbering began. 125 The western and Rocky Mountain s ta te s , largely treeless, were populating, and while the Lake states of Michigan and Wisconsin were approaching their productive zenith and commanded a strategic position to resist the inroads of their western competitors, the western railroads were seeking tonnage, and they visualized eastward loadings of forest products from the west to justify their coast connections.17

However, the Dakotas and middle western states were not competitive territory for Pacific Coast woods in the early eighties because of the freight rates and the Lake States competition. The one item which could be sold were the premium cedar shingles. Up u n til the e arly l8 9 0 's, though, the Pacific Coast lumber industry still depended almost entirely upon water transportation.

The first lumbering activity in Pacific County was by the Indians. The cedar was of great benefit to these people. Out of it they made canoes, clothing, and houses.

It has already been mentioned how they cut huge cedar planks, and their houses were constructed of split cedar. However, there was probably little commercial trade, ex­ cept perhaps in canoes.

The first lumbering activity in the area by white men was to secure piling. As was the case with the

17 R. W. Vinnedge, "The Genesis of the Pacific Northwest Lumber Industry and Its Development," The Timberman, Vol. 24, 1923, p. 37. 126 Columbia and Puget Sound a re a s, Shoalwater Bay had lumbermen entering at an earlier time than other north 1 Pacific coastal points because of Its tidewater location.’' The first local sawmill was at Pacific City, but as was the case with the city Itself, it did not last long.

Between I 853 and 1868 there were a few sm all sawmills e s ­ tablished in the bay region but they operated only inter­ mittently. Their production was primarily for local con­ sumption. Even so, i t is recorded that one house in Ilwaco was built of New England white pine, and several structures in Oysterville were constructed of California redwood.

IB — — — ■ The flippant attitude held by the early settlers toward the timber is illustrated in a description by Swan of the festivities of a July Fourth celebration.

”. . . It was proposed to close the ceremonies of the day by going on top of the cliff opposite and making a tremendous blaze. (At the) . . top of the hill we found an old hollow cedar stump about twenty feet high. We could enter this on one side and found it the mere shell of what had once been a monster tree. . . We soon had the old stump filled with dry spruce limbs, which were lying about in huge quantities, and then set fire to the whole. It made the best bonfire I ever saw. After burning all night and part of the next day, It finally set fire to the forest, which continued to burn for several months until the fall rains extinguished it.” James G. Swan, op. c l t ., p. 13^. 127 The first really commercial mill was built at the

present site of South Bend in 1869* Although at first a small affair, it soon outgrew the needs of the settlers

and its first cargo shipment to San Francisco was in 1 8 7 0 . By the end of the following decade the mill was cutting

2 5 ,0 0 0 board feet per day and furnishing most of the cash revenue for the settlers of the valley and the northern

bay area. A small settlement arose around the mill site. In 1884 a mill was built at the mouth of the

Naselle River and the small community there was named Sunshine. This mill was owned by Capt. A. Ni. Simpson,

one of the early day Pacific Coast lumber barons, and who

also had an interest in and ultimately owned the South Bend mill. The Sunshine mill only operated about 10 years. Logging was done near tidewater--the trees were cut,

leaving high stumps, and rolled into the rivers and sloughs.

Later, bull-team and s.kidr-road logging developed. In 1885

there were 300 working oxen and ^'00 men employed in logging in Pacific County.^

In 1 8 7 0 , the census reports from Fort Willopa listed four lumber companies, the largest of which was the South

Bend m ill, employing 15 men, and with a capital value of

$25*000. In 1880, the same mill had 25 employees, a

19 Report of the Governor of Washington Territory, Washington, D. C., 1885 $ p^ 6 2 . 128

capital value of $5 0 , 0 0 0 , and value of total production,

$42,000. In 1885 there were three large mills in Pacific County, at Sunshine, South Bend, and Knappton, and their

aggregate yearly production was 46,000,000 hoard feet,

valued at $460,000. Thus, the lumber industry in Pacific County was at first purely a local affair to satisfy the needs of the

settlers. In the 1870*5 and l880’s the truly commercial

mills began, which was a part of the general intensifica­

tion of the lumber business in the north coastal region during that period.

Tourism

The tourist business did not begin in Pacific County

until the middle l870's. It was confined to the peninsula and Tokeland areas and the clientele was almost entirely

from Portland and other near parts of Oregon. The ease of water transportation plus, in later years, the stage line, made the Shoalwater beaches more accessible than those of the Oregon coast.

The resort settlements of Seaview, Long Beach, Ocean Park, and North Cove began. When a narrow guage railroad was built in 1 8 8 9 , many more small settlements came into being along its route. Because the area was dominated, es­ p e c ia lly in summer, by Oregonians, the o f f i c i a l name of the 129 peninsula was and still is the "North Beach," to differen­ tiate it from the Oregon or south beaches.

Summary

The two periods of settlement between 1850 and 1890 are easily contrasted. In 1865 the Civil War was finishing in the East but this conflict had little effect upon the life at Shoalwater Bay. The total population was about 600 people and the value of real and personal estate amounted to about $420,000. Business was good, eggs sold for $1 per dozen, and potatoes $ 1.25 per bushel. The main occu­ pations of the inhabitants were farming and oystering.

The Willapa Valley had a small grist mill which discon­ tinued operations when flour became more easily available.

Transportation was almost entirely by water, but there were no scheduled steamers on the bay. The postal stops were Willapa, Bruceport, Oysterville, and Unity. On the whole, home life in the Shoalwater region was probably easier than that at other frontiers at this datie. Most homesteads were near water transportation. The cli­ mate, though damp, was equable. There were sufficient fish, shellfish, wild-life, and berries so that while there might be hard times, no one starved. There was never a severe Indian menace, and the greatest hardships were isolation, disease, and drownings. There was little social life 130 except In the communities themselves.

In 1 8 8 5 , the population had Increased to 1,948.

The assessed valuation of taxable property was $593*195* and Astoria was still the nearest banking point. The oyster business was in a slump, whereas lumbering was on

the r i s e . A m ill hand received in wages about $50 per

month, a farm laborer from $ 2 5 . to $3 0 . per month with

board, and a logger from $ 6 0 . to $7 0 . per month w ith board.

Public transportation and mail service were much improved. There was a daily stage on the peninsula and

scheduled steamers semi-weekly to most points on the bay and the Willapa River. Settlement had increased in the

latter area and there were more homesteads in the timber i4 t s e lI f* . 20

The first phase of settlement of the bay area was

in its first stages in 1865 but had matured in 1 8 8 5 . At the latter date, while there may have been several sepa­ rate settlements, communication was good enough and in­

terests were sufficiently mutual that there was only one community--that surrounding the bay.

20 There Is no way of knowing how many of these settlers o- rigihally expected to make permanent homes on their claims or how many took them up merely as an investment to be sold when the patent was secured. Many, though not all, did sell after their claims were perfected. For those who did intend to farm, undoubtedly the constant battle with the forest and underbrush was discouraging. In the valley bottom lands there were fewer homesteads sold. 131

The Cultural Landscape In 1 8 6 5

In 1865 the bay region appears almost uninhabited. The dominant features of the visible landscape are dense forests of large trees and many bodies of water. Human beings have hardly made an Impression upon this picture. Only the wisps of smoke rising from the widely separated houses and farms reveal human settlement, and nearly all of the places of occupance are in the flat areas surround­ ing tidewater sloughs or on the bay shoreline of the pen­ insula .

There are no roads visible and the only means of transportation appears to be by water. Moored in the bay are two oyster schooners, and in addition several plungers are plying about that body of water and a few are in the

Willapa River. Some of the plungers in the bay are em­ ployed in oyster work. There are several people riding horseback along the hard sand of the peninsula’s ocean beach, and at one point there Is a ship aground and several settlers are busy salvaging barrels of flour and lard.

From an aerial overview the only communities to be seen are those of Unity and Chinook on the Columbia River, Oysterville and Bruceport on the west and east side of the bay respectively, and the group of farms in the Willapa Valley. Chinook and Unity appear most like real towns, 132 although the former has many ramshackle shacks, many of which "belong to the Indians. The streets are all dirt or mud. Oysterville has several houses but the settlement still has a look of impermanence about it. Nearly every house has a wharf behind it for boat moorage and for stor­ ing oystering equipment. Bruceport, on the opposite side of the bay, is a small community located behind the d r i f t ­ wood and clinging to the mudflats at the base of steep forested hills. Directly in front of the town, as at Oysterville, are oyster beds, and there are wharves extend­ ing a short distance out into the bay. This village has a higher percentage of Indian population than Oysterville and the village itself has a more roisterous tone than its counterpoint across the bay. Nearby there is a small set­ tlement at the mouth of the Palix River called Bay Center.

The Cultural Landscape in 1885

Twenty years la te r , the water and trees s t i l l dominate the landscape scene but the effects of human occupance are slightly more noticeable. There are more boats, including steamships, upon the bay, and there are still men at work on the oyster beds. What apparently is a road leads from Ilwaco to the weather beach, and a stage is seen driving north along the hard sand toward Oysterville. The county population having nearly reached 2000 now, there are more 133 communities v isib le in the region, and most of the communi­ ties which were in existence in 1365 have developed in size. Ilwaco and Oysterville are the largest towns and seem quite firmly established. Oysterville appears to be the center of transportational operations, and several plungers and two or three steamships are tied up at its wharves. The two towns now have some rather large, fine frame houses, two or three hotels, and several business establishments.

There are churches in both communities, and Oysterville also has the county courthouse, a large, barn-like, frame building. There are several new little settlements on the peninsula, most of which are mainly occupied in summer--

Seaview, Long Beach, and Ocean Park. The latter has camp meeting grounds.

Across the bay, Bay Center has grown larger, while Bruceport appears to have declined. On the north end of the bay, by the inlet called North Cove, a small village of the same name has arisen. It too has several summer v i s i t o r s . There has been more settlement in the two largest river valleys of the Willapa and the Naselle. In the lat­ ter there are now enough farms to merit the title of com­ munity. At the mouth of the river is the sawmill settle­ ment of Sunshine. On the W illapa, the town of South Bend has come Into existence, also supported by a sawmillj 1 3 4 farther up river are the small settlements of Riverside and Woodard*s Landing (formerly Willapa). In this valley there are some semblances of roads here and there but they are all tributary to water routes, and there is considerable boat traffic on the river. As for the forest on the surrounding hills, it has changed little, although here and there are a few cleared areas--either because they have been logged or because a homesteader is trying to make a farm.

The Development of a Region

The Shoalwater area could not really become a cultur­ al region until settlement in it took on a fixed character.

This began on alarge 3 cale when white men enteredthe area.

In 1865 the area was still more a heterogeneous group of homesteaders and small settlements than a cohesive region.

However, the presence of the bay, with the easy transpor­ tation upon it and the livelihood gained from it, made the area some sort of a separate entity.

By 1 8 8 5 , social, transportational, and economic in­ stitutions had developed, and the boundaries and mutuality of these three coincided sufficiently with the physical re­ gion earlier evidenced by the bay alone, so that there was definitely an apparently separate, human region surrounding

Willapa Bay. 135 In 1 8 8 5 , settlement had Increased considerably since

1 8 6 5 , and at about this time Oysterville reached its peak

as the center and focal point of the bay region—socially,

politically, and in transportation. Only economically was it beginning to lose ground and this trend had only begun. Such social and/or political gatherings as terms of court,

Fourth of July celebrations, sailboat regattas, camp meet­ ings, and large picnics included residents from the entire

region as participants, including those from the upper river valleys. CHAPTER IV

THE SECOND WAVE OP SETTLEMENT, 1890-1920

The Extra-Regional Influences

Developments in Transportation

One of the Important influences upon the Pacific Northwest during the period 1890-1920 was the completion and maturing of transcontinental rail links. Two of the roads, the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific, were completed to this area in the l880's but their Influence was more evident in the following decade. The Great

Northern reached the Northwest in 1893> and the Chicago,

Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific in 1 9 0 9. The combined effect of these rbads was to make possible a much more accelerated settlement of the region, to contribute to the rapid growth of agriculture, mining and lumbering, and to bring about considerable real estate speculation. In addition to exerting an Indirect influence on regional prosperity, the railroads also had direct effects upon various communities as branch lines were gradually built to them. The opening of the Panama Canal in 191^ further

136 137 stimulated economic development by opening up both east­ ern and European markets for lumber, fruit, wheat, and wool. This also served to bring about some reduction of rail freight rates. Port facilities were much expanded on Puget Sound and the lower Columbia River.’*' Within the region of the Northwest during this period, passenger and freight transportation was pro­ vided by rail, where possible, and where not, by the older methods of water and trail. Toward the end of the decade 1 9 1 0- 1 9 2 0, auto highway travel began to make its appearance. For those coastal areas, such as Shoalwater

Bay, away from the main line of communication between

Seattle and Portland, water transportation remained high in importance.

Lumbering Dominates the Economy

In terms of the economy, the most important event during this period was the arrival of the lumber industry in full strength. Associated with this were large scale transactions in ownership of timberland between the rail­ roads and various timber concerns, notably the Weyerhaeuser interests. It will be remembered that the railroads

_ Frances M. Earle, ’’The Transportation Pattern,” in Otis W. Freeman and Howard H. Martin, Editors, The Pacific Northwest, Second Edition, New York, 195^> P* 390. 138 received land grants as a form of government subsidiza­ tion. However, there were a number of small purchasers as well. Many mills and miles of logging railroads were built.

"in 1905* Washington became the top ranking sta te in production of lumber. Forest industries and mills were soon supporting, either directly or indirectly, more than half the wage earners in Washington, and were accounting for a highppro- portion of freight by land and sea alike."

The Increase in Population The immigration surge to Washington, which began in the late l8 8 0 's, continued through the next decade and until after 1900. It was now aided by the railroads, the coming of which ended the region's isolation, and brought many people whose n a tio n al or reg io n al backgrounds were often different from those of the people already there.

Population in: Washington Pacific County

1890 349,390 4,538 1900 518,103 5,983 1910 1,141,890 12,532 1920 1, 356,621 14,891

Of the immigration to the Northwest, the majority went to Washington. In Oregon, the bulk of the newcomers settled in the Willamette Valley, and did not materially

2 ' ~ Charles M. G ates, "Madern Economic H isto ry ," in O tis W. Freeman and Howard H. Martin, Editors, Ibid. , p. 46. 139 alter the cultural pattern. The change was in Washington:

The people themselves were different. American settlers in Washington were a generation older than those who built up Oregon, and, while still mainly from the Middle West, were a people cul­ turally in transition to a much greater degree than were the early settlers. They were . . . people on the move, with relatively short geo­ graphic and confused regional backgrounds. . . They were le ss freq u en tly neighbors from '*back home.H Also there was a larger proportion of foreign immigrants than formerly, especially from Scandinavian countries. To promote that immi­ gration, Oregon and Washington, as well as railroad and steamship companies, distributed a d v e rtisin g l it e r a t u r e . No area received more Swedes and Norwegians in proportion to the a l­ ready resident population than Washington, which today ranks third in Scandinavian population. ^

Winther^ states that by 1910 more than 90*000

Scandinavians had come and arrivals continued at a reduced rate until 1924, when immigration into the United States became much more d i f f i c u l t . The Norwegians estab lish ed numerous settlements on the farm land in Puget Sound and in the Willamette Valley. The Swedes, on the other hand, appeared to prefer working on the railroads and in the lumber camps. There also arrived a considerable number

Lancaster Pollard, "The Pacific Northwest," in Merrill Jensen, Editor, Regionalism in America, Madison, Wise., 1951* p. 197. ------4 0. 0. Winther, op. cit., pp. 418-419• 140 of Finns, who mainly drifted into the coastal fishing towns and villages, such as Astoria.

The Influence of the National Economy and World War I.

As the economy of the Northwest outgrew i t s i n ­ fancy of frontier conditions, it matured into a condition in which the timber industry was first in importance, with a g ric u ltu re , fish in g , and mining follow ing. I t became more in te rlin k e d with the n atio n al economy and was thus more affected by economic fluctuations or panics. For the Shoalwater Bay area, the panic of 1893-98 had the most significance.

Up until 1914, the development of the Northwest had come about through frontier settlement, then a land boom and speculation, and more settlement. But World War I gave a new kind of expansion, a production boom born of wartime conditions. War co n tracts created an economy no longer limited by competitive production and marketing.

Shipyards emerged, mills increased and grew larger, and the new population stimulated a general expansion of many lines of manufacturing. The latter, in Oregon and

Washington, increased in value by 230 per cent between

1914 and 1919»^ P arts of the Shoalwater Bay area had

5 Charles M. Gates, op. cit., p. 4 7 . 141 direct participation in this prospering.

Because the war boom had affected the Northwest relatively more than the rest of the nation, the postwar depression which followed was proportionately more of a let-down. The shipyards disappeared, and the general 6 level of manufacturing declined abruptly. However, the decade of national prosperity which followed would have its effect in this region too.

Conclusion

Of the larger and extra-regional influences de­ scribed above, as far as direct impact upon the Shoal­ water area is concerned, the completion of an outside rail link plus the arrival of large scale logging were most im portant.

For the Northwest as a whole, the arrival of the railroads ended its isolation, but did not integrate the region greatly internally. Nevertheless, the main lines of these railroads and later, their branches, brought prosperity and land booms wherever they touched. Such was the case when one of the branch lin e s , la te r a part of the Northern Pacific, terminated at South Bend.

6 Ibid. 1 4 2

Nearly coincident with the arrival of the railroad to Pacific County was the rise of the lumbering industry in that region. For the first time a portion of the economy of the bay area, soon to be its dominant one, was d e fin ite ly a p art of the la rg e r regional economy o f the

Northwest."^ Increasingly the life of the region would be influenced more by the fluctuations of the lumber in­ dustry on both a Northwest regional and a national scale, rather than by the more unique local industries of oyster ing and tourism. The wartime boom accelerated this trend While the increase In population in Pacific County proportionately kept pace with that of the state of

Washington, the local increase was primarily in the

Willapa valley and was more a direct function of the ar­ rival of the railroad and lumbering, rather than of the general Increase of population throughout the western part of the state.

7 ' This excepts agriculture, which was ubiquitous in the Northwest from the beginning of settlement. 143

Firdale Menlo •' Holcomb • ! ~n Nalpee • Lebam G lobe^^ , P lu vi Rockcreek ,. , ' • I •iialvxlle 1 O'* •yOcean Park- lHahcotta'/

• Previous settlements s till in exis tence (unlabeled) • New settlements established between 1890 and 1920

Pig. 23 - The location of settlements in the Willaia Bay region in 1 9 2 0, 144 Settlement and Population

Settlements in the Willapa Valley

Prominent in the settlement of the West was the re c u rrin g phenomenon of the ''boom '1 towns—communities which arose very rapidly, usually because there was sud­ denly the possibility of exploiting some local resource.

This was generally rendered possible by the arrival of the railroad. Towns could also be established because of the mere anticipation of the railroad's arrival, plus the help of professional land speculators with active imaginations. In the case of such towns in Pacific County, all of these reasons were involved, and South Bend and

Raymond are the largest of those communities which still e x i s t . South Bend

South Bend was the first and most typical example of the "boom" town to develop for proportionately, its fortunes rose and fell more rapidly than those of the other communities. The immediate reasons for its rise were its poten­ tially advantageous location for trade, plus a group of land speculators who recognized this and induced the in­ flux of a large amount of c a p ita l. What eventually sus­ tained the town was the continuing development of the 145 timber Industries plus the arrival of a railroad link connecting It with the Northern Pacific. The town's tax valuation had passed its peak and was already declining by the time the railroad arrived. Therefore, South Bend was more truly born of pure land speculation than was the town of Raymond, founded later.

In the fall of 1 8 8 9 , four men, a l l from other areas organized the South Bend Land Company. They attem pted to purchase land from the mill already established at the townsite but were discouraged, so instead bought land up­ stream and proceeded to plat the town.

S h o rtly th e re a fte r, another group of men, several of them connected in one way or another with the Northern

P a c ific , also became in te re s te d in the area because of i t s good natural harbor and the possibility of building a ra ilro a d from there to Yakima in the in te r io r . They organ ized the Northern Land and Development Company and were given a one-half interest in all the holdings of the South

Bend Land Company on the condition that they would expe­ dite the construction of a railroad from Chehalis to the new townsite.

It is problematical whether or not the South Bend Land Company originally expected a permanent town to be re main at this site. However, the prospect of a railroad changed the picture. The original plat was hurriedly 146

revamped and the water front, which originally had been left vacant, was platted into lots, including the ends of

most of the streets. There were also several additions to the original townsite, and the lots sold quickly.

In the summer of 1889 there were approximately 150

people in the vicinity; the 1890 census revealed 8 3 6 , and during 1893 and 1894, the town claimed a population of at O least 3,5°°» During 1 8 9 0 -9 1 , the s tre e ts were planked

and by 1893 part of the tidelands at the upstream end of the town were filled in. Most Important, the industrial strength increased also. In 1884, in addition to the original mill, there were two other large sawmills, a tanin e x tra c t company, a sash and door facto ry , a planing 9 mill, and a salmon cannery.

The new town wrought political changes also. In

la te 1 8 9 2 , in an election concerning the relocation of the

county seat, South Bend received 980 votes, Sealand 3 7 8 , and Oysterville--the Incumbent county seat--104. Oyster- ville Immmedlately charged fraud and its citizens were pre­ paring for a legal battle when on the day after the county offices were officially to have been in South Bend, several residents of that town arrived in Oysterville and removed the county records to their new home. Irregularities in the election were later revealed, but the county offices

~~JB 1------1------— — The Oregonian1s Handbook of the P acific Northwest, Q Portland, Oregon, 1894, p. 318. ------9 Ifrid., P. 319. 147

10 remained In South Bend.

Another change brought about was that in 1900, after much agitation, the official name of at least the

north end of the bay was changed to "Willapa Harbor,1'

the name "Shoalwater Bay" apparently being detrimental to shipping interests. Eventually the entire bay came to be known as "Willapa Bay."

The best indicator of the town's fortunes is the

tax valuation, which in 1891 was $2 , 3 8 1 , 8 9 5 , in 1892 was

$1,698,354^ and in 1895 had dropped to $414,320. In August of that year one of the banks closed; several of its leaders were involved in the South Bend Land Company,

and the bank had held much of the county and city funds.

At least three reasons can be given for the boom's collapse. The most obvious was over-investment and specu­

lation. However, the national panic of the mid-nineties also contributed to the scarcity of cash, as well as the fact that the railroad between South Bend and Chehalis never did extend to Yakima.

10 See Robert Bailey, "Tells Story of South Bend Boom Days," South Bend Journal, August 9, 1940, pp. 6 -8 . 148

Eventually many of the original landowners bought back their plots for a nominal price and life around the community settled back into a routine of lum­ ber and shingle production and weekly visits by homestead­ ers to town for provisions.

However, because there was, a t le a s t, a r a i l con­ nection to Chehalis, the logging industry was active, the site of South Bend was s t i l l a good one for w ater­ borne trade, and the activities of farming and fishing continued--for these reasons, the town continued to exist.

In 1903 it still had four mills and a sash and door fac­ tory, with the total yearly output of the lumber industry 11 there estimated at 80 million feet. By 1910 Washington was leading in the production of lumber in the nation, and in that year South Bend had sawmills with a capacity of about 93 million feet, plus two shingle mills. The population was 3100. By 1920, the yearly lumber output was about I 50 million feet, but the population had de­ creased to about 2300. Part of this drop was due to the rise of the neighboring town of Raymond.

Raymond The community of Raymond was also a type of boom

11 ’’Pacific County, Washington, " The Coast, January, 1903, P. 30. 149 primarily because once it began, it grew rapidly. How­ ever, its rise was not so fast as had been that of South

Bend, nor in the levelling-off period, was its fall so great. The external influences were the presence of the railroads and the acnrttnUing strength of the lumber market.

More important, however, were the local factors of less w ild land speculation, and there was only one land company. Furthermore, that company made provision in their projected city for industrial sites—something the South Bend com­ panies had not done.

In 1902, a mill was built near Riverside, at the forks of the Willapa River, the practical head of naviga­ tion. In 1903, the land promoters again arrived and organ­ ized the Raymond Land Company. Another mill was built in that year, and by 1910 there were five major mills, and at least nine minor ones, including box and shingle mills.

The yearly capacity was nearly 250 million feet of lumber.

The population mushroomed also and by 1910 there were

2533 people.

World War I brought continued prosperity and three shipyards. In 1920 there were nine sawmills with a com­ bined yearly capacity of approximately 939 million feet, eight shingle mills, and three veneer plants. The 1920 population figure was 4,447, and eventually several of 150 the additions originally platted as part of South Bend were incorporated into Raymond.

A comparison of the respective sites of these two communities is pertinent here. Of the two, so far as physical conditions are concerned, South Bend had a slight advantage. That town was built on the outer part of the river's curve, whereas Raymond began on the inner side of the junction of a tributary with the river. South

Bend was built on higher ground less subject to floods, but the business district of Raymond was laid out on 1 p filled tideland. In this period, because of their smaller size, it was as convenient for ships to turn about a t South Bend as i t was at Raymond. South Bend had the added advantage of the support of the railroad, since that town was its terminal and extra cost would be involved in building facilities at Raymond.

_ , One description of Raymond's early business section was as follows: ". . .First Street, truly a fearful and won­ derful business street, with its boat'd sidewalks on stilts and with a constantly growing number of stores, markets, barbershops, rooming houses, saloons and dance halls looking at each other across a muddy and impass­ able void. . . the city's unpaid street cleaner was the tid e s ." From Mrs. L. V. Raymond, "Raymond's E arly History," The Raymond Herald, June 3, 19^9, p. 6 . 1 5 1

Fig. 2k - Portion of the topographic quad­ rangle showing South Bend. (Source: U. S. Geological Survey) 152

fa

>Sch

City o. Reservoir!,

S v I v n ii dtil (V Sv.il

Fig. 2 5 - Portion of the topographic quad­ rangle showing Raymond. (Source: U. S. Geological Survey) 153 However, the simple fact is that in the early

1900*3, when cash was again available for promotion and building of mills, there were no satisfactory water front sites available at South Bend, and the Raymond

Land Company welcomed such industry.

Perhaps the fact that the two branches of the

Willapa River met there, thereby focusing travel and trade from two different areas at that point was important. How ever, the hinterland was not large. Primarily, the town grew because that was where the county's second wave of the lumber Industry located, and the business district, residential section, and road linkages developed in spite of the unfavorable physical conditions. Later on, with the development of highways, the town's location became relatively more advantageous as a focal point. But at the time of Raymond's establishment, the advantage of transportational accessibility belonged more to South Bend.

There were other boom towns in Pacific County, most of which never progressed beyond the blueprint stage.

There was to be a town of North Pacific City located ap­ proximately opposite South Bend; the to\m of Napoleon, on the mouth of the Naselle near the earlier site of Sunshine did have a few buildings for a while. Willapacific was 154 planned to be on the north side of the riverdownstream from South Bend. Had th is town succeeded, the Milwaukee railroad would probably have built on to it from Raymond. Another promotional town which did exist for a time but died an early death was Sea Haven, on the south

side of the river downstream from South Bend. For a time, in the l890's, this village had a wharf, two hotels, a newspaper, and several business establishments and resi­ dences. But by 1915* the town was dead and i t s population absorbed by South Bend and Raymond.

Other Towns in the Willapa Valley

The arrival of the Northern Pacific was the signal for several towns to begin in the upper Willapa Valley, each with one or more sawmills and shingle plants. Menlo had really already been in existence, having grown slowly as a center in an agricultural area. Its primary industry toward the end of this period, other than retail trade, was a cheese factory. Willapa, at the head of navigation continued to function as a trading center. The new towns,--Holcomb, Lebam, Globe, Frances, Pluvius, and Walville, were mill towns and most were originally established by the Northern Pacific survey.

On Mill Creek, tributary to the Willapa River and along which followed the Pacific & Eastern logging railroad, 1 5 5 was the village of Firdale. In the northeastern part of

the county, on the headwaters of North River, was the rel­

a tiv e ly more iso la te d logging and farming community of

Brooklyn.

The Communities of the Bay and the Peninsula

The communities beside the bay and on the peninsula

were less affected by the rapid pace induced in the Willapa

Valley by the railroad and lumbering. Naselle experienced

the greatest influx of population, and Ilwaco and Chinook

thrived on the fish in g industry . Long Beach, Ocean Park,

Nahcotta, Oysterville, North Cove, and Tokeland continued

to gain livelihood from tourism, and other small tourist settlements arose along the peninsula railroad. Bay Center

and Oysterville residents worked in oystering and fishing. The town of Bruceport ceased to e x is t.

When the northern terminus of the peninsula ra il­

road was not located at Oysterville but a short distance

south of that town, two new communities, Nahcotta and

Sealand, arose at the latter point. Originally, there had been plans for only one town, but there was a dispute and

one of the road's directors platted Sealand on the opposite side of the tracks. Oysterville lost part of its popula­

tion and several of its business establishments to these new towns. 156 A contrast In what features of the terrain were considered valuable at the time of the founding of these

various towns is apparent here. Oysterville was estab­ lished near the oyster beds, which lay on a shallow portion of the bay. Nahcotta-Sealand was founded near the deep

bay channel. One community came about because of a r e ­ source nearby, the other because of an advantageous lo­ cation near a good tran sp o rta tio n route.

Character and Distribution of the Population Character of the Population

During the period 1890-1920, the proportion of

foreign born whites in the county was 22.2 per cent in

1900* up to 2 5 .^ per cent in 1910, and down to I5.7 Pe^ cent in 1920. Whereas most of the foreign immigration in the previous period had been of Anglo-Saxon and German- Swiss stock, the big proportion now was from Scandinavia and Finland. The Finns, Swedes, and Norwegians came either directly from the "old country" to Washington, or else via the Wisconsin and Minnesota logging areas and the Montana mines. The majority of the Finns moved to Naselle, pre­ serving the clannishness which these folk especially evince. The Swede-Finns settled mainly in the Ilwaco area. The Swedes and Norwegians spread out more in the county, but usually preferred to be no further inland 157 than Raymond.

Other foreign horn persons arrived to work in the mills. These included more of the Slavs and south and east Europeans—Poles, Russians, and Greeks. These peo­ ples s e ttle d mainly In the towns, e sp e c ia lly Raymond, and most had left their homelands because of unsettled condi­ tions prevailing there at that time and because the U. S. immigrations laws still permitted considerable immigration.

Japanese were also encouraged to come--at one time a mill at Walville had an entirely Japanese crew. Table 3 illus­ trates for selected years an analysis of the origins of the foreign born in the county.

Table 3 An Analysis of the Origins of the Foreign Born in Pacific County, 1910-1920

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1910 1920

England 96 103 Scotland 38 41 Norway 382 302 Swe den 381 313 Denmark 110 74 Germany 2 68 199 Poland — 173 A ustria 178 50 Russia, or U.S.R.R. 243 140 Switzerland 171 133 Finland 632 791 Greece 107 132 Canada 351 295 China 59 106 Japan 119 78 158 Distribution of the Population The distribution of the population In the region has already been described In terms of the settlements. Table

29* In the Appendix, gives the statistics for the years 1 9 0 0, 1 9 1 0, 1 9 2 0.

Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation

By Land R ailroads Within the period 1890-1920, there were three ra il­ roads in operation in Pacific County. Two exerted a strong influence inter-regionally, while the third had a more lo­ cal effect.

A railroad between Chehalis and South Bend was completed and in operation on August 1 5 , 1 8 9 3 . Although not originally incorporated as a part of the Northern Pa­ cific, it was operated by that company when completed. The lin e , called the Yakima and P a c ific Coast R ailroad

Company, was planned to run from Yakima to South Bend, but the Chehalis-Yakima part was never completed. Had this end of the road been completed, Willapa Harbor would have been a rail-water outlet for the produce tributary to Yakima, primarily fruit and wheat. However, as lias been noted earlier, even the linkage with the Northern Pacific at Chehalis was a great economic help to the bay area. 159 The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Rail­ road Qompany in 1913 also obtained a branch line to Willapa Harbor. This was accomplished by the purchase of the Pacific & Eastern logging railroad which extended from

Firdale on upper Mill Creek to Willapa, and extending the line west to Raymond and east to Pe Ell, with a barge car ferry service to South Bend. The Milwaukee carried some passenger traffic for a time, but it was mainly concerned with freight. On the other hand, the Northern Pacific carried considerable passenger traffic, the peak being sometime between 1910 and 1915* However, much more important to the railroad was freight, which had a very high tonnage value per mile and consisted almost entirely of logs and lumber.

This railroad provided the first important competi­ tion to water-borne freight traffic and furthermore gave the local inhabitants a good method of transportation to the east, with no water carriers or land portages involved.

It was the first main thrust in disrupting the regional unity of the bay area and the dominating influence of the bay in transportation and communication inter-regionally. Locally, however, the water influence continued. The other instance of railroad building occurred on l 6 o the peninsula. In 1888 there was completed a narrow gauge railroad, a part of the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, which started at Ilwaco and extended north to a point on the bay side of the peninsula a few miles south of Oysterville. The terminal site was chosen because at that point the bay channel was nearer to shore than at Oysterville, but even so It was necessary to build a long wharf in order to have the rails make contact with the deep water.

The road was built for at least two reasons. One was to replace the slower and more cumbersome stage so that the peninsula could remain ahead in the competition with the Oregon beaches for the tourist trade; the second was to enable the carrying of spruce logs, out in the

Naselle area and rafted across the bay, to Ilwaco from where they were rafted to Portland.

The "clamshell railroad"^3 ran for 30 years. Soon after 1900 it came into the ownership of the Oregon

Washington Railway and Navigation Company, which eventually became a subsidiary of the Union P acific R ailroad Company.

I t engendered several small "w histle-stop" communi­ ties on the peninsula, and served to unite that area into a

__ - _ _ . . See Frederic Shaw, Clement Fisher, Jr., and George H. Harlan, Oil Lamps and Iron Ponies, A Chronicle of the Narrow Gauges, San Francisco, 19^9/ PP» 113-13&. 161 nearly single social unit. The railroad left two definite marks on the landscape: today's highway follows the former route of the roadbed and several tourist homes have been constructed out of the railroad cars. Roads and Trails

In this period began the first semblances of what could really be called roads. The best ones were con­ stru c te d of wooden planks; the o thers were of sand or earth in the summer and mud in winter. At first, all land routes were merely tributary to the main water routes. However, the trails eventually began to link together.

Figure 26 reveals this progressive connection. Because the drainage Is not shown, many of the routes appear to lead nowhere but most of them had a creek or a slough on at least one end. By 1920, the trails and roads In the Willapa Valley had linked together to form the only good wagon road outlet from the county.

By Water

Transportation in the bay region by water remained important throughout this period but to an increasingly lesser degree both locally and externally. Yet In 1920 regular steamer schedules to Tokeland* Nahcotta, Naselle, Astoria, and Portland were still in effect. For a time there was direct service between San Francisco and South 162

IC3*50‘

Scale in Miles ♦ H1111 Railroais

Roais ft Trails in 1P95 ______Ro^Hs ft T rails in 1915

124° 0 0 ' (Source: Pactfic bounty Engineers)

Fig, 26 - Roads. trails, an.l major railroads in the Willapa Bay area, between 1 8 9 2 and 1920, ' 163 Bend, and in the 1890's this was also the source of much of the groceries and merchandise for the area. In 1920

small boats were still in use for transportation and

mail routes on the bay. There was a great deal of boat traffic between South Bend and Raymond until an electric

trolley was constructed between the two towns in 1 9 1 2 . Travel between South Bend and the southern end of the bay

region, especially the Naselle area, was not convenient.

Externally, the train was the best transportation to Puget Sound, but for a trip to Portland the steamer was still p referred .

The Economy of the Bay Region, 1890-1920

Introduction

In 1 8 9 0 the economy of the Willapa Bay area was still dominated by oystering and agriculture, with lumber­

ing an ever closer rival. By 1900 lumbering was king.

Scores of sawmills were built, as reflected in the sharp

jump in the number o f m anufacturing establishm ents between

1 8 9 0 and 1910. (See Table 2 5 in the Appendix) The nation­ al panic during the decade 1 8 9 0 -1 9 0 0 hindered mill develop­ ment but a f te r 1900 industry increased again. As a whole, prosperity continued, and during World War I industrial

production reached its peak, when, in addition to full 164 production at the mills, five shipyards were in operation.

Also during th is time, the U. S. Army statio n ed 1000 men in the area, known as the "Spruce Division," to help in­ crease spruce log production. O ystering continued as a means of liv e lih o o d , as did fishing, but both were proportionately less important.

Agriculture During the period 1890-1900, agriculture in Pacific County increased steadily, although its progress was largely eclipsed by the more spectacular rise of lumbering. The value of farm products in 1 9 2 0 was over five times that in 1 8 9 0 . Dairying and poultry farming continued to be the main pursuits. The production of butter reached its peak in 1 9 0 0 , with 1 1 ^ ,6 9 9 pounds produced and about half of it being sold commercially. In 1920 less than one third was sold outside the area. In the decade 1910-1920 there was a cheese factory at Menlo.

The farm acreage rose sharply between 1 8 9 0 and 1900, and the subsequent decline between 1 9 0 0 and 1910 was prob­ ably due to those s e t tl e r s who became d is illu s io n e d as to the agricultural possibilities of their farms and who be­ gan logging or working in the mills instead. One item which contributed to the rise of farm acreage at first was the rapid increase of logged-off 165 lands available. The main difficulty was that these areas still had high stumps to be removed. Some farmers did not bother to do so, but merely cleared away the slash so that pasture could develop and let the large stumps remain-- hence the term, "stump ranches." During this period the

increase in acreage occurred mainly on the uplands, the available usable open spots on level land near the water having been appropriated in earlier years. As has been described in Chapter I, these uplands were not on the whole highly fertile and many of these farms were later abandoned. The years between 1910 and 1920 also saw the begin­ ning of the commercial production of cranberries in the county. Table 4 gives the cranberry statistics for the state of Washington rather than for Pacific County. How­ ever, over 9 0 per cent of this agricultural activity was in the latter area; therefore the figures given are reason­ ably representative. Most of the bogs were on the peninsula, with a small production coming from the sandy area on the north side of the bay and in Grays Harbor. 166 Table 4 Cranberry Production in Washington

(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census)

1909 1919 Farms rep o rtin g 4 38 Per cent of all farms (Negligible) 0.1 Acres harvested 5 306 Quarts packed 9,728 5 8 5 ,2 2 4 Value $ 9 5 3 . $ 87,784.

In 1917> the office of County Agricultural Agent was established. In that same year 1400 acres of tide- land were diked in the Naselle area, and the possibility of establishing berry canneries in the county was being explored. The Agent cited as his intended program for

1 9 2 1 : to continue testing herds for tuberculosis; increase the proportion of pure breeds in the herds; increase berry acreage; continue agitating for more tideland diking; and to establish a permanent county fair. One of the main difficulties in achieving the last was the decision on its location—for the agricultural areas in the county were widely separated.

Oystering

As described in the previous chapter, the oystering industry on Shoalwater Bay declined sharply in the l870fs, 167 then increased somehwat, but never to its original stre n g th .

The industry was aided and encouraged by at least two state legislative actions. One Act, passed in 1891 and strengthened in 1897, set aside over 14,000 acres in Shoalwater Bay and Puget Sound as state oyster reserves to serve as a source of seed for the oystermen. In 1895, another Act made it possible for the oystermen to secure actual legal title to the oysterlands. This Act proved to be the most important single factor in promoting the oyster business in the state.

During the period 1 8 9 0 -1 9 2 9, the oyster industry at Willapa Bay underwent a major revolution. With the decline in the production of the native oysters, Eastern oysters were introduced,, some 131 carloads of seed being planted between 1 8 9 5 and 1906. In the meanwhile, the Puget Sound production of the native oyster (now known as the Olympia Oyster) increased. These factors combined to make oyster­ ing on Willapa Bay overwhelmingly dominated by Eastern oyster cultivation. At first seed oysters were imported, but because of a shortage of operating capital and the necessity for quicker investment returns, the practice of importing partially mature oysters increased. This, p _____ George D. Esveldt, op. cit ♦, p. 7 . 168 however, made profits less. Another item which reduced

profits was the freight cost, often as high as the cost

of the seed or oysters themselves. In spite of these

handicaps, the industry prospered until 1 9 1 9 when some unknown disease nearly exterminated the Eastern oyster

population. Within months most oystermen were out of business. A few beds survived and were harvested in the

next few years, and a small native oyster business con­

tinued, but practically speaking, the oyster cultivation business ceased to function for the next decade.

Table 5

Value of Production of Oysters at Willapa (Shoalwater) Bay and a t Puget Sh und. (Source: Annual Reports, Washington State Fisheries Commission, and Department of Fisheries.)

Year Value of Willapa Bay Value of Puget Sound Production Production 1890 $ 64,700 1892 80,000 1894 60.000 I 896 90.000 $ 25,00 1900 93,372 1906 107,267 1912 57,380 1916 58,924 229,750 1923 36,540 169 Fishing and Other Shell Fish

The fishing industry of Willapa Bay continued but remained of minor importance. The most active area was the Ilwaco-Chinook region, but there was also the begin­ ning of a fishing fleet in South Bend. Periodically there were instances of income from the catching and processing of crabs and clams, but this industry, centered at Bay

Center and Tokeland, fluctuated considerably and was not of great importance.

Table 6 gives a comparison, of sorts, of the market value of the production of salmon in the state in this period. The four areas cited are the only major fishing districts in the state. Table 7 is a sample of all fish taken in the period 1915-17* Finally, Table 8 gives for selected dates statistics concerning the value of the en­ tire output in the fisheries industries in these areas.

It well illustrates the minor role played by Willapa Bay in the state 's fishing industry, which is primarily based on salmon. Locally, though, in the Ilwaco-Chinook area it was practically the sole source of revenue. Table 6

Market Value of Processed Salmon (Source: Annual Reports, Washington State Fisheries Commission, and Ptepartment of Fisheries)

1890 1896 1899 1921-23** Columbia River $ 1,059,345*75 $ 2,299,189*20 $ 811,909 $ 1,750,000 Puget Sound 132.760. 76,116.50 5,118,852 2,000,000 Willapa Bay 350. 67,990. 102,722 20,000 Grays Harbor (*) (*) (*)

* Grays Harbor production approximately the same as Willapa Bay. ** Approximate figures for canned salmon only. 170 171 Table 7

Value of All Fish Taken, 1 9 1 5 -1 7

(Source: Annual Reports, Washington State Fisheries Commission, and Department of Fisheries.)

Columbia River $ 393,361. Puget Sound 1,483,745. Willapa Bay 5 0 , 3 8 5 . Grays Harbor 73,068

Table 8 Value of Output in Fisheries Industries

(Source: Annual Reports, Washington State Fisheries Commission, and Depart­ ment of F ish eries)

I 899-1900 1905,1906 1911-1912

Columbia River $ 8 1 4 , 1 8 9 . $ 5,453,160. $5 , 9 1 1 , 5 1 5 . Puget Sound 5,249,612 1,311,321. 1,084,407. Willapa Bay 1 9 5 ,0 9 4 1 7 3 , 3 1 8 . 3 8 2 , 9 5 1 . Grays Harbor 129,247* 1 3 2 , 1 8 0 . 4 8 5 , 3 7 2 . 172 Lumbering

Beginning about 1900, the lumber industry in this area soared. It was aided partly by the arrival of the railroad, partly by the general national prosperity, and especially by the construction following the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906. For that market the Willapa Harbor mills had a slight advantage over the Puget Sound area because of the shorter sailing time involved. Freight ra te s continued to be a bane:

The freight rate from Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, to Chicago is 55 cents a hundred pounds. From the southwestern yellow-pine ter­ ritory it is only 26 cents. . . The advantage of the southwestern pine territory in freight to Chicago ranges from $ 5.25 to $7.25 per thou­ sand feet. As a result, only a relatively small amount of Douglas f i r is shipped as fa r east as Chicago, except timbers of such length and thick­ ness as can be sawed only from the great trees of the Pacific slope. The freight rates to Omaha from Seattle or Portland and from Texarkana or Beaumont are 5° cents and 25 cents, resp ec tiv e ly . Here the advantage of the southwestern pine is from $4.50 to $6. Passing westward from the neighborhood of Omaha, the advantage of the northern region diminishes, and an increasing quantity of lumber from the Pacific-Northwest is found. J-5

The most direct effect of World War I on the lumbering in

' ~~ — — — — — • Bureau of Corporations, Department of Commerce and Labor, The Lumber Industry, Part 1, " Standing Timber," Washington, 1913, pp. 84-05. 173 this area was the Spruce Division, the shipyards, and the steadiness of the lumber market.

Ownership of the Resource

The question of ownership of the basic resource of the lumber industry, namely timber, is not so significant during this period as it is later. However, the founda­ tion of the later pattern of timber ownership in Pacific

County was laid at this time.

During 1890-1920 there was sufficient timber in the area that no mill had qualms about exhausting its raw material. At first most logs were bought on the open market. Gradually, however, the mills acquired their own timber and contracted loggers to cut it. After the land had been cut over, it was offered to settlers for about five dollars per acre.

Some of the timber was owned by homesteaders who, if they were living on their claims, were usually quite agreeable to having their timber logged, as they eventually hoped to farm some of the cut over land. I f the owner lived in town, he might sell the whole claim, land in­ cluded. Many acquired title to 160 acres of timber via the provisions of the Timber and Stone Act of 1 8 7 8 .

However, by far the most important influence on the land ownership pattern in the county was the Northern Pacific Railroad. This company received land grants as a 174 subsidy. Later on, an Act was passed granting the road f,in lieu” lands in return for those areas, theoretically belonging to the Northern Pacific, which were already taken or were in National Parks. Much land in Pacific

County was given to the Northern Pacific under this Act.

The company, in turn, sold its lands to various timber companies and individuals. As the holdings of the

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company were originally based largely 16 on the Northern Pacific grant, it was inevitable that that company would acquire much acreage in Pacific County, which it did. However, Weyerhaeuser did not have a mill in the county until 1 9 3 0 - Figure 27 shows the distribution of timber land ownership in 1913* It will be noted that the State had extensive holdings also. This is because in addition to receiving sections 1 6 and 3 6 for school purposes, under the provisions of various grants from the federal govern­ ment the State was allowed to select a fixed acreage in whatever part of the state it could find unappropriated public lands. The large acreage of State selections shown on the map lies for the most part in heavy timber.^

r 6 ~ ~ Ibid., p. 237. 17 Ibid., Part II, "Concentration of Timber Ownership in Important Selected Regions,” p. 44. 175

Fig, 27 - Location of large timber holdings in Pacific County in 1913* (Source: Map of Location of Large Timber Holdings in Southwestern Washington, in The Lumber In d u stry , Part 2, Bureau of Corporations, Dept, of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1913* opposite p. 44.)

■ Weyerhaeuser Timber Company

(S3 Northern Pacific Railway Company

{58 Group of large holdings OsO State land, timber rights sold [f] State land vr / / BENO&nS SOUTH^p SOUTH^p ’M /} IA A I O ( ’ L N I I 176 28 - a splash dam operation on North River circa ' 1 9 1 3. (Reproduced by perm it« Lon of A. W. Hammond) 178

The Industry

The rise of sawmills has already been described. A conservative estimate of the number of mills in the

county during this time is at least 40. Between 1898

and 1913 the output in logs increased from 30 m illio n

fe e t to 330 million, fifty per cent of this increase

came between 1908 and 1913.^®

The f i r s t logging was done at tidew ater and the

logs were simply rolled into the river. Then came logging with oxen, the skid road, and the use of splash dams, and with those methods areas fu rth e r away from the water were

tapped. The use of the donkey engine and ground-lead

logging began about 1898 , at which time many of the oxen were sold as beef to the Klondike miners. Also about

this time there began the use of logging railroads, the

two most extensive being the Pacific and Eastern, on Mill

Creek, and the Nemah River Railroad, built by the Spruce

Division. The Milwaukee built a loading wharf at the

South Bend m ill and ra ilro a d cars were towed by ba.rge between it and the company’s terminal grounds in Raymond. All the logs brought to the mills, however, still traveled

at least part way by raft. Just at the end of this period

I 8 ~ ~ ~ ~ Eli Rockey, "Logging in Pacific County," L. V. Raymond, op. cit., p. 8 . bogging with. oa.en on a ski road beside the willapa River. ( r 'a~ e us e r‘ ^ 3 ■*■ ne ^

M —>1 vO

j 180 there was a small beginning of truck; logging, the first vehicles having hard rubber tir e s and hauling on plank: or mud roads.

Tourism

There was continued prosperity from tourism in the peninsula and the North Cove and Tokeland areas. In 1920, the last was st-ill most accessible by bay steamer and the stage from Grays Harbor. There were several tourist ho­ tels and cottages along the route of the peninsula rail­ road, and the customers were s t i l l mainly from the lower

Columbia area and Oregon.

S ummary

In 1920 the to ta l population had Increased to

14,891 and the majority of it resided in the north end of the county rather than along the peninsula and the bay. The character of the population had changed also, there being a large increase in resident Scandinavians and Finns.

The assessed valuation of taxable property in the county was $1 3 , 6 3 3 >347 *s an increase of nearly two and one half times the figure in 1 8 8 5 * The value added by manu­ factu rin g was over 22 times what i t had been In 1390. The oystering business was practically dead, tourism had main­ tained a steady course, and lumbering dominated the economy, 181 with agriculture second.

The pattern of the area’s external communication connections had been altered by the arrival of the two railroads. Yet steamboat travel to Portland remained popular, and other than the railroads the external land connections had not changed g re a tly . In 1920 there was only one good--and the term is relative--road out of the county. The local pattern of land communication was still disjointed, although there was good transportation between South Bend and Raymond. No complete land linlc had been made to either the peninsula or Grays Harbor. A ra il­ road had been constructed on the peninsula but it had a wharf at each end. Thus, boat travel was still vital to the bay region locally, and still necessary externally.

The C ultural Landscape in 1920

The cultural landscape of the bay region In 1920 is considerably different from that in 1 8 8 5 in that the ef­ fects of human occupance are much more apparent. This is understandable since the county's population has In­ creased seven-fold. Crossing the north end of the bay are two lumber schooners, and two or three steamers can also be seen plying about the bay. There is only one oyster barge 1-32 anchored near the oyster beds, but several empty barges are moored at the wharves along the bay shore.

The hillsides have several bare spots wherelogging has been done, and several logging camps are visible. There appear to be about as many or more farms and homes in the woods as before.

The biggest change is that there are now the two sizeable, still new looking towns of Raymond and South

Bend on the Willapa River, where in 1885 there were only a small village and a few farms. Connecting these two communities is an electric trolley line, but there still appears to be much small boat traffic on the river. The homes and buildings in these towns are almost all made of wood, and only the main streets are planked. There is smoke rising in the air from several large sawmills and many smaller ones.

Another new item is the presence of two railroads, one ending in South Bend, the other in Raymond. A planked road follows the route of one of these railroads part way up the Willapa Valley. The farms in this area are still prosperous appearing, and there are a few new ones back in the hills. Many of the latter are rough looking, with many stumps in the pasture. From South Bend southward along the bay there is a planked road as far as Naselle, but there are few houses 183 along it. The road bypasses Bruceport and the mouths of

the various rivers where most of the people in this area

live. The Naselle area is more populated and there are

several more farms. To get to Ilwaco It is necessary to go by boat to Nahcotta and then go by train southward.

The town of Oysterville has decreased in number of buildings and there is little activity on the streets or

the wharves. Nahcotta has a few stores and frame houses and h o te ls. This being summer, nearby Ocean Park Is busy with its summer visitors, and in addition to the frame

cottages, there are several tents erected here and there.

Farther south, the towns of Long Beach and Seaview are mainly characterized by large hotel buildings. Ilwaco

still clings close to the edge of Baker’s Bay. A dominant

feature of both these lower peninsula communities is the railroad, the tracks of which follow the middle of the main street. More noticeable in Long Beach-Seaview than in Ilwaco Is the sound of the dull roar of the ocean surf.

The rural areas of the p©ninsula have several more cran­ berry bogs and a few dairy farms.

On the north side of the bay, the vicinity of Toke- land has many summer cottages, a park, several hotels, and presents the appearance of a well kept, nice resort com­ munity. At North Cove there is a lighthouse and a coast guard station. 184

Beginnings of Regional Disjointment

It has been pointed out how in the l880's, the bay region reached Its peak as a cohesive unit. The arrival of the railroads and lumbering in the following 30 years began the disruption of this unit, both externally and within. The abrupt transfer of the county seat to South

Bend was an indication of the change of focal dominance from one point to another. There was now more population and economic activity in the northwest end of the bay area. Furthermore, the railroads had given this portion an easy o u tle t to the e a s t, thus somewhat turning the a t ­ tention of the residents away from Portland and the lower Columbia area.

The peninsula, on the other hand, still had its own center of economic operations at Ilwaco and was still much concerned with the lower Columbia region and Astoria. The fishing industry and tourism prospered, the latter with

Oregon clientele. Oysterville was declining primarily be­ cause its site had lost its earlier advantages.

Whereas the communities directly on the bay and the peninsula probably still felt a mutual social comradeship, the newer residents of Raymond and the upper valley were less so inclined. South Bend was in the middle for reasons of its position, the fact that it was the county seat and 185 had many down-the-bay visitors, and because many of its residents had summer houses at Tokeland.

Because of the still prevailing lack of good land transportation, the bay remained a pulling-together fac­ tor in preserving the bay region as a unit. However, the forces above mentioned were beginning to break down this cohesiveness. THE HISTORICAL AND REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF

THE WILLAPA BAY AREA

Volume I I

DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State U n iv e rs ity

By JEAN HAZELTINE., B .A ., M.A.

*****

The Ohio S ta te U n iv e rs ity 1956

Approved by:

A dviser Department of Geography CHAPTER V

THE FRONTIER OF PIONEER SETTLEMENT PASSES, 1920-1945

The E x tr a -R e g io n a l I n flu e n c e s

World and National Events One of the outstanding events during the period

1920-1945 was the world wide depression which occurred in the decade of the 1930's. Because of the very scope of this depression, it was certain to affect the Willapa

Bay region. It brought about an increase in population made up of those peoples from the drouth afflicted "dust bowl" in central western United States. Several public benefit projects were completed under the sponsorship of the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works

Administration in the region—notably, school buildings in the Willapa Valley and a hospital at Ilwaco. The

Civilian Conservation Corps was of great aid in forestry work and in controlling forest fires. During the 1930's there were also begun the various federal reclamation pro­ jects in the Northwest and subsequently the power projects.

The principal purpose of the dam building in the Columbia Basin was for reclamation, but power, flood control, and 186 187 Improved navigation also became important accompaniments.

Bonneville Power Administration was set up to deal with

distribution and sale of hydroelectric power created by

projects of the federal government. This organization

sells to municipally owned u tilities, to cooperatives, and to state controlled public organizations called Public

U tility D istricts, or P.U.D.'s. The P.U.D. No. 2 took

northern Pacific County into its scope of operations in

1940 and has gradually extended throughout the rest of

the county since that date. The P.U.D., with its low cost

electricity, in the long run proved a benefit to the bay area. Indirectly, the county was affected also, as the

low cost power attracted a certain amount of industry to the Northwest, and this regional prosperity filtered down to the Willapa bay area.

World War II had its effect also. The lumber in­

dustry was lifted out of its slump and the cut of timber

in the bay region was greatly accelerated. Water-borne

freight and foreign trade were reduced but the railroads

and national demand took up the slack. The war also

brought on a mixing of the population. Two army camps were re-activated in the county and at their peak of ac­

tivity had about 5OOO men. Some of these remained after

the war, but conversely, several of the men drafted from 188

Pacific County took up residence elsewhere. As during the depression, the bay area was directly affected by the na­

tional economy, and so, during the war, inflation occurred

there also.

The Influence of State Laws

State Initiative 77* passed in 1935* prohibited the use of fixed gear in the catching of salmon. This rend­

ered illegal the fish traps located on the north bank of

the mouth of the Columbia River, and thus the law was a

severe blow to the economy of Chinook, and, to a lesser degree, Ilwaco.

Another development was that with the progressive liberalizing of the state old-age-pension laws, many mid­

dle aged and elderly people from other parts of the United

States began to wend their way westward to take advantage

of this situation. Several of these people took up resi­ dence in Pacific County.

Developments In Transportation As with the nation as a whole, the developments In

transportation in Washington and Pacific County during the

period 1920-1945 were great. By 1945 the Pacific Northwest was largely dependent internally upon highway transportation.

In the Northwest, when the railroads were built, the popu­ lation was still small and scattered. As a result, many 189 good sized towns in 1945 were without rail connections.

On the other hand, the construction of the highway sys­

tems, beginning in 1915f kept pace with the growth of the towns

On a smaller scale, this same story Is true for Pacific County. The highway building program had its in­

fluence there, and in 1945 every community and farm had

some sort of road connection.

Settlement and Population

Settlements

There were no settlements in the region of Willapa

Bay during the period 1920-1945. Further, several of those in existence in 1920 had ceased to be in 1945, es­

pecially the logging communities in the upper Willapa

Valley. In general, the settlements which continued were those which had already been in existence before 1900.

The second wave of settlement did not HtakeM so well as

the first and the people of the newer towns were eventual ly absorbed into the older communities. The notable ex­

ceptions were South Bend and Raymond, but there had been previous settlements near the sites of these towns. The smaller villages of Lebam, Frances, and Menlo lingered on T ~ — — ------Lancaster Pollard, ”The Pacific Northwest,” in Region­ alism in America, Edited by Merrill Jensen, Madison, Wis., 1952, “ 201. 1 9 0 sustained by farming and logging. All traces of Globe, W alvllle, and Pluvius disappeared. Other than the scat­ tered homes on the upper Willapa and Naselle Rivers, and the village of Brooklyn on upper North River, the tendency was for the settlers to move away from their homes in the forest back to civilization. Thus, the first settlers had lived close to the waters of the bay; some of the later ones penetrated far into the h ills. But by 1945, the majority of the population had finally settled in the water-level communities of the larger river valleys, with most of the remainder being on the lower peninsula and on the north bank of the Columbia River. Ilwaco and

Chinook declined in population, whereas the peninsula communities began once again to increase.

This region's settlement frontier period had passed.

Those people of pioneering inclination now by-passed

Pacific County. Life in some parts of the region was still by no means easy in the 1920's or even the 1930's, but by 1940 an example of a family roughing it in the wilderness was an oddity rather than a commonplace thing.

What unoccupied area was left appeared destined to remain s o . 191

F ig . 30 - Raymond', 'W ashington, in 1945. (South Bend J o u r n a l)

Fig® 31 - South Bend, Washington, in 1945. (South Bend Jo u rn a l) 1 9 2

Table 9 Foreign Born In Pacific County By Country of Origin (Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1920 1920 1940 Total number of foreign born white 3 ,0 7 6 2 ,6 5 4 2 ,1 5 3

Percent of foreign born 15 *7# 1 7 .7 * 1 3 .5 * Country

England 103 91 82 S c o tla n d 41 32 25 Norway 302 353 229 Sweden 313 293 230 Denmark 74 45 39 Germany 199 178 152 Poland 173 136 104 A u stria 50 19 43 U.S .S .R . 140 33 41 Switzerland 133 113 78 L ith u a n ia 74 F in lan d 791 698 621 I t a l y 43 G reece 132 II Canada and others 295 273 232

Number o f In d ia n s, C h in ese, and Japanese (S o u rce: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1920 1930 1940

In d ian s 61 194 87 C hinese 11 10 14 Japanese 87 78 94 193 Character and Distribution of the Population

The character of the population in Pacific County between 1920 and 1945 did not exhibit the marked changes associated with the previous period, 1890-1920. Over a ll, the proportion of foreign born declined, although there was a brief rise revealed in the 1930 statistics.

During this period there was also a rising percentage of second and third generation residents--those people who were born in the area, rather than having migrated there, and who chose to rem ain th e r e .

Table 9 gives the statistics for number of foreign born by country of origin. Table 29 in the Appendix, presents the number of people and changes in population distribution for the different areas in the county. Ex­ cept where labeled otherwise, the figures given concern precincts rather than townships.

Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation

By Land

Freight traffic via railroads in Pacific County during the period 1920-1945 continued much as it had pre­ viously, with lumber and logs being the main exports.

With the increase in highway travel, passengers on ra il­ roads steadily declined. In 1930, the peninsula railroad was discontinued. w

43

Scale In Miles Hard Surface Road G ravelled Road

(Source: Washington State Highway Map, 1931)

The main land transportation routes In the Willapa Bay area In 1931* 195 The region’s road system was interconnected and crystallized during this time, and the main highway routes were built. In 1924 a road was completed between South

Bend and Naselle, and on to Long Beach and was shortly thereafter gravelled. In 1930 came the highway between Raymond and Aberdeen. Almost coincident with the com­ pletion of these roads was the establishment of bus lines to travel them. By 1935* because of the above mentioned developments and the Improvements in automobiles, most of the local and external travel of the region’s population was on the highways rather than by water or rail. The following table reveals the decline in water transporta­ t io n .

Table 10 Vessel Passengers on Willapa Harbor

(Source: Annual Reports, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.)

Year Number o f P a sse n g e rs 1896 10,090 1900 16,411 1912 22,412 1920 19*403 1929 19*401 1930 13,240 1931 630 1932 none 1 9 6

By Water During the period 1920-1945 public water transpor­ tation, both locally and externally, ceased in the bay region. This development was primarily caused by the completion of good land connections, and also by the in­ crease of air travel. However, there s till continued three significant types of water travel on the bay. One was that of the oystermen and fishermen. Another was the rafting of logs.

The third was the commerce of water-borne freight, mainly lumber and other forms of finished or partly finished forest products. Table 11 presents a comparison of the number and destinations of ocean going ships entering and leaving Willapa Harbor from 1930 through the year

1 9 4 5 - In the early 1930*3 most of the foreign export trade of Willapa Harbor went to Honolulu and the Orient, and this trend continued throughout that decade. In 1936-7, the trade with the Orient was reduced because of the

Chinese-Japanese war, and again in 1940 because relations with Japan were becoming strained. World War II virtual­ ly stopped a ll water-borne traffic out of this harbor. These were years of high lumber production but almost the entire amount was carried out by truck and rail. 197 It w ill be remembered that for settlers one of the original attractions of Willapa, or Shoalwater, Bay was its good natural entrance channel. In 1855, according to the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, there were ac­ tually two channels, one with a depth of 24 feet at the bar and the other, 20 feet.2 In the following years the bar depth remained reasonably consistently at between

23 and 29 feet. In the l890's the bay was still con­ sidered a fine harbor, enough so that the railroad and outside capital entered the region in anticipation of the future benefits that harbor would bring.

Beginning and following 1910, ships increased In size and draft until by 1945 navigation in the Willapa

River in its natural state would have been impossible for many ocean going craft. However, starting in 1892 federal aid was given to maintain the river channel depth, the first project depth being eight feet. Later the Rivers and Harbors acts of 1916, 1935# and 1945 modi­ fied and extended the Willapa Harbor project to a 24 foot depth for the river channel and 26 feet for the bar. No work was done on the bar itself until 1930 when a little

~2------George Davidson, Coast Pilot of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, tJ. S. Coast Survey, Washing­ ton, D. C.7 1869, p. I57. Table 11

Number and Destination of Vessels Leaving Willapa Harbor (Source: Annual Reports, Port of Willapa Harbor)

No* of board feet Vessels Qsito C arried Coastwise Intercoastal F o reig n T o ta l

1930 9 8 ,2 4 5 ,6 2 3 49 31 23 103 1931 7 0 ,4 5 7 ,6 6 9 49 21 17 87 1932 60,000,000* 40 21 29 90 1933 110,368,490 45 22 49 116 1934 102,806,780 57 17 58 132 1935 116,260,181 45 16 45 106 1936 139,067,418 56 21 45 117 1937 132,666,233 51 21 27 99 1938 7 9 ,5 9 2 ,9 4 8 38 17 16 71 1939 148,885,205 59 47 36 142 1940 128,000,000* 39 33 18 90 1941 9 8 , 2 5 2 ,0 3 1 49 19 8 76 1942 2 7 ,3 5 4 ,8 9 4 23 0 1 24 1943 1 8 ,2 1 0 ,6 6 5 11 0 1 12 1944 5 ,7 9 4 ,0 0 0 4 0 0 4 1945 1 ,9 4 5 ,9 4 8 1 1 0 2

* Approximate figure

vo oo 199 dredging was accomplished. The Act of 1935 provided for the maintenance of the 26 foot bar channel, 500 f e e t w id e . These improvements served to keep Willapa Harbor at least a second rate anchorage, but as the ships be­ came larger the shifting of the entrance channel became more of a liability and deterrent to shipping. This problem was not unique to this harbor, as most of the harbors on the Pacific Coast had it. However, by 19^5, of the seven important navigable harbors and entrances on the Oregon and Washington coast which have tributary navigable rivers, only the entrance to Willapa Bay did not have jetties to stabilize its channel. (See Table

1 2 )

Because of the length and volume of trade of the Columbia River, it was a foregone conclusion that that river would receive jetties and other channel improve­ ments. Other than the Columbia and Puget Sound, of the other natural harbors on the northwest coast Willapa

Harbor was among the best, and in 1915 s till ranked third in weight and value of shipping, again excluding the

Columbia River and Puget Sound. Furthermore, by 1890 many of the Oregon harbors, several of which in their natural state were scarcely navigable, had already re­ ceived federal aid to make them so. The Secretary of 200

Table 12

ACCUMULATED FEDERAL EXPENDITURES AND APPROPR1ATXONS AND ANNUAL SHIPPING W SELECTED YEARS FOR OREGON AND WASHINGTON COASTAL PORTS (Sourooi Adapted froa Annual Reports, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Arug, Washington, D. C.)

Taqulna Tlllaieolq Nehalea, Columbia R, Orajrs arbor* Willapa Coqullle,0. Coos Bay,0. Sluslw,0. Gag, 0, Dapqua, 0. 0. 0. Gar S Lover R. Wash, Harbtr,lfah 1891t Govt, Expend, } 83,896 J 269,820 * 601 $ 451,240 * ... $ 4,922 1 f 1,134,766 1 . . . * - Oovt. Approp. 105,000 388,750 50,000 550,000 5,700 10,000 1,337,500

1895i Govt, Expand. 124,588 639,387 71,261 663,148 15,598 19,291 32,947 1,837,057 65,793 20,670 Govt, Approp, 150,000 643,750 95,000 685,000 33,500 36,700 45,000 2,205,680 75,000 31,350 Short Tons 16,286 126,764 15,296 35,353 25,977** 436,192 110,748 27,542 Value Shipping «*« • •• ••* 254,950 *** **• 629,677 351,175

1915: Govt, Expond, 438,073 1,544,703 392,227 451,240 261,360 141,319 13,156,162 2,759,179 232,748 Govt, Approp. 519,000 1,653,197 512,941 550,000 382,GOO 326,175 14,143,424 3,230,000 259,550 Short Tons 123,197 520,409 37,209 ••• ... 9,018 8,896 2,719,080 729,527 669,619 Value Shipping 2,472,955 10,508,766 1,255,627 548,600 1,173,760 374,848 68,042,038 5,729,508 3,790,284

19241 Govt, Expend, 621,027 3,764,934 513,164 1,413,430 270,456 564,627 303,246 15,687,102 3,491,678 771,473 Govt, Approp, 637,292 4,893,167 513,662 1,418,339 315,742 567,000 304,156 15,713,424 3,725,500 844,482 Short Tons 80,749 594,203 4,010 70,160 30,784 6,904 5,178,915 1,681,380 641,602 Value Shipping 3,304,284 12,706,580 6B.320 1,407,544 574,820 117,368 288,749,113 28,928,655 6,241,295

1938: Oovt. Expend, 819.204 8,045,911 567,654 2,203,305 2,430,854 1,471,423 313,258 21,095,925 9,210,443 1,922,702 Govt, Approp, 839.204 8,206,642 567,201 2,223,336 2,699,098 1,471,422 322,150 21,997,337 10,659,631 2,122,965 Short Tons 54,165 652,958 600 111,678 23,704 11,345 6,437,804 1,009,546 283,464 Value Shipping 733,673 9,607,512 49,561 1,475,194 301,458 136,475 262,209,133 20,769,465 5,573,341

19451* Govt, Expend, 1,309,164 10,599,334 567,654 3,852,094 3,208,823 1,600,344 313,258 23,166,753 14,675,014 2,179,895 Govt, Approp. 1,312,990 10,646,642 567,201 3,938,098 3,214,336 1,613,422 322,150 23,477,365 14,726,080 2,419,465 Short Tons 378,002 4,759 633 8,901,285 536,943 59,351

Original Depth of Gar Channel 3' 10' 5.12' 3' ... 11' 10-20' 19-21' 12.13' 23-30'

Projeot Depth In 1945 13' 24' 8' 26' 26' 18' 8' 40' 30' 26'

Jetties 2 2 None 2 2 None None 2 2 Nona •Statistics for value of shipping not given, •• 1896. '••Not available. 2 0 1

War*s report for 1884 reveals that the aggregate amount expended by the United States government on river and harbor Improvements was $105,796,501. Of this the Pacific

Coast received $2,156,733, of which California had $1,492,428, Oregon $649,305, Idaho $10,000, and Washington

$5500. However, Washington began to receive more aid after it achieved statehood in 1889, and as has been de­ scribed, Willapa Harbor shared in that help. It should be noted, though, that the money spent at that harbor was to maintain the river channel, whereas in the case of the several other harbors the money was used to make their entrances more navigable, and many of those harbors had additional projects to maintain their respective tribu­ tary rivers.

This lack of attention to the Willapa entrance was due to several reasons. Ironically, one was because it was a good harbor at the beginning. The local inhabitants were proud of this but remained complacent too long. When, in the early 1900*s, the time was ripe for procuring navi­ gation improvements via Rivers and Harbors acts, these people were boasting that the entrance to their harbor did not need such aid. Also, the fact that it was a

3 ...... Appropriations and Expenditures for Rivers and Harbors (Exec. t)oc. No. 64, 4oth Cong., 1st Sess. 18841 p. 3. 2 0 2 relatively good harbor at that time would have made it among the last to be considered for Improvement by the more objective body of the 0. S. Engineers.

There is also the point that once such navigation projects as jetties are established, money is usually forthcoming afterwards for their continuance, maintenance, and extension, and in the early 1900's such things were less expensive to build. In the late 1920's and 1930's, the coastal ports of Oregon appeared to be more success­ ful in getting aid under the provisions of the Rivers and Harbors acts than Willapa Harbor and Grays Harbor.

The final reason is that by the time the residents of Willapa Harbor awoke to the need for more harbor en­ trance improvement, the time to get it had passed, for in 19^5 the Harbor was not relatively as important as it had been in 1910 or 1915* Had a jetty project been started in a small way at that time, it might have been easier to obtain the additional needed improvements later on, but it was impossible to get it all at once in 19^5. Thus, here was a case where what had been an ad­ vantage derived from a natural physical feature of the landscape was partially destroyed because of timing, technological development, the negligence of the local population, and political luck. 203 By A ir During the war, the federal government began con­

struction of an air base near the mouth of the Willapa River. The airfield was not completed when the war

ended and was eventually turned over to the Port of

Willapa Harbor for use by light planes.

The Economy of the Region, 1920-1945

Introduction

The economic welfare of the inhabitants of the bay region between 1920 and 1945 generally paralleled

that of the nation. Economically speaking, this area was no longer one which could exist in even partial iso­

lation. Furthermore, the boom economy was gone and the

leveling off process had begun. Lumbering remained the most important activity. Agriculture developed some­ what but at a slower pace than previously and, in fact, declined for a while during the 1930‘s. Oystering, now

in Its third phase, returned and served partly to soften

the impact of the depression in this region. Fishing continued and increased during the war. Tourism under­ went an adaptation to the changes brought about by travel by highway instead of by water and railroads, and was just gaining momentum when war-time restrictions stymied that 204 development. The value added by manufacturing declined from the peak of $6,573*366 in 1919, but during the war it increased again, and in 1947 the figure was $8,284,000.

Agriculture

During the period 1920-1945 dairy farming remained the main agricultural activity. In terms of value of products, fruits and nuts became a close second, (Table

26 in the Appendix) The total number of farms in the county increased as did the acreage, but the latter not as much proportionately. So the average size of farms was reduced to 88.6 acres in 1945* More of those people living on farms gained part of their living from other occupations.

The value of farm production hit a peak in 1930, then slumped during the following decade. However, dur­ ing World War II the value began to rise again. The num­ ber of cattle increased to and passed the previous high fig u re in 1890 , and poultry farming steadily increased also. Wheat was grown in limited amounts, but hay, oats, and potatoes remained the main crops.

Throughout this 25-year period several experiments in growing and raising different types of crops and live­ stock were tried. Some, such as growing canning peas, croft lillies, cabbage and other vegetable and grass seed, 2 0 5 succeeded in a small way, but never enough to cause many farms to change from dairy and poultry farming. By 1930 several herds of sheep had been imported, but in 1932 the Agent ruefully remarked in his annual report that

"excessive rainfall, thick brush, and the many logs may hinder great strides in sheep production."^ There were two solutions to the problem of increas­ ing the acreage of farmland. One was to clear more of the uplands; the second was to dike tidelands. Throughout this period the main emphasis was on the former and there was a constant search for less expensive clearing methods. In 1940 it cost approximately $40 per acre with the use of a bulldozer. However by 1941 the cost had risen to

$100 per acre, which was prohibitive for many farmers.

The second method, diking tidelands, received some atten­ tion and a few diking districts had been and were formed with about 5000 acres diked, or partially so, in 1945. Extension of tideland farming was largely ignored, however, both because of lack of interest and the costs involved.

4— ------Annual Report, Pacific County Agent, 1932, p. 16. 2 0 6

Fig» 33 - A Willapa Valley farm in the process of being cleared and drained in 1921. (Source: Annual Report, Pacific County Agent, 1921) 207 Table 13 Cranberry Production

(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census)

i2£2. m i Washington 1,101,309 (qts.) 1,022,187 (lbs) Pacific County: Number o f farms 62 79 Number o f a c r e s 359 233 Production 977*244 (qts.) 694,196 (lbs.)

* one quairt of cranberries equals approximately 1.15 pounds.

O y sterin g

As can be seen from Table 14 oystering on Willapa Bay during the decade of the 1920's was not much of a business. With most of the Eastern oysters wiped out, acres of oysterlands formerly having high valuations were allowed to revert to the county for taxes. Many of the oystermen turned to other occupations for their livelihood.

The giant Japanese oyster, Ostrea lurlda, had been planted experimentally in a few places on Puget Sound as early as 1902 with fair success. However, while the

Eastern oyster business was s till flourishing on Willapa Bay, no oystermen would consider the Japanese variety.

Later, when these men were more receptive to trying that oyster, it was still felt that the Japanese oyster was too 208 large and unattractive and that the buying public would not readily accept It*

However, In 1928, an experimental planting of

Japanese oyster seed was made In the bay and succeeded so well that the following year, of the 3769 cases of Japanese seed oysters planted in Washington waters, about two thirds were put In Willapa Bay. By 1935, the growing of Pacific oyster8, as they were now called, was a firmly established

in d u s tr y .

The annual reproduction of this oyster was highly variable, depending on weather conditions. In the years when little seed was produced, supplemental amounts were imported from Japan. World War II halted this procedure, but although there were inconveniences and shortages of seed, a moderately high production of oysters was main­ ta in e d .

T ab le 14 Oyster Production From Willapa Bay

(Source: Compiled from Annual Reports, Dept, of Fisheries, State of Washington)

Native Eastern Pacific Value 1922 227* 3,238* $ 36,540. 1928 1,667* 1,182* 25,879. 1933** 447* 9*1* 31,431* 64,510. 1938 (other) 900*** 7,395,000*** 161,711. 1945 — — 7,131,400*** 1948 —- — 6,835,921*** 683,592. * Sacks ** Year*s production in gallons, 65,810. *** Pounds Table 15 Fish and Shellfish Landed At Willapa Harbor (Source: Annual Reports, Dept, of Fisheries, State of Washington)

Salmon* Value Crabs* Value Clams* Value 1922 22,014*** 16 8 , 380 ***$ 10 , 607 . 12,445** $ 98 . 873 . 1928 700,000 3 0 , 0 0 0 , 1 , 200, 000*** 150, 000. 23,609** 188 , 872 . 1933 365,000 15, 000. 44,613*** 3,569- 197,648 1938 1,032,879 1 , 831,716 1,101,954 66,117. 1945 1,097,222 1,439,204 931,000 1948 1,206,770 2 2 9, 28 5 . 4,241,256 441,797 518,731 * Quantity values in pounds if not otherwise labeled ** 48 pound cases *** Number 209 2 1 0

Pishing and Other Shellfish

The salmon Industry remained a relatively small hut reasonably steady source of income throughout this period.

The catch of and Income from crabs and clams fluctuated considerably. In general, the take of crabs increased, whereas that of clams decreased.

The other additions in the fishing industry during the war years were tuna, or albacore, and various types of fish livers, mainly thoes from the dogfish and soupfin shark. The rise of the tuna fishing was unusual. Tuna had never been prevalent in Washington waters, but be­ ginning about 1937 they began to appear and each year the catch increased, the peak year being 1944 when 533,727 pounds were landed in the Willapa Harbor D istrict.

T able 16 Number Employed in Fisheries Processing

(Source: Annual Reports, Dept, of Fisheries, &tate of Washington)

D ate Number employed Total earnings 1933 182 $ 6 7 ,1 3 5 - 1938 370 229,176 2 1 1

Lumbering

The Industry Between 1920 and 1945 the lumbering industry con­

tinued to dominate the economy of Pacific County as it did western Washington and Oregon. Its fortunes generally followed quite closely those of the national economy, and so the decade of the 1920's was a good one for the in­ dustry in the Willapa Bay area. The depression reduced both log and lumber output. The industry*s recovery to pre-depression output about coincided with the beginning of World War II, and thereafter logging in the county was much accelerated.

T able 17 Log and Lumber Production in Pacific County

(Source: U. S. Forest Service and Bureau of the Census, and West Coast Lumbermen's Association)

Log Production (1000's of board feet)

Western Washington Pacific County

192 5 >965,724 2 7 9 ,4 5 1 192 6 ,6 7 7 ,2 4 4 1930 4 ,3 3 9 ,6 6 1 1932 2 ,0 4 2 ,3 6 6 193 3 ,3 7 5 ,4 8 5 2 4 1 ,5 9 0 193 3 , 0 3 6 ,8 6 9 170,801 1940 4 ,5 2 0 ,4 0 8 3 6 4 ,0 2 9 1943 4 ,1 5 4 ,9 9 8 4 1 4 ,9 6 9 1945 2 ,9 7 9 ,2 8 9 3 3 1 ,8 4 1 2 1 2

T able 17 (C o n t 'd .)

M ills and Lumber Production (1000's of board feet)

Number of Mills Lumber Sawed

1925 17 281,129 1928 11 217,448 1930 10 175*598 1932 5* 81,514 1935 14 129,147 1938 15 107,587 1940 12 199,569 1943 10** 252,570 1945 10** 164,134 * Includes Skamania County ** Include® Wahkiakum County

Three items may be noted from Table 17. First, whereas the log production in western Washington as a whole declined, that in Pacific County—after the slump " 1 of the 1930‘s—increased. In proportion to growth rates, the county was much over-cut during the war. Secondly, whereas the logs cut and lumber sawed in 1928 were about equal in board feet, during the war years the lumber pro­ duced in the county was far below the board feet of logs cut. This reflected the Increasing amount of logs taken out of the county to be processed. Finally, from 1925 to 1945, the number of m ills decreased although World War II enabled several additional marginal m ills to operate for a short time* 213 The fact that more logs were being shipped out of the county was In large part a direct result of the dis­ tribution of timber land ownership. Prom about 1925 on the trend was for smaller holdings to decrease In number and concentrated ownership to increase. (See Figure 34)

More land became owned by companies whose main m ills were outside the county, especially pulp and paper companies.

Therefore, more Pacific County logs went to those m ills. Also about 1925 there began on the part of the larger wood processing companies a change In attitude toward ownership of timber land. Such companies as Weyerhaeuser no longer sold their logged off lands so readily, and as the years progressed it became Increasingly difficult for the smaller m ills to buy timber from the larger companies.

The end of the timber was ty no means in sight yet, but the results of lumbering in the New England and Great Lake

States were plain—there was no place further west for lumbermen to push.

The sustained-yield movement got underway during the 1930*3 and the idea of planning timber harvesting on a cycle of from 60 to 100 years grew. However, such a plan required a backlog of many acres of timber, and many companies would need more timber than they had to do it. Thus, the trend from small to large timber holdings was even further accelerated. Weyerhaeuser was among the 214 first to embrace the sustained-yield idea and their first "tree farm" was set up in an area including part of

Pacific and Grays Harbor counties. The town of Brooklyn

is about in the center of that area.

The decline in the number of m ills was also related

to the land ownership situation. The smaller m ills grad­

ually ran out of timber. In 1931* three of the larger m ills in the county—the large one in South Bend, after­ wards called M ill "L", and two in Raymond—merged with Weyerhaeuser interests to become the Willapa Harbor Lum­ ber M ills, and later the Willapa Branch of the Weyerhaeuser

Timber Company. This was Weyerhaeuser's first entrance into wood processing in the bay region. One of the former owners of the merged m ills soon

after began another m ill, the Raymond Lumber Company, in South Bend on a site donated by that community. During

the 1930's the rest of the plants in South Bend ceased to operate or burned, and those in Raymond, as described above, merged. By 1940, M ill "L" in South Bend had closed and the Raymond Lumber Company supplied about one half the

town's payroll. In Raymond, other than the Weyerhaeuser

plant, the only other sizeable m ills were two belonging to the Olympic Hardwood Company and A ssociates, and a shingle m ill. 215 At various times there were smaller lumber and shingle plants In the county, but many of these were marginal producers and the fluctuations of the market and the decline of open market logs gradually reduced the number of these mills* One other Important Item concerning the history of m ills In the region during this period Is that while the

1920*8 and early 1930 *s were the years during which most of the pulp m ills were built in various locations in western Washington# no such m ill was built in Pacific County*

It should also be noted that the value of timber in general Increased much during this period. This was due to the rise in lumber value, the Increasing scarcity of timber, and technological advancement in timber u tili­ zation and logging techniques.

The techniques in logging changed greatly between

1920 and 1945, and thereby facilitated the faster cutting of trees and made accessible timber that was not previously s o .

Splash dams continued to be used, the last one in

Pacific County being used In 1940. About 1920, the spar tree, aerial-block and high-lead logging began to replace 216

C --Section mainly under County ownership L--Section mainly under large- prtwtre or corporate ownership F—oftetien m inly under- small private ownership S -- S e c t io n w&iraly u n d er state ownership I f--S e c tio n BBtin-ly-■ under fe d e r a l ow nership Fig* 34- - Distribution-of land ownership in Pacific County, 1938* *(Sour©ez Atlas of Pacific County, Soil Conservation Service, South fieriSL, W ashington) Fig* 35 - a log raft on the Palix River, circa 1920 (Reproduced by permission of A. W. Hammond)

Fi-S* 36 f Logs being dumped from railroad flatcars into the upper Willapa River* (Reproduced by permission of A. W. Hammond) 2 1 8 the ground-lead technique. In the late 1930's* cater­ pillar tractor logging hegan to he widespread. However, the most revolutionary development was that of truck transportation. Trucks and roads could go where ra il­ roads could not, and this became Increasingly the case as better road building machines and trucks were made.

Because of better transportation, the need for logging camps declined and by 19^5 nearly a ll loggers in the county lived in towns or on their farms. Another benefit for the logger was the rise of organized labor in that field. This movement began about 1930 and con­ tributed to the betterment of working conditions in the w oods.

Tourism

By 1930 the summer hotel type of tourist business was beginning to decline. This was coincident with the cessation of the operations of the peninsula railroad and steamboat travel on the bay. Concurrently, with the increase of highways and automobile traffic, the business of "cabin camp" accommodations for tourists began. This was true much more so on the peninsula than at Tokeland which was not directly connected by road with the rest of the bay region. However, many Willapa Harbor and several

Portland people continued to have summer cottages in the Tokeland-North Cove area. 219

Cabin camps, or motels, as they were later called,

Increased In number at Long Beach, Seaview and Ocean Park. The big attractions for tourists were the ocean, the long beach on which cars could drive at low or half tide, and the razor clams. L ittle emphasis on tourism occurred on the bay side of the peninsula and this region remained more populated by the permanent residents, whereas

Long Beach had a more transient population.

Summary

In 1945 the over-all pattern of population d istri­ bution In the bay region was about the same as it had been

In 1920, the primary change being a slight increase of urban residents In the South Bend and Raymond area. The total increase in population of the County since 1920 was only about 1100 people. The character of the popula­ tion had less overtones of the foreign influence present, although a Scandinavian accent was s till not uncommon. The assessed valuation of taxable property in the county was now $9*228,454. as compared with $13*633*347. in 1920. The value added by manufacturing was approximately the same as it had been 25 years before, although there had been a decrease between these two dates. The lumber and logging industries combined continued to be the main source of income. However, the oyster business, which had 2 2 0 been fading rapidly In 1920, was back stronger than ever.

The total value of agricultural production had Increased moderately and the farm acreage had increased from 48,804 to 68,901 acres.

The biggest change was In transportation. In 1920, traffic was almost entirely by rail extra-regionally, and by water locally, except between South Bend and Raymond, but in 1945* there were three main roads out of the county and a ll the communities in the area were connected by road to this highway system except Tokeland, whose only road led to Aberdeen. Local public water transportation had ceased and the railroad carried few passengers. Buses and private cars constituted the main local and extra- regional transportation.

The C u ltu r a l Landscape in 1945

An aerial view of the dominant physical feature of this region—the bay with its tributaries--reveals little change except that the channel leading into the Willapa

River is perhaps more definitely delineated and is well marked by buoys. There are again oyster barges here and there on the tideflats, and tiny specks beside them, which are the men gathering the oysters. There are no. ocean going ships entering or leaving the harbor. Neither are there any passenger steamers or ferries plying about the b a y . 2 2 1

The appearance of the forested hills has not a l­ tered much except that some of hillsides which before were bare are now green again and different areas now have the scalped look of having been recently logged.

A big change is the presence of a road network. These roads, although at the present in none too fine condition, because of the war, lead to all points in the county ex­ cept North Cove and Tokeland. Traffic on them consists of busses, autos, small delivery trucks, and logging trucks. The areas traversed by these main arteries are varied. Between South Bend and R aym ond, up the Willapa and parts of the Naselle valleys there are houses at various intervals along the roadside. Between Raymond and Aberdeen, the road winds between ta ll 3econd-growth trees, the area seemingly completely unpopulated except for an occasional house here and there. The route to the peninsula parallels the shore of the bay. At places it ascends h ills and passes through the woods, and then again descends to the water’s edge. The flat land of the peninsula is immediately noticeable after the road passes through the Bear River H ills at the south end of the bay. The road north along the peninsula is bordered on the east by a scrub pine-spruce woods and on the west by grass covered dune ridges. There are as yet no houses along here, except at the localities where the train 2 2 2 used to stop.

As for the communities, except for slight d if­ ferences in size and the presence of paved streets, they a ll appear about the same as they did previously.

Most of the buildings on the main streets have the high false fronts typical of buildings in the smaller towns of western United States. Raymond has the most modern looking buildings and the most bustling business section, the traffic of which is regulated by the only traffic light in the county. The buildings on the main street of South Bend are older and-many s till have the late

Victorian cupolas and gingerbread trim typical of the late 1890rs and early 1900*s. South Bend still suffers from its ill-advised plat revision and its waterfront is largely occupied by buildings, many of which are in poor repair. Fortunately, the view of them is much better from the street than from the river, from whence one sees the unsightly rear ends of these buildings held up by rotting pilings.

S till common to both communities is the smoke from the m ills and the smell of sawed lumber. As the wind is prevailingly westerly, Raymond has more smoke than South

Bend. The latter, however, has an oystershell crushing plant, which supplies its own unique odor. 223 The houses In Raymond, except for the extension along the South Fork, are still primarily on filled tide- land or land only slightly higher. There is no sharp line between the business district and the residential area. In South Bend, the houses are built both on the rather steep hills and the tidelands, or "flats.” There are few business establishments away from Water Street, which parallels the river. In both towns and throughout the County the great majority of homes continue to be wooden frame, two thirds of which have only one storey.

Among the business establishments, the proportion of brick, stone, or concrete buildings is much higher.

The community of Ilwaco s till looks much like the fishing village it is. Its business district is about two blocks long and the main street still ends at a wharf, at which many fishing trollers are moored. The remains of the railroad tracks in the middle of the street may yet be seen. The residences are almost with­ out exception white frame houses surrounded by neat yards and gardens, some surrounded by white picket fences.

Long Beach—Seaview has more the appearance of a tourist town. The houses are less sturdily built, and many of them are only summer cottages. Even many of the permanent residences have a slightly ramshackle look 22k about them. In winter this town is almost deserted, in summer, it is full of people, although less so in this year of 19^5 than it might be were there no war in pro­ g r e s s .

The two groupings on the north peninsula—Ocean Park—Nahcotta and O ysterville--are different in tone.

Ocean Park—Nahcotta straddles both the weather beach and bay side of the peninsula. Ocean Park has a few stores, Nahcotta two oyster canneries. The houses here have more an appearance of permanence than they do at

Long Beach, but many s till look more like gray shacks than houses.

Oysterville, farther north, except for an oyster cannery, gas station, and a post office, is purely a residential village. In contrast to the rest of the communities, this sleepy town has the look of oldness about it. Its faded white Cape Cod frame cottages and few remaining big houses--strikingly resemble those of

New England. The picket fences are half fallen apart, and the trees along the roadside—the only street in

Pacific County which might be called a lane—are stunted and gnarled.

Neither in the rural areas are there many changes. The Willapa Valley is the most populated rural area, and 225 with its dairy and poultry farms, sharply delineated fields, and big barns situated among rolling h ills, slightly resembles scenes in Ohio or Wisconsin. Here and there are even a few hills whose crests are not cov­ ered with the shaggy conifers.

In the Naselle area, the landscape has a more rough appearance. The farms are not as big nor the farm build­ ings so large. There is still no concentrated community here--a passer-by would scarcely be aware there was a village. Partly this is because many of the houses are back from the highway and hidden by the trees.

The rural area of the peninsula is differeiit from the rest of the bay area. Where the land is high enough there are small farms, and in the lower areas there con­ tinue to be cranberry bogs. Except in Oysterville, the houses are the same simple frame type seen throughout the county. In great contrast to the rest of the region, the land here is flat, or nearly so. The houses on the weather beach side are nearly a ll driftwood gray. A coat of paint lasts two or three years at the most. In contrast, on the bay side nearly a ll the houses are painted white, cream or brown. At Tokeland, the scene has changed. The formerly fine summer cottages are run down and abandoned. Many of 226 them have disappeared as the erosion of the beach has progressively taken much of the area previously used by tourists. The bay now covers the site where the North

Cove lighthouse stood, and a new lighthouse has been built farther inland. Another change is the presence of several rather extensive cranberry bogs.

Even now, in the county, the vegetation makes a strong impression on the viewer. In 1920 the region was s till being "wrested from the wilderness” and towns and rural areas were expected to look raw and unkempt. In

19^5 the region has a more settled and civilized appear­ ance. Yet in the background of the towns and farming areas there is the outline of the conquered but not tamed forest, s till ready to move into the backyards.

The Willapa Valley appears as a peaceful pastoral scene, but unlike the farming areas in the Mid-West, the viewer here knows that beyond the trees for many miles there is nothing but trees and thick brush. The village of Naselle, in a smaller valley, still appears more as a cleared field in the midst of the woods rather than as a farming com­ munity. Only the peninsula somewhat escapes this over­ powering feel of the forest. 227 The Region and Its Parts

As was described in Chapter IV, the railroad was among the first Influences to disrupt the unit of the bay region. This effect continued through the period 1920-

19^5* Other influences which made themselves felt were: the lessened Isolation of the Northwest in general; In­ creased population; the development of highways and sub­ sequent decline of public water transportation; better outside communication in the form of city newspapers, the telephone, and the radio; the prevailing dominance of the lumber In d u stry --th ereb y lin k in g the region to an economy extending far beyond its own confines and the beginning of active participation in local lumber manufacture by a national corporation--namely Weyerhaeuser.

The north end of the region was described as be­ ginning to have ties with Chehalis and the Puget Sound area. This trend increased, whereas the peninsula re­ mained more attached to the lower Columbia and Portland sphere. The decrease of water travel and the Increase of highways sharply intensified this development. For a time In the late 1920*s traffic within, to, and from the region was especially disjointed. The water travel was ceasing, but neither the highways nor the automobiles were yet so good th at a journey to Aberdeen, C hehalis, or Long Beach 228 was anticipated with pleasure. During this time the north end of the region was probably most separated from the pen­ insula. However, this sort of transportational barrier soon passed.

By 19*1-5* the two distinct sub-regions of the bay area had emerged—Willapa Harbor and the peninsula.

Naselle was peculiarly situated in the middle, located on the route to Longview and Portland. Because the living of the Naselle folk: was gained largely from farming and logging, it was economically part of the northern region.

However, many of its residents still preferred to do their banking in Astoria.

People in the Willapa Harbor area faced more to­ ward the Puget Sound cities because there was no longer local public water transportation and there were good highway connections to both Aberdeen and Chehalis and on to Seattle.

Conversely, the people of the peninsula, with lit­ tle lumbering, and with fishing, Oregon tourists, and cranberries as their business activities, were in the Portland economic sphere. Only fishing and oystering remained a common enterprise of both the folk on the in­ ner peninsula and at the north end of the bay region. Thus, these two groups developed different in­ terests. The unifying influence of the bay had been 229 disrupted. Physically and politically the bay region was a unit; economically, it was not. CHAPTER V I

THE POST-WAR PERIOD; 1945-1955

Introduction

In the discussion of the historical geography of the Willapa Bay region, the decade following World War

II is set apart as a separate period, or rather the be­ ginning of one. In the Pacific Northwest as a whole, there had begun a new frontier interval—that of the industrial frontier.1 To a limited degree this influ­ ence extended to the bay region. During this period the rate of population increase in this area leveled off and became nearly stationary. Also during these years nearly a ll the remaining forms of public transportation ceased, except one bus, and a ll travel was by private automobile. In the economy Important developments took place. The beginnings of some, such as in tourism, were evident In

1940 but were halted by the war. Other changes, such as the difference in type of supply of timber, the war ac­ celerated. Between 1945 and 1955 there began the influx

I '— ------See Lancaster Pollard, MThe Pacific Northwest,w In Regionalism in America, edited by M errill Jensen, Madison, Wls., 1952, pp. 204-206.

2 3 0 231 of more outside capital and ownership of local Industries and there was a beginning of the manufacture of secondary forest products. Tourism became more Important and areas other than the peninsula became interested in its poten­ tia lities. As a region, the Willapa Bay area progres­ sively continued to lose its individuality and remained divided into two distant sub-regions.

The Extra-Regional Influences

During this decade the most important extra-region al influence was the expanding national economy. To the

Pacific Northwest the war had brought much new industrial activity, especially that of shipyards and airplane fac­ tories; It was expected, though, that there would be a big decline afterwards as there was after World War I.

However, this time the change was not so drastic. Popu­ lation increased and the construction business was stimu­ la t e d .

Aluminum plants were taken over by private enter­ prise, and other industries found a strong at­ traction In favorable power rates. Natural re­ sources continued to be the foundation of the economy, but as a wider diversification was achieved, and more fabricating and processing industries developed, the farms, forests, and 2 3 2

fisheries gave direct employment to a sig­ nificantly smaller proportion of the laboring population. 2

The development of fabricating and processing industries also manifested itself in the bay region, but such activi ties were s till directly or indirectly dependent upon the forests and fisheries.

Settlement and Population

The settlements in the bay area were the same in

1955 as in 1945. The total population of the county in 1940 was 15,928, but by 1950 had grown slightly to 16,55$

The urban population in 1940 was 4,045, whereas in 1950 it was 4,110, and in the same period the rural population increased from 11,883 to 12,448.

The rate of population Increase was steadily de­ clining: between 1930 and 1940 it had increased 6.4 per cent, --between 1940 and 1950, 4.0 per cent. Figure 37 illustrates this decline in rate of population increase as compared with the rate of the State of Washington.

Figure 38 reveals the population trends of the four in­ corporated communities in the county.

2 ~ Charles M. Gates, "Modern Economic H istory,” in The Pacific Northwest, Second Edition, edited by Otis W. Freeman and Sbward H. Martin, New York, 1954# pp. 49- 5 0 . 2 3 3

Population Population ( S ta te o f (Pacific County) Washington) Pacific County State of Washington 2 , 500,000 25,000

2 , 000,000 20,000

1.500,000

1 , 000,000 10,000

500,000

1870 i 860 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950

Fig* 37 - h ©osRp&rt'&cm of the growth of population In Pacific County with that of the'State Wawfctngfcrmv (A dapted f r o m• N ath xnie 1 H. Bugle, -and Delbert 0. lasting®, Pacific County, Washington. $@uth Bend, Wash* ,“15557 p* 7*1 — 2 3 4

Population Population 5,000 5 ,000 ■

4 ,000 ' 4 ,0 0 0

3,000 - - 3,000

South Band - 2,000 2,000 -

Ilvaco

‘ 1,000

Long Boach

Fig. 38 - Population-' growth of the fonus' inees4- pos'sted- ©owmnltl'es in Paelfi© County, ( .^dapteiS- f'Tora itetteni© ! 1 . Kn^jfce. and Beltoert C. Jfestings, Faelflg County, Washington, South BendT"WaihT, 1955, p•■ Iia-r XoVp^ i n . a * r C T * P a i ^ ■ 235 Between 1940 and 1950, according to U. S. Census

reports, the units of housing In the county increased,

6000 to 6841, and at the same time the number of units

needing major repair decreased as did the number without

private bath. In rural farm housing, the number of dwelling places without electric lighting decreased from 252 in 1940 to only 40 in 1950.

Table 18 shows that the proportion of foreign born

white population in the county continued to decline. The

distribution of these people and their descendants re-

^mained approximately the same as was described in Chapter

V, there being a large concentration of Finns at Naselle,

and a German-Swiss-Polish community in the Willapa Valley. However, even these grouped nationalities were becoming

less distinct.

Another population change which had begun just prior to the war and continued afterwards was the small

but steady influx of people from Virginia, West Virginia,

Kentucky, and Tennessee. In 1955 there were in the County approximately 150 fam ilies from Wise County, Virginia, a lo n e •

In 1950 the percentage of rural housing In pro­ portion to the total number of units in the county re­

mained at about 12 per -cent, nearly the same as it was 236

Table 18 Per Cent of Foreign Born Whites In Pacific County and Selected Statistics Concerning Their Native Countries

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1940 I 9 5 O

Per cent of foreign born 1 3 .5 * 9 .4 W hites

Number of foreign born 2 ,1 5 3 1*551 W hites

Country of Birth

England 82 73 S c o tla n d 25 16 Norway 229 136 Sweden 230 151 Denmark; 39 24 Germany 152 95 Poland 104 79 Aus t r la 43 24 U .S .3 «R • 41 20 Switzerland 78 65* L ith u a n ia 74 47 F in la n d 621 412 I t a l y 27 20 G reece 61 41 Canada 232 223 * E stim a te

Number of Indians, Chinese , and Japanese in Pacific C (Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census)

1940 1950

In d ian s 87 59 C hinese 14 19 Japan ese 94 46 237

R II W R 10 W R 9 W R 0 W R 7 W R6 W

IRA!

IT!*

MHCOTTA

IACO

[•LIN H O A D M A P Q OF ^ PACIFIC COUNTY \ WASHINGTON

Fig, 39 - Pacific Countyt Washington, 1955 (Reproduced by permission of Pacific County Engineers) 238 in 1940. However, although the county*s population in­ creased 630 during this decade, the rural farm population was 350 less in 195° than in 1940. Thus, what shifting in the distribution of population occurred was toward the urbanized areas. Of course, part of the change in­ dicated by the statistics means that several home owners ceased farming for a living and took up employment in

town, and there was no actual shift of residence involved*

There was also an increasing tendency for elderly and re­ tired people to take up residence on the peninsula.

Routes of Travel and Methods of Transportation

By Land

Within the region in the years between 1945 and

1955 a ll local and external public transportation by train and bus ceased, except for one bus daily between Raymond and Chehalis. The bus routes had contributed to the decline of passenger travel on the train, and later,

Increased automobile travel had decreased the number of bus passengers. Within and without the region the road and highway system remained the same. Within the county, the main highways, especially, were much Improved, widened and straightened. -One improvement beginning to be discussed 239 and agitated for in 1955 was that a bridge be built across the mouth of the Columbia from Astoria to the

Washington side of the river. The ferry service in op­

eration there now is the last of such links in U. 3.

highway 101 and especially in summer is receiving in­

creasingly more traffic. As dependent as Pacific County is upon highway travel, such a bridge would be a great

aid both in terms of business and communication. Con­

cerning other pending road improvements in 1955* the

road between Raymond and Tokeland was s till not complete.

In 1955 freight was s till being shipped by truck, rail, and water. The bulk of the outgoing products con­

sisted of some form of wood products. The two m ills in Raymond, which produce most of the region’s lumber, d if­

fered greatly in the amount shipped by rail and water, respectively. One, in 1955, shipped 65 per cent by rail and 35 per cent by water; the other shipped 91.5 per cent by water and 8.5 per cent by rail. The latter m ill has no dry kiln for curing lumber.

By Water

During this decade agitation for increased im­

provement of Pacific County’s navigable waters continued. In 1951, the last bit of county area not In a port dis­

trict was so incorporated, thereby giving the county four 240 port districts: Port of Willapa Harbor, Port of Ilwaco,

Port of the Peninsula, and Port of Chinook. The last

two were the least important, the Port of Chinook being increasingly concerned with sport fishing, and the Port of the Peninsula having practically no projects except a small one and a wharf at Nahcotta. In the future, though, should more attention be given to developing

Willapa Bay as a pleasure craft sports area, this port district would become more significant. The Port of Ilwaco served the interests of the fishing industry and assisted in maintaining the wharves at that city. The

Port of Willapa Harbor, as described earlier, dealt with

the interests of traffic across the north end of Willapa Bay into the Willapa River.

During this decade the difficulties in shipping caused by the shifting Willapa Bay entrance channel in­ creased. By 1955 some modification of the existing pro­ ject had been recommended by the U. 3. Engineers, but there was nothing mentioned for the establishment of the entrance channel. A survey by that government body was conducted in 1954 as to the feasibility of constructing jetties, and it was concluded that the volume of trade 241 and the benefit per capita in the area were insufficient to warrant jetty construction, 3

It w ill he noted from Table 19 that after World

War I I Willapa Harbor immediately began to resume vessel shipping of lumber and other forest products. For a while the California trade continued, but the train and truck transportation links to that area which had de­ veloped during the war proved too competitive, and trade with the east coast becoming more lucrative, the coastwise trade eventually ceased.

The replacement of most of the lumber schooners by the larger Liberty and Victory ships increased the difficulties of ships operating in the Willapa Bay channel. As a result of this, "the post war recovery of lumber ton­ nages shipped by water from the Willapa River has been retarded even though lumber production has continued at a h ig h level.Many ships had to leave the Harbor with­ out fu ll cargo in order to navigate the channel, and an increasing number of shipping firms, because of the uncer­ tain channel conditions and the inability of deep-draft

3 ~ ~ “ ~ ~ Willapa River and Harbor, and Naselle River, Wash. ^(H. Doc. No. 425, d3d Cong., 2d Sess. I954) p." 3". Ibid., pp. 35-36. Table 19 Number and D e s tin a tio n o f V e s s e ls L eaving W illapa Harbor

(Source: Compiled from Annual Reports, Port of Willapa Harbor) Board Feet of Date Lumber Outbound C oastw ise Intercoastal F oreign Tot;

1945 1 , 9 4 5 ,9 4 8 1 1 0 2 1946 23,000,000* 9 12 11 32 1947 5 1 , 628,312 14 23 21 58 1948 3 6 ,2 2 7 ,5 1 7 6 24 8 38 1949 7 1 ,0 7 2 ,6 9 0 4 28 7 39 1950 9 0 ,9 2 0 ,0 4 6 7 30 5 42 1951 8 4 ,7 7 4 ,6 5 7 5 20 21 46 1952 86,695,674 1 25 10 36 19S3 109,116,000 0 30 20 50 1954 8 3 ,3 3 3 ,7 2 8 0 31 16 47 * Approximate 243 vessels to cross the bar fully loaded, were refusing to consign ships to the Willapa Harbor trad e.^

Another problem engendered by the wanderings of the bay entrance channel has been the progressive ero­ sion of the Tokeland area. Since 1930, coincident with, but not necessarily caused by, the extension of the jet­ ties of the Columbia River and Grays Harbor, the channel has continued to migrate northward Instead of following its previous habit of alternating its course north and south in a 12 year cycle. Thus far, over 1500 acres of land previously occupied by homes and summer cottages have been covered by water. Again, a solution for this problem appears to be the construction of at least one jetty. However, available local funds are not sufficient, and unless it can be proved a navigational problem, it w ill be difficult to obtain federal aid. Even in that event, as has been described earlier, at present the needed jetty or jetties are not deemed economically feasible. So far, the damage has been to dwelling places. However, the waters are now licking at the base of a sal­ mon and crab cannery, and behind the residential area lie cranberry bogs.

5 I b id . 244

By A ir The Willapa Harbor airport continued to he used by light planes, but by the end of 1955 still had had no commercial traffic.

The Economy of the Region, 1945-1955

Introduction The economy of the county still rested heavily upon the forest industries. Pishing and oyster growing became more important as an economic base, especially so for South Bend, and Nahcotta. Agriculture continued to be dominated by dairying although the amount cf this ac­ tivity showed signs of decreasing in favor of more beef production. The cranberry bogs at Grayland and Tokeland began bearing and gave a boost to this industry, and tourism began to show evidence of becoming once again a major activity, and on a county-wide basis.

Manufacturing establishments exhibited a trend toward consolidation, and the value added by manufactur­ ing nearly doubled between 1939 and 1947-

In 1953j the total wages paid to manufacturing em­ ployees was $7*936,361 out of a total of $11,579,281 in a ll covered employment. The forest industries accounted for $6,609*611, and the seafood and other food processing 245 activities, $1,200,000*^

The 1950 census gave the following distribution of employed workers in the various activities:

Total employed 5 >022 Agriculture 512 Forestry and Fisheries 376 M ining 7 Construction 306 Manufacturing 2 ,3 4 4 —Furniture, lumber and wood products 1>754 Transportation, Trucking, and Warehousing 244 Retail food, Dairy, Milk Distribution 196 Eating and Drinking Establishments 201 Other Retail 352 Wholesale Trade 106 R epair 118 Public Administration 193

Again, it w ill be noted that the forest industries, agri­ culture, and fisheries provided the bulk of the employment.

Figure 39 illustrates the seasonal variation in these main types of employment.

In 1939> the estimated total income of the county was $9,008,000, in 1948 it was $20,966,000, and in 1953 had Increased to $22,300,000. The per capita Income for these same years was, respectively, $563., and $1,335.

5------Nathanael H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings, Pacific County, Washington, South Bend, Wash., 1955, pp. 46-47. 246

P#r cant of annual avaraga 140 Food Prooaaalng All Gorarad Induatriaa Flafalng Logging and Luabar

120

100

00

J T M A M JJ A S 0 D

F ig . 40 - Typical seasonal fluctuations about the average monthly employment» by industry. (Source: Nathanael H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings, Pacific County, Washington, South Bend, Wash., 1955s p*' H . f 247 la 1949i computed from U. 3. census figures, the average income for fam ilies and unrelated individuals was

$2,518 in Pacific County as compared with $2,955 In the State. Forty per cent of the families and individuals in the county had less than $2000 annual Income as com­ pared with about 35 per cent for the State figure; and only 13*8 per cent of the fam ilies had incomes above

$5000 as compared with the State*s average of 17*6 per 7 c e n t.

Agriculture .The acreage of farmland in Pacific County decreased between 1944 and 1954, the percentage of total area in farmland having decreased from about 12 per cent to 10.7 per cent during that period. (See Table 2J in Appendix)

Of the total number of farms, about one third were clas­ sified by the Bureau of the Census as commercial, one third as part-time farms, and the remainder as residential. Nearly 40 per cent of the value of farm products sold in 1949 wa3 dairy products, with livestock products next in rank, fruits and nuts third, and poultry and poultry products fourth. Although dairying s till remained the main agricultural activity, there were evidences that

7 ' ------Ib id . , p. 8 l. 248

there was a gradual shifting to the raising of beef and

It may be that this activity w ill become the most lmpor- g tant eventually, along with more tldeland farming.

Dairying was under a considerable handicap because the milk had to be shipped out of the region to Chehalls,

Astoria, or Grays River for processing. It was then sent

on to the fresh milk markets of Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland, and back to be sold In Pacific County as well.

Cranberry farming continued to increase both on

the peninsula and In the Tokeland-Grayland area. However,

the Increase of acreage was at a slow rate because of the high cost of developing new bogs and the fact that most

cranberry farming Is done by individuals rather than by

companies. In 1954 the total county production was 3,100

tons, twice the amount in 1945. This was partly due to

the Introduction of the use of sprinkler systems. For

the State as a whole, in 195^.» Pacific County accounted for 500 out of the 780 acres harvested and 2400 of the 3100 tons produced. There were 4,652 acres of bog land available in Washington for cranberry culture, of which Pacific County had 2831; only IO57 acres of the total were developed, and 856 of these were In the county. If

— ------Personal conversation with Nolan P. Servoss, Pacific County Agricultural Agent, South Bend Wash., July 8, 1955 . 249 the remaining acreage of land could be developed, It ex­

hibits every prospect of being a profitable endeavor.^ Nearly a ll the production was marketed through a nation­

al cooperative, although there was one small eannery on the peninsula. The Problem of Increasing Farming Acreage

Aside from the specialty of cranberry growing, from the farmer's point of view the problem of obtaining

ihcreased acreage continued. Nearly a ll of the valley

bottomlands suitable for farming were taken. Much of the upland areas not In farms belonged to companies or

individuals who preferred to see their land remain In

timber. Furthermore, past experience Indicated that the upland soils were not the most fertile.

The best place for Increased farm acreage appeared

to be the tldelands. It had been estimated that the po­

tential undlked cropland available amounted to between

6500 and 10,000 acres. Tldelands are best for growing grasses and would tie In with the above mentioned pos­

sibility of turning to beef raising.

9 The information on cranberry farming Is adapted from Nathanael H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings, op. c lt., pp. 5 8 -6 1 . 250 The agriculturists in the hay area finally hav­ ing come to this conclusion, another point arises, namely that had agriculture in the Willapa Bay region

"been begun by fanners with the agricultural knowledge available today, they would have settled and remained on the tldelands and river valley bottoms. Many of the first settlers did just this although undoubtedly their choice was partly governed by reasons of communication and transportation. (See Figure 2l) The case of the Kell colony was slightly different. That group chose its area for two main reasons: first, they wanted iso­ lation; and secondly, they saw no reason why river val­ leys and their surrounding area should not be just as fertile as they were back in Ohio and Missouri. As time proved, the bottomlands were good, but the uplands were not.^®

Later settlers moved up smaller creeks to es­ tablish homesteads, and nearly a ll of these were on up­ lands. The noble endeavor was to clear away the forest to make a home in the wilderness. Today, many of those farms are reverting to timber, and many of the remaining

TO------The records of one of these early farms reveals that at that time an upland field yielded 50 bushels of oats/acre. Now it is difficult to obtain one bushel/ acre at the same site. 251

Fig,. 41 - A tideland ranch. (Reproduced by permis­ sion of Western Air Photos, Inc., Helena, Montana) 252

A dairy farm in the Willapa Valley

Fig. 43 - A cranberry farm on the peninsula. (Source: Soil Conservation Service) 253 farms border on subsistence farming. An example of this

Is the area around Brooklyn on upper North River.

There is little doubt that the highest economic use of most of these farm areas would be to cease farm­ ing and let the timber grow, especially in consideration of the rapid growth rate of trees in this area. However, this is the long range view and would involve a long wait.

B ecause o f th e human elem en t in v o lv e d , su ch an im prove­ ment w ill come about very slowly. Of some help in the solution of this problem is the present program of the local Soil Conservation Agency which not only w ill assist these upland farmers—many of whom possess as much or more wooded area as they do cleared pasture—in planning crops, but which w ill also plan a timber program for farms with enough timber for it to be feasible. (See Figures

44 and 45). To call these areas "farm woodlots" would not be strictly correct. It is better to think of them as a small portion of the 90 per cent wooded area in the county which happens to fa ll within the ownership bound­ aries of a farm rather than an exclusively timbered area.

Oystering, Fishing, and Other Shellfish O y storin g

The oyster production continued at a high level during the post war period, although there was some 254

ig . 44 - land use map of a farm near Brooklyn. (Source; Soil Conservetion Service) 2 5 5

a >»

V.1

F ig . 45 - Woodland a n a ly s is map fo r farm shown in Fig. 44. (Source: Soil Conservation Service) leveling off from the amount landed during the war and

Immediately after. Outside capital made a much more substantial entry

Into the local oyster processing business, and the general

trend appeared to be toward Integrated operations. In 1955 there were three large oyster packing companies, and sever­ al smaller ones in the region. Two of the large canneries were In South Bend and the other in Ocean Park. The smal­ ler plants were scattered along the peninsula and on the east shore of the bay. Much of the pack was still canned. However, in 1954, for the large companies the pack of oyster stew surpassed that of oysters, and various other specialties, such as smoked oysters, were being produced in small but increasing quantities.

All companies operated from privately owned oyster- lands. Approximately 10,000 acres of tldeland in the bay are still classed as state reserves. These reserves were set aside during the native and Eastern oyster phase of the industry, and, as has been described, the Pacific oyster does not reproduce so readily. Consequently, the oyster- men would like to see the extent of the reserves reduced.

The following list reveals how much the Industry depended upon Japanese oyster seed since the war. 1947 22,933 cases 1948 14,685 M 1949 17,357 w 1950 16,512 " 1951 18,569 M 1952 40,526 M 1953 31,669 " 1954 32,087 ”

Some experiments were conducted to try to raise the oys­ ters via the European method In clalres, or artificial rearing ponds, but at the end of 1955 these efforts had not been commercially successful. P is h in g

The commercial salmon fishing at Willapa Harbor continued much as It had previously, with the bulk of the catch being chum salmon. The canning of this fish con­ tinued to be done mainly at Ilwaco, Bay Center, and Toke- land. In 1954, the salmon pack of the Willapa Harbor district, in 48 pound cases, totaled 13,533 as compared with 11,077 for the Columbia River (this would not include the Oregon canneries), 28,376 for Grays Harbor, and 696,115 for Puget Sound.11

Commercial salmon fishing In the Columbia has de­ clined and probably w ill continue to do so, partly because of the several large dams being built at its headwaters. On the other hand, the catch may increase in Willapa

I I ' Annual Statistical Report, Dept, of Fisheries, State of Washington, Olympia, 1955, P» 6* Table 20

Annual Landings of Shellfish in Willapa Harbor D istrict in Number of Pounds

(Source: Annual Statistical Report, Dept, of Fisheries, State of Washington, Olympia, 1955, PP- 33-34.)

Clams Clams Crabs O ysters (R azor) (Hardshell) ( P a c if ic )

1945 9 3 1 ,0 0 0 1 ,4 3 9 ,2 0 4 7 ,1 3 1 ,4 0 0 1946 1 ,1 2 5 ,5 4 9 2 2 ,0 3 1 ,5 4 4 1 0 ,7 7 9 ,1 0 0 1947 8 4 9 ,7 7 9 3, 822,288 8 ,4 7 5 ,5 0 0 1948 5 1 8 ,7 3 1 4 ,2 3 3 ,1 0 8 6 ,9 9 5 ,0 0 0 1949 2 1 7 ,3 9 6 1 ,4 7 1 3 ,2 0 4 ,2 4 0 4 ,2 6 4 ,9 0 0 1950 6 7 ,9 9 5 1 ,3 7 5 ,7 8 8 4 ,3 5 0 ,8 9 9 1951 4 7 ,5 3 9 1, 830,528 5 , 096,800 1952 2 0 5 ,5 2 0 1 ,8 9 8 ,8 4 2 6 , 2 3 2 ,2 0 0 1953 6 0 ,2 6 7 3 2 3 ,7 8 8 3 ,0 3 5 ,4 3 5 6 , 5 8 8,6 00 1954 11,961 1 8 7 ,0 5 0 3 ,3 5 6 ,8 7 9 5 ,980,021 259

Harbor because the State Fisheries Department has been pur­ suing a program of cleaning out the remaining splash and beaver dams on the coastal rivers so that some of the sal­ mon may spawn there Instead of in the headwaters of the

C olum bia• The tuna catch declined as mysteriously as it had arisen, and in 1954 no tuna catch was recorded in the

Willapa Harbor D istrict. The eatch, as did the demand, for shark livers also decreased.

One fishing activity which Increased sharply since the war was sport fishing at the mouth of the Columbia. This became an annual event after the commercial season had closed, and increased as a tourist attraction. Other Shell Fish

Crabs and clams continued to be taken in considerable quantities. Clams were mostly sold fresh, while the bulk of the crabs were packed or canned at Tokeland. The sharp reduction in the take of clams from 1950 on was because of more stringent state laws concerning the lim its in order to prevent over-exploitation.

The beginnings of commercial hard clam digging in the bay area was unexpected. The native little-neck, or rock clam had s till existed but usually in non-commercial quantities. However, sometime in the 1930's the Japanese Manila clam, slightly larger than the native little-neck, 260 was evidently transplanted in the bay along with the im­ ported oyster seed, and by 1949 had reached commercial

quantities. The same thing happened in Puget Sound, and

the digging of Manila clams appears to be established as

part of the fisheries industry both there and in the bay r e g io n .

Lumbering

In the decade 1945-1955, lumbering, with a ll its phases, remained the dominant business activity in the

county. Almost one half the labor force and one third to

one half the county*s income were directly involved in the

forest products industries. The amount of lumber produced

in the county remained rather consistently at an average

of about 160 m illion board feet, and most of this came from

the timber of the county. A large number of logs continued

to be shipped out of the region to other processing centers. Developments Within the Industry

There were at least three significant developments in the lumber industry of the bay area during this period.

One was that in 1953 the m ill entitled the Raymond Lumber Company, located in South Bend, closed. Other than the

Weyerhaeuser m ill, this had been one of the three or four remaining important m ills in the county, and was the last

one in which the ownership was largely vested in one family. 261 The m ill closed because the end of its timber supply was in sight* although it might have lasted for perhaps another five years. The m ill's tlmberland, about 9000 acres and m illsite were purchased by the St. Regis Paper Company.^ Significantly, at about the same time, another 2700 acres owned by several private individuals were sold in a block to the West Tacoma Newsprint Company. Each of these pur­ chases illustrates the eagerness with which paper and pulp companies were and are buying up available timber, in order to have a continuous supply for their processing plants in Shelton, Aberdeen and Tacoma.

The second development was that following World War II, a plant for making prefabricated houses was established in South Bend. This survived for a few years but eventually closed. Later, on its 3ite was established a hardboard plant which would utilize the m illing scraps from the

Raymond Lumber Company and w hatever e l s e was a v a ila b le .

The close of that sawmill plus financial troubles even­ tually stymied this plant also. However, by this time a large building and several minor facilities had been erected

12 Since the sale of the m illsite, the citizens of South Bend have been agitating for the St. Regis Paper Co. to either put some sort of an industry at that spot or else return the site to the city, in consideration that it was o r ig i n a l l y donated to the Raymond Lumber Company and i s one of the very few good industrial sites available in the community. 2 6 2

Table 21 Log Production In Western Washington and Pacific County In M Board Feet

(Source: U. S. Forest Service)

Year Western Washington Pacific County

19^5 2,979,289 331,107 1946 3,362,701 435,107 1948 3,514,002 538,271 1949 3,307,730 341,273 1950 3,952,960 454,090 1951 4,126,887 447,785 1952 3,582,943 206,645 1953 3,690,477 410,326

Table 22

Lumber Production and Number of M ills in Pacific County

(Source: West Coast Lumbermen^ S tatistical Yearbook, 1952)

Year Number o f M ills Lumber Sawed (M Bd. F t.)

1945 10* 164,134 1946 12 1 5 5 ,5 3 8 1947 19 1 6 4 ,2 3 6 1948 16* 1 6 1 ,7 8 5 1949 9* 1 4 8 ,4 6 8 1950 9* 17 1,3 53 1951 11* 1 6 8 ,8 9 1 1952 6* 1 5 9 ,5 8 1

1955 3 large m ills 1 4 0 ,0 0 0 (a; in Raymond

* Includes Skamania County 263 on the site* and these were bought by Interests from Minnesota and Kentucky. Under this management, the plant would produce Nu-Ply, a plywood-like board with a fibre core. The company actually had its headquarters in Bemidji, Minnesota, where a similar plant is located. The plant was placed at South Bend because its owners wanted a west coast production center, because of the site's ship­ ping advantages, but most of a ll because the physical fa­ cilities were already erected and could be had for less cost than it would take to build them. Another reason was that presumably there would be sufficient raw material available locally for the filler part of the Nu-Ply. At the end of 1955.* however, most of this material was still being supplied by cores of veneer logs, trucked in from

Aberdeen 30 miles distant. Eventually, the plant hoped to perfect the Nu-Ply process so that alder wood could be used.

This tree is quite plentiful in Pacific County, but has never been used much commercially. The surface covering of the product consists of birch and other hardwood ve­ neers and was shipped in refrigerated cars from Minnesota. The plant in 1955 appeared to be prospering and w ill eventually employ 75 men. Since the coming of the

Weyerhaeuser m ill in 1930> this was the most important entry into the region, of outside capital in the wood processing 26ft activities. It was also the first important secondary forest products plant—that is one making a product from log scraps, instead of the log itself.

The third significant development was that the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, after having debated about erecting a pulp m ill on Willapa Harbor or on Grays Harbor, in 1955 finally decided in favor of the latter area. The reason stated was that after considerable testing it was concluded that under the present state of technology in pulp manufacture, the flow of water in the Willapa River was not sufficient during the dry season to carry off the m ill wastes. In fact, It was calculated that the average minimum flow of the river during late August and early

September would be entirely consumed by the m ill. Connected with this would be the resultant damage to the oyster busi­ ness. However, this latter problem w ill also be encounterd to some degree in the Grays Harbor area.

The Weyerhaeuser Company's having decided against a pulp m ill In the Willapa Harbor vicinity, it Immediately began to modernize the Raymond sawmill. (See Figure 46) The company's stated policy in 1955 was that in the years to come the pulp logs from its holdings in Grays Harbor and Pacific County would go to the Grays Harbor pulp m ill, wheras the sawmill in Raymond would receive logs from

Grays Harbor as well as its own tributary area. There ’he Weyerhaeuser mill Western Ways, Inc.) In Raymond In 1955 2 6 6 w ill also be an Increase of logs rafted from the middle and southern bay areas, as much of the county’s remaining sawtlmber lies near or in that area. (See Figure 47)

The Timber Resource and the Pulp Industry

To appreciate fully what the pulp m ill decision meant to the Willapa area and what brought about the Idea of having such a plant in the first place, the condition and ownership of the timber resource should be reconsidered.

In 1933 the sawtimber volume stand in Pacific County was 15,290 m illion board feet. In 1950 it was 12,830 m illion, a decrease of 16 per cent. (The 1933 figure is adjusted

to present 11” diameter lim it; it was formerly 15”)

The distribution of commercial forest land area, by major forest type and stand size class in 1950, was as f o l l o w s :

13 — — — ■ F. L. Moravets, "Forest Statistics for Pacific County, Washington,” Forest Survey Report No. 109, U. S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Portland, Ore., 1953, p. 19. Table 23 Distribution of Forest Stands

(S o u r c e : F. L. Moravets, wForest Statistics for Pacific County, Washington, Forest Survey Report No. 109, Portland, Ore., 1953. P* 7»)

Sawtimber Stand ta r g e S m all S e e d lin g Non­ Old young young P ole and sto c k e d T o ta l growth growth growth tim ber S a p lin g (a e r e s ) ( a c r e s ) (a c r e s ) (a e r e s ) (a c r e s ) ( a c r e s ) ( a c r e s )

Douglas Fir 151.770 29,820 7 .9 7 0 1 3 .9 9 0 5 9 ,3 4 0 4 0 ,6 5 0 Western Hemlock 290,590 1 4 0 ,1 3 0 5 8 ,9 8 0 3 1 ,6 7 0 5 9 ,8 1 0 True fir-moun­ tain hemlock 3. 1*10 3 .1 4 0 6 ,5 0 0 4 ,5 0 0 Sitka spruce 16,140 4 ,9 2 0 220 Western red- cedar 6,960 6 ,9 6 0 Lodgepole pine 1,660 1,000 660 Hardwoods 15,520 3,160 7 ,7 4 0 4 ,6 2 0 Nonstocked areas 63,050 6 3 .0 5 0 T o ta l 548,830 184,970 7,970 82,630 104,250 105,960 6 3 .0 5 0

ro o \ 268

The preceding table reveals that the acreage of commercial sawtimber In the area about equals the acreage with timber still too small to be commercial* The latter w ill be commercial, though, in fifty years or less, and much of it w ill be used for pulp purposes. Furthermore, hemlock, not as desirable a lumber tree as fir but very satisfactory for pulp, comprises the bulk of the sawtimber, especially in the old growth category. Also significant for the next

30 years or so is the scarcity of sawtimber in large and small young growth, for these are the trees from which lumber would be sawed. Thus, in the coming years, more timber w ill be cut for pulp and less for lumber. Also, except for the fir logs which may be received from Grays

Harbor, Willapa Harbor m ills cannot help but be producing poorer grade lumber in the future, and concurrently, more than ever this area w ill be suited to supplying raw ma­ terial to pulp m ills.

It was mentioned in Chapter V how during the late 1920‘s and the 1930*s, when pulp m ills were being built in other parts of the Pacific Northwest none was built on

Willapa Harbor. It was not that the idea was not consid­ ered. However, Weyerhaeuser s till had plenty of sawtimber in the area, and while other pulp and paper companies owned land In the region, none individually had sufficient timber to merit building a m ill In the area. Also, more land was i. L - odto o forent of Condition - L? Fig., PAClFtC OCEAN Loog too Report No* 109, Forest S e rv ic e , U.S. Dept, of of Dept, U.S. , e ic rv e S Forest 109, No* Report rclue "otad Or. 15, » i*5 iii* P» 1953, re., O "Portland, griculture, A fo r P acific County. W ashington,w Foreat Survey Survey Foreat ashington,w W County. acific P r fo \ ore F ! Mrvt, Frs St i i s tic tis ta S "Forest Moravet3, ! * F» Source: rS , rS , A tands in P a c ific County * County ific c a P in tands m m cn cearcut ra, | noet lond onforert N | I area*, t u r-c a cle ecent R otokt I J . I nonttocketf rfonde Sow-timber iH-Hrit -tim ber, eeedling I 1 Noncomm ercial oreo ercial Noncomm 1 I eeedling ber, -tim otn iondt .—. —J L t d n ito •opting i « P Sirtifil! vd;! ; ftlWJ LEGEND ■ 3 = C Old nontlockfd nontlockfd Old uoei n burnt and cutoveri 26 9 O l S llf M •O ! s M 2 7 0 In Individual private ownership at that time. There Is also the point that had a pulp m ill been established during this time, It would have met less opposition from the oyster industry as that activity was just recovering th e n .

The distribution of timber ownership among the larger companies and corporations In Pacific County in 1953 was as follow s:

Table 24

Distribution of Timberland Ownership in Pacific County Among Companies and C o rp o ra tio n s

(Source: Statistics complied by the Soil Conserva­ tion Service, South Bend, Washington, 1953)

Approximate total acreage in the county 5 9 2 ,0 0 0

W eyerhaeuser Timber Company 2 5 0 ,7 0 2 Crown Zellerbach, Incorporated 3 8 ,3 4 8 Rayonier, Incorporated 3 0 ,5 8 0 S t . R e g is Paper Company 1 1 ,7 0 5 Saginaw L oggin g Company 4 ,8 6 7 Deep R iv e r Timber Company 3 ,6 7 1 Milwaukie Land Company 3 ,5 7 2 West Tacoma Newsprint Company 3 ,4 7 1 Olympic Hardwood Company* 2 ,6 4 7 Longview Fiber Company 2 ,3 0 7 St. Helens Pulp and Paper Company 1 ,9 9 1 Northern Pacific Railroad Company 849 Twin Harbors Lumber Company* 771 Soundview Pulp and Paper Company ..i2£ T o ta l 3 5 6 ,1 1 9 * M ill in Raymond 271 Note that about half the preceding listed firms are pulp or fiber companies. This means that the trees logged from these acreages w ill be processed elsewhere. Also note the amount of acreage owned by the two other m ills in Raymond. As their lands are logged and the quantity and quality of open market logs decreases, It Is problematical how long their operations can continue. If these m ills do cease operations, the forest products industry in the Willapa Bay region w ill then have four phases: (l) The logging, after a brief slump, w ill resume and continue steady operations as the young growth reaches harvestable size.

(2) In the production of lumber only the Weyerhaeuser saw­ m ill w ill be important, and that m ill's production w ill in­ crease. There w ill be much better utilization of the logs and such by-product articles as Presto-Logs w ill be pro­ duced. {3) If the Nu-Ply plant in South Bend continues to succeed, there w ill be that secondary phase of the Industry and it is conceivable that other such industries such as toy or other woodenware production might enter the area.

(k) A great amount of the trees logged in the county w ill be shipped out to the main processing m ills of various fiber and pulp companies. For them Pacific County w ill be a timber reservoir.

Logging During this decade, logging techniques again improved 2 7 2 and there was a constant trend toward less spar-tree and more caterpillar logging.

The larger companies employed foresters, who super­ vised the cutting of trees and made provision for restock­ ing and bettering the quality in general of the timber cut.

Weyerhaeuser had its own logging crews. The paper companies generally preferred to contract the logging work to an out­ side individual or company. A few free lance logging oper­ ations still persisted. Other Forest Products

Although lumbering was the main forest industry, there were a number of minor products which supplied a reasonably steady income to several individuals. One company paid over $130,000 in 1953 for such items, their relative importance being listed as follow s:1^

Cascara bark, dry $ 13,914.68 Cascara bark, green 4,943*90 Perns 95,290.61 Huckleberry 1,493.00 Salal 7,215.44

One other activity which had a regeneration was the splitting and selling of cedar shakes, this product having come into vogue once again as house siding. This sort of

14 —— Nathanael H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings, ojg. c it., p . 5 1 . 273 occupation* as those mentioned above* can be done by one or two men alone* and Is an alternative occupation for unemployed loggers. It is also being done by several of those men who are recent arrivals from Virginia and K entucky.

Tourism

It was described in Chapter V how the tourist business in the bay region was just beginning to gain mo­ mentum when it was halted by the war. However, after 1945* the business resumed and in the next decade increased greatly. During this time several new motels were built and the older cabin camps were modernized. In 1955* there were also two motels in South Bend and one in Raymond.

At the beginning of the 1940's* 60 per cent or more of the visitors were from Oregon, and 40 per cent or less from Washington. In 1955> the picture was just the opposite, about 60 per cent being from Washington, especially the

Seattle area. What had happened was that the number of Oregonians remained about the same, but the number from

Washington increased. During the war, with restrictions on extended automobile travel more residents of the Puget Sound area visited the peninsula for summer vacations. After the war, the roads within the county were vastly im­ proved, the tourist camp proprietors did more advertising 274 and the State's population increased--especially in the Puget Sound region.

In 1955» the two handicaps to the tourist business were the still lingering indifference on the part of many of the local residents to the possibilities of tourism, and still some difficulty of access by highway. To over­ come the former, there was still the natural attraction of

the ocean and its long beach which--unlike many east coast and Californian beaches—will remain open to the public, and there was the ocean. After the war the additions of a golf course and annual rodeos and salmon derbies proba­ bly increased by a half the number of visitors. The solu­ tion of the second difficulty, that of access, hinged mainly on the possibility of building a bridge across the mouth of the Columbia River. There was no doubt that much summer tourist automobile traffic chose the highway route along the Willamette Valley rather than along the Oregon coast because of the 45 minute ferry ride and consequent delay involved in crossing the Columbia at Astoria. In la te summer, a tra v e le r by car might have to wait as long as five hours to board this ferry.

The other tourist area about Tokeland and North Cove limped along, but did not fare nearly so well as the pen­ insula, primarily because of Its isolation by highway. In

1955 there was one tourist hotel reopened in this area, and 275 there were a few cabin, camps. Sport fishing increased, but the most activity was at Westport, a port a short distance north in Gray# Harbor County. It was estimated that in 195^ the tourist accommodation business in the area, and the chartering of boats, including those in

Westport, brought in $245*000 and $642,000 respectively.^

The C u ltu r a l Landscape In 1955

In 1955 the aerial view of the physical background of the bay region is much the same as it was in 1945.

More of the dark green large trees are gone, and the brighter green, tyore closely packed young growth is more in evidence. The white oyster barges are still floating on the blue waters of the bay and there is an ocean steamer crossing the north end of this body of water toward the

Willapa River. There are no pleasure craft in sight.

In general, the road pattern is the same, but it is evident that much highway repair has been done. The roads are well surfaced, wider, and straighter, and they now go through some of the h ills they formerly went around or over. The traffic has increased, but it is still mainly comprised of autos, small delivery trucks, and logging

1 5 ------W. C. Mumaw, Secy., Cohasset Beach Telephone Co., Aberdeen, Washington. 2 7 6 trucks. The last carry noticeably smaller logs. There Is still little other heavy truck traffic on these roads.

The communities exhibit the most change. Raymond appears more bustling and now has a new motel, and a pub­ lic swimming pool. Several store fronts have been modern­ ized. The Weyerhaeuser m ill is in the process of being rebuilt, and at the edge of the city there are large stacks of logs waiting to be loaded on outgoing railroad cars.

The business section of South Bend has also changed.

The streets have been widened and the part of the water­ front free from buildings has been cleared and improved.

As in Raymond, several store fronts have been rebuilt and there are three or four new business establishments; also there Is a new grade school, and the new county hospital is located here. The most noticeable Item about this com­ munity, though, is that nowhere in sight along the river front is there a sawmill in operation, with smoke issuing from the stacks. Almost the only remaining vestiges of the m ill are the boom pilings at the river's edge and the base of the burner. However, one does see along the water­ front two canneries, painted white, and the large bulky building of the hardboard plant.

In the residential sections of both South Bend and

Raymond there are several new homes, nearly a ll of them 277

Fig, 48 - Raymond, Washington, 1955

Fig. 49 - South Bend, Washington, 1955 2 7 8 rather small and having one level only. New homes p.re also the most noticeable change In Naselle, except that many of Its houses are more elaborate. Ilwaco and Chinook both appear to have been reju­ venated somewhat, but Long Beach has changed the most since

19^5* Its business section, although still largely desert­ ed In winter, is twice as large—gasoline stations, taverns, grocery stores, and all-purpose general stores being the main establishments. There are several new motels and even a small hotel. Ocean-Park-Nahcotta has two new stores but otherwise appears the same. Oysterville has not changed, except that there are now signs posted marking the various historical points of interest In this old village.

In the Willapa Valley, the rural picture is the same. Perhaps a few more of the farms have silos. There

Is still little population on the road between South Bend and the south end of the bay. The tideland ranches appear the same, but there is more tideland improved and diked. In summer, one can tell diked tideland from that which is not because the former w ill be covered by more vegetation and types of grasses and weeds, whereas the latter is more neat appearing with only the long, stringy, greenish-brown tideland grass.

On the peninsula two distinct changes may be noted. 279

Pig. 50 - Long Beach, Washington, 1955

Fig. 51 - Menlo, Washington, 1955

Fig. 52 - Ilwaco, Washington, 1955 280

One Is that there are more cranberry farms, including a large one which also grows horticultural specialties such as lilies, various kinds of berries, and rhododendron shrubs as a side activity. The other change is that the

long grass covered dune ridges stretching north along the peninsula from Long Beach and which In 19^5 bad few houses upon them are now dotted with many new beach cottages.

These appear more substantially built than the cottages erected In the towns In earlier years. Many of the cars parked beside them have Oregon lic e n se s. In w inter most of these houses are closed and a few are shuttered.

On the bay side of the peninsula there are also new houses, but these belong to the year-round residents and

some are rather fine homes. Apparently most of the perma­ nent population still prefers to live on the bay side of the peninsula. On a clear sunny day in summer the view from this side out over the blue waters of the bay Is pleasant and the wind is never so strong as on the weather- side of the beach. Standing on the Nahcotta dock and look­ ing about the bay one can see the oyster barges and bateaus at various points and a few small canneries along the shore. Due east, on the opposite shore, the highway is visible. These features--the wharves, several of the homes, the canneries, the oysterbeds, and the highways--are the only 2 8 l remaining items of the cultural landscape the location of

which is s till governed by some association with the bay.

Other things and activities, such as logging, the towns, and farming, have little to do with it.

The R egion

In the discussion of the bay region as it was in

19^5> it was pointed out how the two sub-regions of the

Willapa Valley and the peninsula area had emerged and how

they were most separate economically, in 1955 this condi­

tion still persisted; yet working against this division of

interests were still several Influences; the political unity of the county, the presence of the bay and the renewed rise of the oyster industry which depended upon it, better local

transportation, and the spread of the tourist business to South Bend and Raymond.

However, these two sub-regions were s till subject to external influences which tended to keep them separate In

social and economic interest. A partial measure of this difference of interests and the trend of change in its character may be illustrated by four different criteria: the origin of the tourist trade, the origin of wholesale goods for the local retail stores, the shopping habits of

the local residents, and the circulation of newspapers from outside areas within the bay region. 2 8 2

Nearly every rural area is within the economic

sphere of some more urban region. It has been previously

described how the bay region was originally mainly associ­ ated with Portland. !Rie arrival of the railroad was the

first real break in this situation, but the Seattle in­ fluence did not really begin to be felt until the mid

1930's or later. The change was much more rapid between

19^5 and 1955* The changing pattern of the origin of the tourist trade in favor of more visitors from the Seattle area has already been discussed.

The wholesale trade and trucking picture was more complicated. In 1929 Raymond and South Bend, along with

the peninsula, were still in the sphere of the Portland wholesale houses. Then there was a period when the South Bend-Raymond area was a sort of "no-man's land” for sales­ men. By 19^5 there was a definite trend for this area to purchase more products from Seattle, the peninsula s till remaining in the Portland sphere. In 1955> most wholesale business of the north end of the county was done in Seattle

*1 zT and about one third of that of the peninsula area. The

IB------There were exceptions to this trend. Such firms as Montgomery, Ward, and Company; Swift and Company, and International Harvester Company s till have their main offices in Portland; and business in the county is con­ ducted from there. 283 main reason for this change was the improved highway and trucking systems which provided better service from

Seattle* The freight cost from Seattle to Ilwaco was still a little higher than that from Portland, but the companies made up th e d i f f e r e n c e .^

Along with the change in the source of wholesale goods for the merchants came a change in the retail buying habits of the local residents. Many rural and small town people have a practice of making several trips annually to a large city. There are no data available for the South Bend-Raymond area, both of whose banks are branches of the Seattle First National Bank; however, it is a safe estimate that in 1955 a much greater proportion of city shopping was done in Olympia, Aberdeen, and Seattle than had been before th e war.

In the case of the Ilwaco and Peninsula area, over

90 per cent of the external retail business was with Oregon firms before the war, and the figure was s till about 75 18 per cent in 1955* A sample of one day's check clear­ ings at the Ilwaco bank in the summer of 1955 was as fo l­ low s :

17 Substance of interviews with W. Lorentson, proprietor, South Bend Transfer Company, J. B. Sempill, proprietor, Sem pill's Drug Store, South Bend, and with H. Doupe, pro­ prietor, Doupe's General Store, Ilwaco. 18 S. C. Lochrie, Ilwaco, Wash. 28k

--310 items totaling $13>000, cleared through Oregon hanks.

—130 items totaling $29.*000, cleared through Seattle hanks.

These figures serve to substantiate the point that while the peninsula wholesale buying has switched considerably

to the Seattle area, the smaller external retail sales are still mainly in Portland.

The final criterion is outside newspaper circulation within the bay region. Since there are no dailies in the county, many residents subscribe to one of the dailies and/ or the Sunday editions published in Tacoma, Seattle, or

Portland. Which paper one chooses often reflects not only

the quality of the paper but also in which area and its occurrences the subscriber is more interested.

The Tacoma News Tribune was formerly a more important paper in the bay region than it is now. In 1920 approxi­ mately 200 copies of the evening Tribune went to Pacific

County. Today there are no carrier-delivered papers and only a few mail subscriptions are received in that area.

Some statistics available on the circulation of one Seattle and one Portland paper within the county were as

f o llo w s

19 Annual Audit Reports, The Seattle Dally Timesj and H. F. Needham, Country Circulation Manager, The Oregonian. DAILY EDITIONS

The O regonian The S e a t t le Times B alance N a s e lle - In County, Raymond- Ilwaco-Long Raymond- Bay C enter in c lu d in g Sou th Bend Beaeh-Chlnook Sou th Bend Tofceland P en in su la 1920 482 278 1930 436 313 1940 839 529 1947 150 8 27 1950 973 684 1951 284 6 28 1955 932 733 234 2 20

SUNDAY EDITIONS

1920 539 326 1930 526 378 1940 798 692 1947 289 2?2 43 1950 1075 776 1951 413 224 54 1955 1097 682 334 150 39

ro co ui 286 The statistics preceding, while Incomplete, do point up the dominance of the Portland paper in the pen­

insula area, as well as in the county as a whole. The

strength of circulation of The Oregonian in the Raymond-

South Bend area m s more surprising and was partly due to

the precedent established by the longer period of time in which Portland papers have circulated in the county. Such

factors as degree of efficiency of mail and carrier service and amount of subscription solicitation efforts on the part

of the respective papers would also play a part. Neverthe­

less, these figures do illustrate the pull exerted on the

county by the Portland sphere of interests. In the case

of other outside communications, such as radio and tele­

vision, the Seattle-Tacoma sphere dominated, reception

being much clearer from that area than from Portland. Thus, within the bay area, the two sub-regions still existed in 1955 > an(i on the region as a whole there were still the outside influences exerted by the two spheres of Portland and Seattle, the latter becoming increasingly more

important after 1945* These influences, along with better external communication and transportation, and the entrance of more outside capital served increasingly to break down

the Individuality of the bay area as a region. In 1955 it was a less distinctive unit than It had been in 1945 and much

less so than In 1920 or 1890. More than anything else, 287 two factors caused this region: isolation--in transporta­ tion and communication, and in economic pursuits; and the presence of the bay—which provided easy internal communi­ cation and a business pursuit not common to the Northwest as a whole. In 1955 most of the isolation had disappeared, that remaining being because of the area's distance from urban centers and its location away from the main north- south highway routes. The bay was no longer a means of local transportation, and as far as communication was con­ cerned, was more of a barrier than a link. Yet part of the region's economy—oystering, shipping, and some tourism --depended upon it, and in that sense that body of water was still a unifying force.

To sum i t up, in 1890 th e bay a rea was a r e g io n primarily because of isolation and dependence on water transportation, and secondarily because of economic unique­ ness. In 1955* it was still loosely a region, but with two strong sub-regions, and what over-all coherence existed was because the area possessed some degree of economic uniqueness in the form of cranberry farming, oyster grow­ ing, and tourism, and also some degree of isolation from the main travelled highways. In 1890 the Willapa Bay area was truly a bay region. In 1955* it was more just a part of the larger region of western Washington and Oregon. CHAPTER V II

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Summary

As was mentioned in the Introduction, historical

geography is herein understood as a study of geography

of the past, at different periods, or as Alfred Hettner

put it, a study which lays a limited cross section

through a particular point of time and draws on temporal

development only to explain the situation in the time

chosen.* In other words, the writer wished to avoid slipping into what Preston E. James and Clarence F. Jones

call Geographical H istory,—that which is concerned with

the significance of areal differentiation and natural 2 circumstance to changes in society and culture.

However, as the geography of the past did not remain static, so historical geography is also concerned with geographical change through time. The observation

1 > Alfred Hettner, ”Das Wesen und die Methoden der Geogra­ phic,” Geogr. Ztschr. , 11 (1905) p. 556; quoted in Richard Hartshorne, ”The Nature of Geography,” Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 29, Nos. 3 and 4, 1939, p» 360. 2 Preston E. James and Clarence F. Jones, Editors, American Geography, Inventory and Prospect, Syracuse University Press, 1954, p. 73* 2 8 8 289 made by Stanley D. Dodge about regions applies as well to historical geography—namely that much of the writings

of geography treats of regions as being static, where it

is really the becoming that is important. What is im­

portant is what processes have shaped regions; what pro­

cesses are continuing the elusive transformations; and what trends are shaping the scenes of the future.^ Thus

the function of historical geography is somewhat like that of the transect, from which the surveyor gains his bearings as to a correct interpretation of what lies be­

hind him, where he is, and perhaps lay a course for what i s ah ead .

Very briefly and with some violence to the unin­ terrupted chronology, the development of the Willapa Bay

area, beginning with fixed settlement and extending through

1955* niay be viewed in at least three, and probably four

periods. In the first, roughly between 1850 and I89O, the

theme of settlement prevailed. In the second, approximately between 1890 and 1920, there were the two themes of settle­ ment and economic development, with the former s till the

Stanley D. Dodge, MThe Chorology of the Claremont- Springfield Region in the Upper Connecticut Valley in New Hampshire and Vermont," Papers of the Mich. Acad. of Sc., Arts, and Letters, Vol. 22 (1936) p. 335* 290 more Important. From 1920 to 19^5* settlement and in­ crease In population levelled off and economic development slowed down. In 19^5 apparently began a period during which it seems that this region*s population level w ill remain fairly stable, and its economic development w ill also eventually reaeh Its level.

It has been described how and when the main In­ dustries of the region--oystering, agriculture, lumber­ ing, and tourism— began, and how by 1890 a ll of these activities were present and in 1955 the region*s economy s till depended upon them. In other words, the mold was set by 1890 as to what economic activities would take place in this region. Only their form changed, so that at one time one activity might be more important than the rest but later on be of less importance. Two espe­ cially notable phenomena are the continued dominance of the lumber industry, and the surprising resilience ex­ hibited by the oyster industry. Sim ilarly, concerning settlement and population, the main settlements and populated areas of the region had been established by 1900j only their size and rela­ tive importance changed thereafter. On the other hand, transportation underwent the most change after 1890. First it was by water; then by 291 water and rail; then, externally, by rail and highway; and finally, both internally and externally, much of the trans­ portation was by public highway. Some external traffic by water continued the whole time. To a very great extent,

the development of the two other important geographic phenomena of the region, population d is tr ib u tio n and eco­ nomic structure, have depended upon transportation. In the future, these two phenomena, as they are concerned with the Willapa Bay region, will be influenced by what further developments occur in the transportation and economy of the P a c ific Northwest. I f , in th at la rg e r region, industrialization should increase, it will bring in more population and prosperity and the bay region will participate in the effects of that change. Above and be­ yond that consideration, however, the amount of outside capital invested in the region will increase up to some not-too-distant limit prescribed by the continued avail­ ability of raw materials, size of the labor force, effi­ ciency of the transportation, accessibility to markets, and technological change. After this has taken place, in the foreseeable fu tu re , the re g io n ’s economy and s e t t l e ­ ment will have reached their limits. Even though increase of population may occur, it is very likely that most of the area in the region now unpopulated will remain so or only sparsely occupied. 292 The economy w ill remain based upon the lo c a l resources, with the forest-products industry the main activity.

Agricultural acreage will increase somewhat, but farming will never take over as a dominant activity as it did in such former lumbering areas as the present Wisconsin dairy belt.

Barring the ill effects of population growth and industrial activity, the oyster industry will continue.

However, as has been described, this is the least predict­ able of the region's industries. Pishing will continue and may increase some as more salmon spawn in the streams trib ­ utary to Willapa Bay. Tourism will increase along with the wealth and leisure time of the population of the Pacific Northwest. The chances for building the Astoria bridge are fair and the industry will benefit greatly should this event take place.

In the final analysis, the historical geography of the Willapa Bay region to 1955 embodies another example of the generalization that in the initial stages of settle­ ment of an area, the development of cultural features is strongly influenced by the physical habitat. But as tech­ nology advances and isolation is broken down, the cultural features and human activities become progressively less in­ volved with and related to the local physical features. As 293 Miss Semple remarks about progress in civilization, man

"multiplies his dependencies upon Nature, but while in­

creasing their total sura he diminishes the force of

each.” Kirchoff, in Man and Earth, advocates a similar point of view.

At the beginning of white settlement in the Willapa Bay area, the population, economy, and transportation were a ll strongly conditioned by the physical environment. It

is not contended that the physical setting changed or mod­

ified its inhabitants. However, it did appear to attract

certain types. New Englanders, Swedes, Norwegians, and

Finns a ll appeared to like this inlet surrounded by for­ ested h ills—a setting much like that from which they came, although with a milder climate.

As the generalization suggests, in later years the

Willapa Bay region did begin to emerge from the influence of the lo c a l physical fac to rs and became more a ffe c te d by influences originating beyond the boundaries of the im­ mediate region. However, in 1955> the region still had not thrown off completely the influence of local elements. Although the grip of the bay had lost much of its hold, and although extra-regional influences were more Involved

4------Ellen Churchill Semple, Influences of Geographic Environ­ ment, New York, 1911, p. 70. 294 in lumbering by then than in-*1900, the local forests still figured in importance in the economy. Mainly, the local economy was s till dependent upon local primary resources.

Yet the marketing of the products and the life of the in­ habitants was much more enmeshed with the larger regions of the Pacific coast and the nation as a whole.

The Influence of Geographic Factors

Many facts, ideas, and actions which could be termed non-geographic factors have had some influence upon the Willapa Bay area. This study has revealed the

Influence of many of these factors which originated out­ side of the region, such as legislative action, techno­ logic developments, the location and constancy of markets, the influx of outside capital, federal and state govern­ mental policies and projects, and the location of this region with respect to the westward movement of the set­ tlement of the United States. Especially important were those geographic factors closely connected with the Willapa Bay region, many of which played varying rather than con­ stant roles. Under this last focus may be considered the physical attributes of the region, its resources and the element of location.

From the beginning of white settlem ent, and even before, the dominant physical feature of the region has

been the bay with its tributaries. In the beginning these water bodies were natural routes of transportation, but as

time progressed the bay and rivers became barriers rather than links. Only for ocean transportation did they re­

main in the latter category, and that advantage, as has been described, is being threatened by technologic and economic changes.

The bay strongly influenced the location of the

white settlements and the earlier, rather transitory

Indian villages. Every early settler located his claim at a point where he had access to the bay, even if a trip down a river was involved. Connected with this is the

observation made earlier that the first white settlers

followed the lead of the Indians, and settled in almost

the identical places where the Indians had been or still were. Involved with this choice is also the fact that

the first whites, and many of their descendants, depended on the bay for sustenance as well as communication, as had the Indians. later, when land transportation and a

change in economy developed, the settlements and transpor­ tation could extend inland, until in 1955 there were only a few items of the cultural landscape still influenced directly by the bay. At that time, for most of the 2 9 6 region*s population, that body of water had ceased to be a part of their daily life, except as an aesthetic con­ sideration.

Other physical features of the area were influential also. The mild, rainy climate provided plenty of water (although the summer dry season proved to be a liab ility) and permitted the growth of heavy vegetation. The dense

forest hindered the settler in that it made the clearing of land an overwhelming job, but on the other hand the pro­ pensity for lush vegetational growth made agricultural pur­ suits easier. The condition of the soils made little dif­ ference in the early days, but in 1955 it was a definite Influence favorable to more tideland farming. Next to the bay, probably the second mo3t influ­ ential physical feature was the rugged terrain, covered by dense forests, and the limited number of river valleys.

As like sand in a funnel, the settlements were eventually concentrated on the only level land in the area—that on the peninsula between the sea and the bay, and in the tributary river valleys. The hilliness of the area also kept the region*s inhabitants dependent for a long time upon water travel, and when land routes were built they followed the valleys or the shoreline of the bay. It is significant that the last external road connection to be 297 built into the region was from Aberdeen to Raymond, a

route which rather than following the river valleys or

divides as did the other roads, cut across divides and r i d g e s .

Closely connected with this discussion is that of

the influence of those natural attributes which became

natural resources. The first of these to be exploited

in this vicinity were the fur seals and beaver, but in

connection with the bay area alone, the oyster beds were more important. They influenced the economy and settle­ ment of the lower bay area for nearly 40 years, and con­

tinued as a resource in 1955*

It has been mentioned how the thick forests were an impediment to settlementj yet, they also became a major natural resource and stimulated further settlement. The forests played this dual role of barrier and resource

continuously to 1 9 5 5* although by the latter date the resource aspect was far more important. The best agricultural lands of the region were and are the flat lands adjacent to the mouth of the Columbia and the bottomlands in the lower part of the river valleys. These were especially Important in the early periods, for their presence attracted stabilized settlement much earlier than might have been the case if originally the area ap­ peared attractive only to oystering and lumbering interests. 298 The bay itself was a resource, for transportation, food, and recreation. In 1955 tbe fact that it was a large body of water bordered by accessible land was en­ couraging the recreation business, and the frontage of ocean shoreline possessed by the region also contributed to that means of livelihood. The characteristics and attitudes of the people of the bay region may also be considered as geographic fac­ tors. In evaluating their characteristics, it must first be considered why the settlers came to Willapa Bay. As has been revealed, there were three main reasons: they came to farm and/or engage in oystering or some sort of marine work; later they came to farm and/or engage in lumbering. Except in the early years and for a while dur­ ing the first of the lumbering phase, the type of population attracted was the hard-working pioneer type, determined if possible to succeed. Few, as in the mineral rushes, were after sudden riches. There was also a healthy mixture of peoples of foreign birth, mainly north European, and most of these people, If anything, would work harder than the native Americans. As for the Influence of the attitudes of the popu­ lation on the development of the area, the most apparent example is that of the settlers who came determined to farm, an occupation which in many cases was not the easiest 299 nor the most ohvious course to follow in this region.

There were also the people who brought with them the ideas and the crafts they had pursued at their former homes.

Thus the Maine men continued to be boat captains, two men from Massachusetts began the first cultivated cran­ berry bog, the colony from Pennsylvania and Missouri took up farming, and some Finns and Swedes became loggers while others took up fishing. The geographic factor of location has figured large in its influence upon the Willapa Bay region, both extern­ ally and internally. Externally, the location of this region on a coast and beside the mouth of a great river which tapped a large hinterland, and the fact that this region Included within its confines a navigable harbor-- an important advantage on this coast—and lands favorable for human habitation, augered that from the first beginnings of human activities in the northern Pacific coastal area, this region would be involved in them. It is known that

Shoalwater Bay was an important part of the Indians' liv ­ ing area. When white exploration penetrated the area, this bay was identified before the far more important Columbia River. It was involved in the fur trading activi­ ties which followed and indirectly involved with what set­ tlement activity was associated therewith. Later, again 300 because of this region's coastal location, and because it was on a natural route down river from the Ft. Vancouver-

Willamette Valley area, the next wave of settlement, that

of the farmers and homesteaders, found the region desir­ a b le .

At this point, another aspect of the region's loca­

tion, eventually to be of great importance, began to be apparent. Whereas this region had a good coastal location,

it was to one side of the main line of settlement and com­ munication between Puget Sound and the Willamette Valley; and as new settlements continually arose along this north-

south line, the Willapa Bay region began to lose importance relatively. Aside from this locational disadvantage, an­ other reason for the lessening of importance was that the bay region's agricultural potentialities were limited. When the lumbering activities began, the position of Willapa Bay, a navigable harbor in the midst of a fine timbered area, predisposed that logging and sawmilling, with consequent increased settlement, would enter the re­ gion. As land transportation began to rise in importance, the locational advantage of the region was aided by the railroad linkage. But again it should be noted that these railroads were built because of the coastal location and the navigable harbor of this area. At this time the li­ ability of the aside position of the region in relation 301 to the Seattie-Portland line was overshadowed by the

advantages of the harbor. However, because this region had no other natural resources to be exploited, and there were other areas

which did, because the locational advantage of being a coastal harbor was progressively damaged, and especially

because of the rapid development of land transportation,

the disadvantage of an off-side location with respect to the line between Portland and Seattle finally overcame the previous locational advantages.

Thus is seen the spectacle of a region which, with few resources but an advantageous location, was early in­

volved in the human activities in the Northwest area.

Then, because of another aspect of its location, techno­

logic development, and a limited hinterland, the settle­

ment and economic development of the region levelled off.

In 1955 > with the region's resources having been assessed, found limited, and exploited, and in spite of land and water transportational liabilities, the coastal and river

mouth location of this region still contributed to Its in­

volvement in certain extra-regional activities and brought a certain amount of livelihood to its residents.

As concerns settlements within the region, location,

technology, and historical timing have had their influences, as exemplified by the instances of Bruceport, Oysterville, 302 Nahcotta, South Bend, and Raymond, Bruceport declined in

favor of Oysterville mainly because of its lack of land

transportation and lack of a suitable site for a settle­

ment. Oysterville lost out to Nahcotta because of changes in transportational methods. South Bend declined in favor

of Raymond because of historical timing and possibly be­

cause of differences in site limitations.

Settlement of the Region As Part of the Westward Movement

In the settlement of the United States, there has been what is called the ''westward movement." Unfortunately

in describing this westward surge, while scholars theor- ized and spelled out logically the progress westward to the Rocky Mountains, the area beyond was let fall into the pot-pourri or miscellaneous-like category of the mineral frontier or the Far West, and as a consequence it is seldom discussed in detail. One good reason for this is that ac­ cording to a report of the Bureau of the Census for 1 8 9 0 , from that date on there "could hardly be said to be a frontier line." Many seem to have interpreted this as mean ing that there was no longer any frontier at all. This was not true. Pockets of pioneer areas still existed in the

5 _____—_ Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., Boston, 1920. 303 western states and territories, and the Willapa area was

one of these. Another reason is that the settlement of

the Pacific Coast does not fit into the neat concept of a continuous westward movement, for that area was settled not only by progressive land migration but also, and earlier, by sea. Thus there were areas, such as California,

that were settled before the Great Plains. The Indians of Nootka Sound and California had commercial dealings with white men before the natives of the Rocky Mountains ever saw their white brothers. Also, the settlement of the

Pacific Coast was not only done by one jump at a time west­ ward, but also by folk from New England and the North At­ lantic states. As Ellen Churchill Semple remarked In

American History and Its Geographic Conditions, the early

"settlements in Oregon were an anachronism--our farthest West with the stamp of our farthest East; social, politi­ cal, and economic ideals of New England storekeeper, mill owner, preacher, and schoolteacher in the vast Cascade forests and the wilderness valleys of the Willamette and £ the Columbia."

Yet in the formulated theory of the westward move­ ment and its characteristics are principles which were

5------Ellen Churchill Semple, and Clarence Pielden Jones, American History and Its Geographic Conditions, Boston, 1933, p. 213. 304

born© out on the North Pacific coast and in the Willapa Bay area. Among these principles is the concept of the

succession of types of people who came, and the events

which accompanied them: the explorers, fur traders and trappers, the agricultural settlers, the lumbermen, and the land speculators; and the land laws, the railroad, the

religious fervor, and the mineral rushes.

In the bay area there first existed the rather mobile Indian communities. Then came the explorers, and following them the fur traders-first by sea, and later by land.

About these fur settlements began the first relatively

fixed communities. The fur traders and trappers occupied

the Northwest for approximately 50 years. Around the main trading posts, especially at the mouth of the Willamette

River and later, on Puget Sound, there was agricultural

settlement, and this helped to attract further settlement. By 1840 the trans-continental land connections from east­

ern United States were beginning to make themselves felt

and the last phase of the American westward movement of settlement began. For a decade most of it went to the

Oregon country and then it was deflected to the south to California. Those settlers who went to Oregon settled primarily in the Willamette Valley, but a few of them eventually reached the Shoalwater area. 305 The missionary movement had been a great stimulus to the Oregon immigration and indirectly connected with

this was the arrival of the religious colony led by Dr.

William Keil, and later on, more directly associated were th e a n n u al camp m ee tin g s. The land law s, both a stim u lu s

and result of the westward movement, also had their ef­ fect in the bay region.

Because of its relatively isolated location and

because the national land communications were slow to

catch up with this la3 t frontier which had leaped too far

ahead, the Shoalwater area developed slowly and quietly

on the economic bases of oyster harvesting and farming.

Then, about 1 890, the railroads and lumbering arrived and

so did the second major wave of settlement. This time it was not so much people from the east coast and Canada who

came, but instead more persons from the mid-west and

Scandinavians, and later, other European immigrants.

Many of the Europeans came directly to the area, not stop­

ping at intermediate points in the United States.

As the American westward movement of settlement neared its close, its sequential characteristics began to pile up on one another.? And so it was that the wave of

7 See Derwent Whittlesey, "Sequent Occupance," Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 2 9 , 1 9 2 9, pp. 1 6 8 -1 6 9 . 306 lumbering coincided with the land speculation and arrival of the railroad* The effects of these three changed the complexion of the bay region, and it and the Northwest underwent their second frontier—characterized by renewed vigor of settlement, lumbering, and increasingly less iso­ lation from the rest of the nation* By 1945 the third frontier of industrialization had entered the Northwest, but in 1955 its course was still uncertain and the bay area was feeling its effects only slightly.

Regionalism in the Willapa Bay Area

One of the main purposes of this study was not only to ascertain the historical geography of Willapa Bay and its environs but also to explore and understand the area about Willapa Bay as a region since the beginning of fixed settlement there. Before the advent of such settlement, it would be difficult to assess the regionality of the bay area except as a physical or hydrographic region. Undoubt­ edly it figured as some sort of an ill-defined region dur­ ing Indian occupancy, but in this study that aspect was examined only insofar as it presented the background for the beginning of white settlement. There is no such thing as an absolute or objective geographical region. It must be defined in terms of one 307 or more criteria. This point of view is borne out and stated, in various ways, by such men as Alfred Hettner,

Richard Hartshorne, Preston E. James, and Clarence P.

Jones. The last two, in their book, American Geography,

Inventory and Prospect, see the region as a device for selecting and studying areal groupings of complex phenomena found on the earth; and that a region is not an object, either self-determined or nature given, but is, to a high g degree, an intellectual concept. This does not make it less real, but means that it is defined by specific cri­ teria and is homogeneous only in terras of these criteria.

Hettner stated this concept much earlier, when speaking of which criteria shall be chosen for determining regions, by stating that the choice must be made by the geographer, according to his subjective judgment of their importance.

Consequently, one cannot speak of true and false regional divisions, but only of purposeful or non-purposeful di­ visions. There is no universally valid division which 9 does justice to all phenomena.

8 ' Preston E. James and Clarence P. Jones, 0£. cit., p. 30. 9 Alfred Hettner, Ihr Wesen, und Ihre Methoden. Breslau. 1927. d . ^16 quoted in Richard Hartshorne, "The Nature of Geography,” Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geogrs., Nos. 3 and 4 , 1 9 3 9* P» 4 6 6 . 308 Hartshorne has essentially the same view, tout states it with a broader scope. He says that to comprehend re­ ality, one must divide the earth into small unit areas or regions, necessarily set up toy subjectively chosen cri­ teria and thus representing a partial distortion of re­ ality; then compare similar units to test and correct the universals developed in systematic geography.1^ The next question is what sort of criteria can be employed to ascertain if a geographical region exists within a certain area. First, the criteria must toe geo­ graphical. The dualism of physical and cultural geography has plagued 20th century geographers. Hettner stated that geography involved a study of relationships, and the pro­ cedure of that study should lead from man to nature rather than the reverse. 11 Miss Semple was more concerned with how earth factors such as area, location, topography, and climate affect man. Jean Brunhes‘s interest was focused more on the facts of human occupancy of the earth, whether they show environmental influences or not. Harlan H.

Barrows had the theme that the study of adjustments of man

10 " " Richard Hartshorne, "The Nature of Geography," Annals, As3oc> Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 29 * Nos. 3 and 4, 1939, pp. 643-64h. 1 1 Alfred Hettner, op. cit., pp. 143; quoted in Richard Hartshorne, op. cit., pp. 299-300. 309 to physical environment requires knowledge of that environ­ ment, but this knowledge is logically subordinate, not to 12 be studied for its own sake. Glenn T. Trewartha, in his presidential address before the American Association of

Geographers, affirmed Hettner's resolution of geography as a unitary field, but stated that it has three, rather than two, major subdivisions--those being physical, cul­ tural, and population geography. He further said that 13 population is the pivotal element in geography. Thus it will be noted that, although unwillingly on the part of many geographers, the trend of the philosophy of the sub­ ject has been toward the increasing recognition of the human element. Any criteria, then, for measuring a geo­ graphical region must involve the activities and charac­ teristics of human beings as they are related to the physi­ cal environment, or the earth. With the meaning of the term "geographical” estab­ lished, the next consideration in selecting the criteria is to choose those aspects which appear most important to the human life in the area concerned. In the Willapa Bay

12 Harlan H. Barrows, "Geography As Human Ecology," Annals, Assoc. Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 1 3 , 1 923 , PP. 1 -1 4 . 13 Glenn T. Trewartha, "A Case For Population Geography," Annals, Asso. Amer. Geogrs., Vol. 43> 1 9 5 3 , p . 8 1 . 310 area, the distribution and character of the population,

their means of economic livelihood, and the methods of

transportation are in that category. Further, in addition to being used as measuring sticks of regionality, these

three phenomena are used as devices for describing the

geography of the Willapa Bay region at different periods. In these discussions are mentioned many elements or fac­

tors, most of which have geographic quality in varying degrees—such as the bay, the extra-regional influences, and the concept of regional consciousness. The last is a nebulous thing and can usually be measured only indirectly.

However, as James and Jones remark, in spite of fraying in many places, regional consciousness, once firmly establish­ ed maintains a tenacious hold; and this is notably true so long as natural and societal environment together provide a distinguishing set of conditions for regional individu­ a l i t y . ^

In this study, two facets of development concerning the Willapa region have been evident: (l) that dealing with its existence as a region of cohesive unity, and ( 2 ) that concerning the external conditions which affected the internal character of the area.

Preston E. James and Clarence F. Jones, op. cit., p. 311 Considering the region as a whole, in the very early days of white settlement it was the topography of the area which contributed most to its regionality. Cer­ tainly the social, economic, and transportational aspects were merely a part of the lower Columbia community. Soon, however, settlement on the bay was sufficiently advanced that those three phenomena were enough developed to give the area a regional unity. By 1890, the assembly of phenomena, both physical and cultural, having occurred in the same area relatively undisturbed for a long period of time, revealed a ubiquity which definitely identified

Willapa Bay and it environs as a distinct region. This was the high point of the regional cohesiveness and it thereafter declined until by 1955 the only vestiges of such unity were political and a few economic and social activities. There are several methods by which to note the in­ dividuality which this region had, but all of them hinge on the quality of isolation or some sort of uniqueness.

This area was isolated by virtue of its rough and heavily forested topography, and its relative uniqueness related to the bay. The region remained isolated externally by transportation for a long time but had relatively easy transportation internally. Part of its economy was quite 312 unique to begin with and is partially so even today. The region's population has consistently clung to the lowlands of the valleys and those points near the bay. The indi­ viduality of the area prompted its early formation into the separate political unit of Pacific County, and it has been pointed out how this political unit eventually encom­ passed most of the tributary waters of the bay. Between

1885 and 1890 a ll these conditions were most manifest and the regional boundaries evinced by the population, settle­ ments, transportation, and the economy were a direct result of association with the bay area. After this time each of these characteristics of individuality progressively declined, although at differ­ ent rates. In 1955 the unifying and isolating influences of the bay and the topography, respectively, had decreased much but were still present. There were good land trans­ portation links internally and externally, although the region was s till somewhat isolated because of distance to large population centers. The boundary zone of the region was still almost completely unpopulated, but the region's population had no particular uniqueness, and because of good communication, was similar to that of the larger homogeneous population group In western Washington and

Oregon and differed not too much from that of the United 313 States as a whole. Some economic Individuality still ex­ isted in the form of oystering, tourism, and cranberry

farming. On the other hand, the presence of lumbering merged the region with a much larger one, and a factor permitting this was the coastal forest belt of which this re g io n was a p a r t . To approach the topic from a slightly different angle, the uniting and disrupting influences should be discussed. Uniting the region, at its peak of being an entity, was the water transportation and commonality of economic and social interests, and isolation from other areas. One other uniting influence was a combination of items—the topography, drainage, forests, and the tidewater frontage. The sawmills were located at tidewater and then moved inland up creeks and river valleys tributary to the bay. It was important to have water flowing into the bay area because this was how the logs were transported to the m ill. The logging railroads hauled down grade through these valleys to the Willapa Bay region. During this time, the probable tributary "timber shed" of the mills covered the greatest area. The advent of truck logging changed t h i s •

The disrupting influences were many. Transportation - al developments were most important. The railroads began the trend of removing the unifying influence of the bay and 33A the highways completed it. At the same time they sub­

jected the region to more intense external influences.

Another influence which weakened unity was the entrance of the lumber business which brought in a new and dif­ ferent population and linked part of the livelihood of the area to the dominant economy of western Washington and

Oregon and also more to the national economy. Later on,

increasing amounts of outside capital entered the region in connection with this industry. Better communication decreased the population's in­ dividuality and its feeling of regional consciousness. The latter was subjected to the pull in two directions exerted by the metropolitan centers of Portland and Seattle. All of these factors served to break down the regionallty of

the Willapa Bay area until in 1955 that unity was weak and evidenced only by a few characteristics mentioned in an earlier paragraph.

Closely connected with this discussion is an analysis of the changes which took place within the region. From the beginning the bay area was oriented toward the lower

Columbia community; even at the time of greatest regional cohesiveness this still was the case. That there were two sub-regions in 1955 meant only that the Willapa Valley had turned its face toward the northeast, whereas the peninsula 315 retained nearly the same preoccupation with the Portland a r e a .

With the arrival of lumbering and the second major wave of settlement, the dominating point or focu3 of the region shifted and concurrently began the internal dis­ ruption of unity. After 1930 the developments of the in­ ternal highway system and the automobile turned the bay from a link into a barrier, and as has been pointed out, during this time the region was most separated in terms of transportation. By 1955 the highways were again pro­ viding some unity, but the increase in this wa3 slight. In other words, most of those influences which held the bay region together in 1885 remained in 1 9 5 5— water, fishing, oystering, tourism, and certain forms of agriculture. However, by 1955 the bay transportation was gone, and other influences--lumbering, outside capital, better communication—had overwhelmed those original in­ fluences. Timing, changes in the economic activities, transportation, population and settlements, and techno­ logic change had nearly destroyed the region as an entity and disrupted it internally. APPENDICES

316 APPENDIX A

317 TABLE 25

Manufacturing Statistics for Pacific County

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

18^0 l^OO 1920 1929 m i m i Number o f establishments 18 49 104 61 55 37 Number o f wage e a rn e rs 321 413 2 >539 2,200 2 ,2 2 2 2 ,5 2 8

Total wages $1 6 6 , 6 0 2 . $ 203,312. $ 3,968,300. $ 3,008,669. $2 , 6 0 6 , 7 8 5 . $7 , 0 5 5 , 0 0 0 . Cost o f m a te ria ls 408.931. 578,591. 4,880,462. 5 ,2 4 5 ,0 7 2 . 3 , 1 2 3 , 5 8 1 . Value o f products 693,400. 952,195- 11,456,328. 10,916,591. 7 , 6 7 2 , 4 5 3 . Value added by manufacturing 284,469. 373,604. 6 ,5 7 5 ,8 66 5,67 1 ,5 1 9 . 4 , 5 4 8 , 8 8 2 . 8 ,2 8 4 ,0 0 0 . APPENDIX B Table 26 Value of Agricultural Production in Pacific County, by Source

(Source: U.S. Bureau of tbe Census)

Value of production from: 1 9 0 0 1 9 1 0 1220

Jr°Ps $ (*) $ 181,270. $ 3 8 4 ,4 9 3 . Livestock—sold, traded or slaughtered 54,843. 3 4 , 7 4 0 . M Livestock products 62,574. 168,234. 2 9 5* 8 3 3 . Fruits and nuts 7*297. 12,081. 1 3 9* 8 8 0 . Forest products (1900) 34,884 (*) All other crops (1910) (*) 8 1 , 7 7 5 . * Not given Table 26 (cont*d.)

Value of Pacific County Agricultural Products Sold, By Source

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1929 193? 1944 T o ta l $ 863,641. $ 510,654. 1,320,123 Dairy Products 3 2 6 , 0 7 0 . 2 1 0 ,0 6 9 572,758 Fruits and Nuts 156,315-* 8 0 , 5 2 7 . 435,447 Field Crops (except vegetables or f r u i t s ) 173,537.* 46,717. 14,744 Poultry and Poultry Products 210,911. 51,789. 90,215 Livestock and Products (except dairy and poultry) 2 2 7 , 2 6 7 . 109,114. 1 7 2 ,7 6 8 Forest Products Sold 47,735.* 3,716. 1 ,9 2 6 Horticultural Specialties 10,743. 415. 29,376 All other (including vegetables) 2 9, 0 0 3 . 8,307. 2,979 * Value total production Table 26 (cont'd.)

Value of Agricultural Products Sold, by Source (Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

1944 1949

T o ta l 3 2 0,1 23 $ 1 ,2 6 2 ,1 4 3 Dairy Products 5T?,758 4 8 5 ,7 9 0 Fruits and Nuts 4 3 5 ,4 4 7 1 9 6,372 Field Crops (except vegetables, fruits and n u ts) 1 4 ,7 4 4 4 9 ,9 7 8 Poultry and Poultry Products 9 0 ,2 1 5 8 0 ,3 1 8 Livestock and Products (except dairy and p o u ltry ) 1 7 2 ,6 7 8 2 7 4 ,6 2 9 Forest Products Sold 1 ,9 2 6 125,932 Horticultural Specialties 2 9 ,3 7 6 4 7 ,0 5 5 All Other (vegetables) 2 ,9 7 9 2 ,0 6 9 322 APPENDIX C

323 Table 27

Agricultural Statistics for Pacific County

(Source: U. S. Bureau of Census)

i 860 1870 1880 18?0

Improved Land (acres) 1*075 3 ,1 4 5 1 1 ,2 0 0 1 0 ,9 4 3 Unimproved w w 6 ,3 3 6 1 9 ,0 8 1 15,746 25,160 Cash value of land 4 9 ,4 0 0 . $ 68, 8 5 5 . $ 1 7 7 ,9 0 0 . i 8 8 2 ,1 9 0 Value of machinery 2 , 1 8 0 . 3,635* 5 , 685. $ 1 4 ,4 4 0 Value of livestock 2 1 , 8 5 1 . 4 2 ,4 2 5 . 3 9 ,7 7 6 . 1 6 7 ,9 7 0 Value Orchard production 1 7 0 . 4,755* 739. 490 Value Market production 8 1 0 . 2 ,4 1 5 1 1 0 . — Value farm production — 2 2 , 150* 41,205 97,180 Horses (number) 62 59 122 288 Asses and mules ( number) 6 '2 6 2 M ilch cows tt 169 448 689 1 ,0 1 6 ft Working oxen 49 94 113 Other cattle ft 318 1 ,1 1 0 1 , 474 2 , 56$ Sheep n 164 981 1 , 910 943 Swine n 112 144 464 516 C hickens w ------1 , 336 4 ,9 1 9 Eggs (dozen) ------—- 7, 167 25,759 Hay ( t o n s ) 23 1 , 360 4 ,0 5 1 Clover seed (bushels) *+h Grass seed w 13 56 Wheat n 1 ,2 7 5 550 2 , 579 8 ,6 4 0 Oats — 1 ,2 7 0 9 , 572 8 ,1 9 0 Indian Corn ft 3 ,3 7 5 — * Estimated iu Table 27 (Cont *d)

i860 B a rley ( bus tie I s ) Wool (pounds) Peas and Beans (bushels) Irish potatoes " Milk (gallons> Butter (pounds) Cheese n Honey w

Number o f farm s (r e p o r tin g ) Table 27

Agricultural Statistics for Pacific County, 1890-1920

(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census)

1890 l^OO 1910 1920

Number o f farms 186 342 347 453 Acreage in farms 3 6 ,1 0 3 5 1 ,9 3 6 4 7 ,0 9 2 4 8 ,8 0 4 Per cent of land in farms 6 .2 £ 818 % 7 .9 % 8.2 * Average size farm in acres 194 151 136 107. Value of farms $ 9 9 4 ,5 3 0 $ 1,013,695 $ 2,547,903 $ 4 ,5 1 3 ,9 6 0 Value of farm products 9 7 ,1 8 0 2 1 1 ,3 4 6 4 1 8 ,1 0 0 8 2 0 ,2 0 0 Horses (number) 288 622 914 1 ,1 7 1 C a ttle * 3 ,6 9 8 4 ,1 7 4 5 ,7 8 4 7 ,6 7 2 Milch cows" 1 ,0 1 6 1 ,6 3 7 2 ,7 4 9 5 ,6 3 8 Milk produced (gallons) 203,009 750,026 1 ,1 4 7 ,5 8 0 1 ,2 5 7 ,6 3 1 Cheese produced (pounds) 525 3 ,7 8 4 150 18,118 Butter produced H 3 8 ,1 2 5 114,699 8 1 ,0 3 6 ?9j 999 Swine (number 516 876 829 1,380 Sheep w 943 1 ,5 7 7 27 6 323 Sheep shorn 746 969 130 230 Wool (pounds) 3 ,3 8 1 6 ,6 4 8 —— Poultry (number) 5 ,0 2 6 9 ,0 3 4 1 8 ,4 2 8 1 4 ,2 6 1 Eggs (dozens) 2 5 ,7 5 8 6 3 ,6 8 0 9 2 ,8 7 1 9 7 ,1 1 6 Bees (hives) —— 435 188 214 Honey (pounds) 7 ,5 6 1 6 ,8 6 0 1 ,0 1 4 3 ,0 9 9 Wax * 50 70 — — 235 Corn (acres) J _____ Rye n

I8g0 1900 1910 1920

Oats (acres) 193 429 263 128 w (bushels) 8*190 1 8 ,8 5 0 1 1 ,0 3 1 6 ,6 7 7 Wheat (acres) 22 70 19 12 w (bushels) 640 1 ,8 9 0 590 372 Bay and forage (acres) 1*746 3 ,0 7 4 3 ,9 8 3 5 ,5 9 8 n n w (tons) 4,051 7 ,4 1 0 ------1 2 ,5 5 5 Irish Potatoes (acres) 95 184 308 228 n n (bushels) 14,008 2 3 ,3 0 8 4 6 ,8 8 6 2 4 ,4 1 2

1930 1

Number o f farms 570 710 Acreage in farms 5 6 ,4 3 0 64 ,5 0 9 Average size farm (acres) 99 90 Value of farms $4,032,265. i^ 3,139,904 Value of farm products $ 9 8 0 , 160. ; ; 649,853 Horses (number) 672 515 Cattle and calves (number) 7 ,5 9 9 7 ,2 5 7 Milch cows w 3 ,4 7 0 3 ,7 1 8 Milk produced (gallons) 2 ,0 3 0 ,8 7 9 2 ,1 4 5 ,9 2 2 Butter produced 3 2 ,8 5 5 3 5 ,8 1 2 Butter sold 3 ,0 2 5 3 ,6 4 5 Swine (number) 478 857 Sheep w 591 247 Sheep shorn (number) 444 178 Wool (pounds) 3 ,0 4 4 843 Poultry (number) 4 1 ,6 8 4 2 7 ,0 5 9 Eggs produced (dozens) 3 6 8,497 2 9 6 ,1 3 8 Bees (hives) 285 565 Honey (pounds) 9,474 36,516 Corn (acres) 9 B a r le y ” 2 % 253 (b u sh e ls 1 2,272 1 0 ,6 7 8 Wheat (acres) 78 45 Wheat (bushels) 1 ,4 6 3 2 ,1 0 0 Bay and forage (acres) 5 ,8 3 1 7 ,7 4 9 Hay and forage (tons) 1 1 ,2 1 7 1 3 ,1 9 5 Irish potatoes (acres) 108 U) 07 ro Irish potatoes (bushels) 1 0 ,3 2 8 9 ,4 4 0 CD Figure 27 (Cont'd.)

1944 1949 1954

Number o f farms 771 716 665 Acreage 7 0 ,3 7 2 6 7 ,7 4 8 63,374 Average size farm (acres) 9 1 .3 9 4 .6 95 Average value of farms (dollars) $ 6 , 270* $ 14 ,1 9 4 $ 1 2 ,5 8 8 Value of Agricultural products sold (dollars) 1, 320,123 1 ,2 6 2 ,1 4 3 Horses (number) 500 282 149 Cattle and calves (number) 8,762 8 ,3 66 9 ,6 5 8 Milch cows w 2 ,6 0 5 2 ,6 0 5 2 ,2 6 3 Whole milk sold (pounds) 18, 7 0 5 ,3 5 1 1 2 ,8 0 6 ,1 3 7 1 1 ,3 6 6 ,0 2 7 Swine (number) 649 436 235 Sheep w 115 114 50 Sheep shorn w 97 20 Pounds wool 845 738 182 Poultry (number) 2 7 ,6 0 8 2 0 ,4 1 2 2 7 ,6 2 2 Eggs sold (dozens) — 116,045 1 1 6,917 Corn (acres) 11 4 0 B a r le y 11 0 0 0 Oats w 886 247 0 Oats (bushels threshed) 7 >368 6 ,1 1 5 0 Whea.t a c r e s ) 4 28 5 Wheat (bushels, threshed) 86 650 125 Hay and fo ra g e (a c r e s ) 7 ,3 5 6 Hay and forage (tons) 1 3 ,7 5 6 9 ,1 7 7 1 ,7 2 6 Irish potatoes (acres) 35** 8** 5 Irish potatoes (100 lb. bags) 1 ,9 0 6 803 846 u> * 1944 data not strictly comparable with that for 1949* ^ ** Does not include acres with less than 10 bags. APPENDIX D

330 T able 28

Farm Ownership By Amoant of Acreage

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

i 860* 11370** 1880** 1890**

T o ta l Number o f farms 1259* 72 90 180

Under 10 acres 215 34 MW 1 1 0 - 2 0 « 230 11 1 2 2 0 - 5 0 " 343 12 1 10 50 -100 w 191 5 8 30 100-500 n 271 8 62 131 500-1000 " 8 2 13 11 1000 and over 1 - 5 1

Average size of farms -- —— 194

* Washington Territory ** Pacific County

U) Qi Table 2 8 (c o n t'd * )

1900 1910 1?20 1930 1940 1220

No* of Farms 180 342 347 453 570 710 716 Under 10 acres 1 9 28 53 109 188 224 1 0 -2 0 " 2 12 19 41 74 101 138* 2 0 -5 0 w 10 51 65 85 101 130 78** 50-100 * 30 59 6* 88 93 92 95 100-500 M 131 195 157 174 163 170 154 500-1000 ■ 11 11 12 5 7 9 19 1000 acres and over 1 2 2 4 6 8 7 Average size farm ( in a e r e s ) 194 I5I.9 135*7 107 7 99> 90*9 9 4 .6

* 10-29 acres ** 29-50 acres APPENDIX E

333 Table 29

Distribution of Population in Pacific County

I 853 i860 1870 1880 1886 I 890

County 152 406 738 1645 1948 4538

Pacific City-Ilwaco 80 85 200 517 Bruceport 70 30 36 Oysterville 253 104 125 200 118 Bay C enter 15 385 Sunshine ?? 109 South Bend 25 50 100 836 W illapa 153 50 (see below) R iv e r sid e 50 142 N orth Cove 40 69 N a s e lle 30 232 Nabcotta-Sealand 85 a. U.S. or State Census: the figures for the county; for i860 and 1890; for Oysterville in 1870 and i860; for Ilwaco in 1880. b. The figures for Oysterville and Willapa in i860 represent not only the settle­ ment but a ll those who received mail through that post office. c. The figures for 1886 are from: Oregon, Washington, and MahoGazetteer and Busi­ ness Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., Portland, 1886. The feruceport statistic is from McKennyfs Pacific Coast Directory, L. M. McKenny & Co., San Francisco, 1.884. d. (continued on next page with balance of table.) u>

Additional figures for 1890 are as follows:

Nemah 48 Long Beach 107 South Bay 61 Tokeland 11 Wallicut River 31 S tanley 18 Knappton 237 Fort Canby 122 Long Island 26 Cape Disappointment 21 Bear River 34 North River 31 Salmon Creek 11 North Pacific 2 Willapa Valley 875 Chinook 917 d. Polk's Directory mentioned, in 1 8 9 0 , that the population of Bay Center was 225 during canning season. e. The 1870 figures for Ilwaco, Bruceport, and South Bend and the 1880 figure for South Bend are estimates. Table 29 ( c o n t'd .)

l^OO 1910 1920

Bay Center Precinct 338 446 274 Bruceport 65 65 — Chinook Precinct 740 620 568 Prances 274 472 398 HO 10011113 — — — 65 Ilwaco (town and precinct) 969 873 787 Knappton 1 5 6 210 200 Lebam 241 792 794 Long Beach 273 363 636 Menlo* ------644 330 Nahcotta 161 328 276 Naselle 197 500 494 Nemah 79 64 162 North Cove 96 172 183 North River 49 81 79 Oysterville 156 110 82 Pluvius 35 251 406 Raymond (town and precinct) 84 2 ,5 3 3 4 ,4 4 7 Salmon Creek 51 170 307 Smith Creek 44 112 South Bend 59 711 3 ,0 2 3 1 ,9 4 8 Willapa 5 0 6 386 743 County 5 ,9 8 3 1 2,532 1 4 ,8 9 1 * Menlo precinct formed from Willapa ir 1902 Table 29 (cont’d)

P r e c in c ts 1930 1940

Bay Center 233 421 Chinook 559 394 Eklund Park* 268 260 F lr d a le 41 76 Frances 243 207 Holcomb 125 152 Ilwaco 1 & 2 750 839 Knappton 237 120 Lebam 413 424 Long Beach 665 917 Menlo 367 388 N ahcotta 478 758 N a s e lle 480 799 Nemah 137 257 N orth Cove 471 662 North River** 759 501 Oysterville 81 133 P lu v iu s 212 56 Raymond ( c i t y ) 3 ,8 2 8 4 ,0 4 $ Salmon Creek 258 87 Seaview 438 393 Smith Creek 55 180

South Bend 1 ,7 9 8 1 ,7 7 1 337 Sylvan *** 513 628 W illapa 422 444 * Adjunct of South Bend ** Includes the town of Brooklyn *** A small precinct In the Willapa Valley just east of Raymond. Table 29 (cont*d.)

Distribution of Population in Pacific County*

(S ou rce: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

Precincts 1940 Census Division 1950

North River 581 I 147 Sylvan 628 II 2,450 Menlo 388 Willapa 444 Firdale 76 Holcomb 152 Lebam 424 Frances 207 Pluvius 56

Smith Creek 180 III 3 ,8 2 2 Raymond 607 South Bend 1 675 South Bend 2 881 South Bend 3 544 Bay Center 421 * Eklund Park 260

North Cove 662 IV §69

Oysterville 133 V 2,939 Nahcotta 758 Long Beach 917 Seaview** 262 Table 29 ( c o n t ' d .)

Precincts 1940 Census Divisions 1950

Ilwaco 1 567 VI 1,172 Ilwaco 2 272 Chinook 394

Salmon Creek 87 VII 1 ,0 5 8 N a s e lle 1 & 2 799 In corp orated ttowas & c i t i e s Nemah 257 Knappton 120 Raymond 4 ,1 1 0 Seaview *** 131 South Bend 1 ,8 5 0 Long Beach 783 Ilw aco 628

County Total 15,928 1 6 ,5 5 8 * Precincts as separated according to census divisions not strictly comparable. ** 2/3 of Seaview precinct *** 1/3 of Seaview precinct 339 BIBLIOGRAPHY

DOCUMENTARY SOURCE MATERIAL

Federal Reports and Publications

Appropriations and Expenditures for Rivers and Harbors (H. Doc. No. 64, 48th Cong., 1st Sess. 1884) Atlas of Pacific County (unpublished) Pacific Soli Conservation D istrict, South Bend, Wash., 1954. The Lumber Industry, 3 parts, Bureau of Corporations, Dept, of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1913.

Census of Agriculture, 8 th—17th Censuses of the United States, U.ST Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1860- 1950.

Census of Manufactures, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th Censuses of the United States, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1890, 1900, 1920, 1930, and 1940.

Census of Manufactures, U. S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1947.

Census of Population, 8th—17th Censuses of the United States, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1860 - 1950.

Davidson, George, Coast Pilot of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory/ U.S. Coast Guard Survey. Washington, D.C., 1869.

Greenhow, R obert, Memoir, H is to ric a l and P o litic a l, On the Northwest Coast of North America and Adjacent Terri­ tories (fe. Doc. 174, 26th Cong., 1st Sess'. l84o)

Mall Routes Register, 1850-1870, for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, U.S. Postal Service, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

340 341 McArdle, R. E., Meyer, Walter H., and Bruce, Donald, "The Yield of Douglas Plr in the Pacific Northwest," Technical Bulletin No. 201, October, 1930; Revised October 1949, Porest Service, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1949* Moravets, P. L., "Forest Statistics for Pacific County, Washington," Forest Survey Report No. 109* Forest Serv­ ice, Pacific Northwest Fiorest and Range Experiment Station, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, Portland, Ore., 1953»

Reports of the Governor of Washington Territory, 1884, l8&5, 1886, U.S. Dept, of the Interior, Washington,D.C., 1 8 8 7 .

"Report Upon the Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in the Portland, Oreg., D istrict,” Extract from Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., 1954. "Report Upon the Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in the Seattle, Wash., D istrict," Extract from Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Washington, b.C., 1954.

Swanton, John R., The Indian Tribes of North America, Bureau of American Ethnography, Washington, D.C., 1952.

f,Wi 11a pa River and Harbor, and Naselle River, Wash.," (H. Doc. No. 425, 8 3 d Cong., 2d Sess. 1954)

"Willapa Harbor and River, Washington," (H. Doc. No. 524, 6l s t Cong., 2d Sess. 1910)

State Reports and Publications

Annual Bulletins, Dept, of Fisheries, State of Washington. OTy5piaTTH5ir-^54. Evans, Elwood, "Washington Territory," Address to the Legislature of Washington Territory, Oct. 13, 1 8 7 7 , Olympia, 0. R. Bagley, printer, 1 8 7 7 .

Laws of the State of Washington, Olympia, 1 8 8 9 -1 9 5 1. Laws of Washington Territory, Olympia, 1853 - 1888 . 342 Original Census Books, on file at Washington State Library, Olympia, i860, 1 8 8 3 .

"Tide Land Laws of Washington," State of Washington, Olympia, 1892.

Washington, Its People, Products, and Resources, Bell Reeves; Secy, of State, Olympia, 1 9 3 8 * Weaver, Charles E., "The Tertiary Formations of Western Washington," Bulletin No. 1 3 , Washington Geological Survey, Olympia, 1916.

County Reports and Records

Annual Reports, Pacific County Agent, South Bend, Wash., 1917-1954.

Annual R eports, Port of Willapa Harbor, Raymond, Wash., 1930-1955. Proceedings, Pacific County Commissioners, South Bend, Wash.,

Road Plat Books, P acific County E ngineers, South Bend, Wash., circa 1 8 9 0 - 1 9 1 5 .

Maps

Economic Land Use Class Map, Pacific-Wahkiakum Counties, Washington, Agricultural Extension Service, Washington State College, Pullman, Wash., 1945.

Map of a Part of the Territory of Washington, accompanying Report, Surveyor General, Washington, D.C., 1 8 5 5 .

Map of a Part of Washington Territory, accompanying Report, Surveyor General, Washington, D.C., 1860-61. Map of P acific County, Washington, Chas. S.B. Henry, County Engineer, and E. P. Kendall, Chief Deputy, South Bend, Wash., 1924.

Map of Public Surveys in the Territory of Washington, ac­ companying Report, Surveyor General, Olympia, W.T., July 15th,. 18557" ©

343 Map of the United States, Territory of Oregon, accompany- ing Report of the Committee to Which was Referred a Bill to Authorize the President of the United S tates to Occupy the Oregon Territory (fe. Doc'. No. 470, 2 5 th Cong., 2d Sess. 1 8 3 8 )

State of Washington, General Land Office, Dept, of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1891. Topographic Quadrangles: Cape Disappointment, Cape Shoal- water, Grayland, Aberdeen, South Bend, Fort Columbia, Brookfield, Willapa, Montesano, Ford, Walville; U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.

Post Route Maps of the State of Oregon and the Territory of Washington, Office of Postmaster General, Washington, D.C., 1877, 1883, I 8 8 5 , I 8 8 7 . Post Route Map of Oregon and Washington, Office of Post­ master General, Washington, D.C., 1891.

Washington Territory, General Land Office, Dept, of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1 8 7 9 .

Willapa Bay, Chart 6 1 8 5 , Soundings in Feet at Mean Lower Low Water, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Dept, of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1954.

SECONDARY SOURCE MATERIAL

Books and Pamphlets

Bailey, Thomas A., A Diplomatic History of the American People, Third Edition, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York, 1946.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of the Northwest Coast, A.L. Bancroft & Company, San Francisco, 1664. Idem, History of Oregon, Vols. I and II, The History Company, San Francisco, 1886.

Idem, History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, The Histo- ry' Company, San Francisco, 1 8 9 0 . = 344 Brown, Ralph H., Historical Geography of the United States, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1948.

Chittenden, H. M., The American Fur Trade of the Far Vest, 3 Volumes, Rufus Rockwell Wilson, Inc., New York, 1936.

Dlsturnell's Business Directory and Gazetteer of the West Coast of North America, Bacon & Co., Ban Francisco, 1882.

Engle, Nathanael H., and Hastings, Delbert C., Pacific County, Washington, Willapa Harbor Development Commission, South Bend, Washington, 1955*

Fenneman, Nevin M., Physiography of Western United States, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.,-New York, 1931* Freeman, Otis W., and M artin, Howard H ., E d ito rs, The Pacific Northwest, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1954.

Fuller, George W., A History of the Pacific Northwest, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1952.

Handbook Almanac fo r the P a c ific S ta te s , H. H. Bancroft & Co., New York, 1 8 6 3 .

Hendricks, Robert J., Bethel and Aurora, An Experiment in Communism as Practical Christianity, The Press of the Pioneers, New York, 1933*

Hodge, F. W., Handbook of the American Indian, Bulletin 3 0 , Bureau of American Ethnography, Washington, D.C., 1 9 1 2.

Howay, F. W., Sage, W. N., and Angus, H. F., British Columbia and the United States, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 1942.

Inventory of County Archives of Washington, No. 21, Historical Records Survey Project, Spokane, 1 9 4 0.

Johnson, George C., MA Collection of Historical Addresses, M The Tribune, Ilwaco, Washington, 1947.

Kinkaid, Trevor, Sc. D., The Oyster Industry of Willapa Bay, Washington, The Calliostoma Co., Seattle, 1951. Me Donald, Lucile, Washington's Yesterdays, Binfords & Mort, Portland, Ore., 1953* 345 McKennas Pacific Coast Directory, L. M. McKenny & Co., SarT*WanciscolT!B53-iH8Tii Meany, Edmund S., History of the State of Washington, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1930.

Meares, John, Voyages of John Meares, 1 7 8 8 -1 7 8 9 , J. Walter, London, 1790.

Oregon, Washington, and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., Portland, Ore., l8d6-1932.

Pacific Coast Business Directory, Town & Bacon, San Francisco, 1867.

Polk*s Lewis and Pacific Counties Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., Portland, Ore., 1920-21.

Pollard, Lancaster, "The Pacific Northwest," in Regionalism In America, edited by Merrill Jensen, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WIs., 1952, pp. 1 8 7 -2 1 2 .

Raymond, L. V ., "Real E sta te , B usiness, and Residence P ro p erty ," Raymond, Washington, 1913*

Riegel, Robert E., America Moves West, Revised Edition, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1947.

Semple, Ellen Churchill, and Jones, Clarence Fielden, American History and Its Geographic Conditions, Revised E d itio n , Houjghton M ifflin Company, Boston, 1933. Shaw, Frederic, Fisher, Clement, Jr., and Harlan, George H., Oil Lamps and iron Ponies, A Chronicle of the Narrow Guages, bay Books limited, San Francisco, 1949.

Snowden, Clinton A., History of Washington, The Rise and Progress of an American State, Vols. I, II, III, and IV, The Century History Co., New York, 1909.

Speck, Gordon, Northwest Explorations. Binfords & Mort, Portland, Ore., 1954.

Strong, Thomas Nelson, Cathlamet on the Columbia. Binfords, & Mort, Portland, Ore., 1906. 346 The Lumberman^ Statistical Review and Directory of the Western Forest Industrie 3 , The Lumberman, S e a ttle , 1950»

The Lumberman Handbook and D irectory of Western Forest I n d u s tr ie s , The Lumberman, S e a ttle , 1952.

The Oregonian*s Handbook of the Pacific Northwest, The Oregonian Publishing Co., Portland, Ore., 1894.

Thomas, Edward Harper, Chinook, A H istory and D ictionary of the Northwest Coast Trade Jargon, Metropolitan Press, Portland, Ore., 1935- Thwaltes, Reuben Gold, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, l804-l8067 8 Volumes, DocTd, Mead, & Co., New York, 1905.- Told By the Pioneers, 3 Volumes, prepared under a project directed by Secy, of State, E. N. Hutchinson, Olympia, 1937. Wagner, Henry R., The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year l80o, Vols. I arid 'II, University o f‘California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1937.

Wilkes, Charles, U.S.N., Commander of Expedition, Narra- tlve of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years I 8 3 B, ~l839, 184-0, 1841, 13^27'^Volume V and A tlas, Lea & Blanchard, Philadelphia, 1845.

Williams, L. R., Chinook By the Sea, Kilham Stationery and Printing Co., Portland, Ore., 1924.

Idem, Our P acific County, The Raymond H erald, Raymond, Wash., 1930.

Winther, 0. 0., The Great Northwest, Second Edition, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1952.

Periodical and Newspaper Articles

Bailey, Robert, "Tells Story of South Bend Boom Days," South Bend Journal, August 9 , 1940, pp. 6 -8 .

Bush, L. L., "Oystering on Willapa Bay," Willapa Harbor Pilot, ("Oyster Edition"), 1906, p. 7 . 3^7

’’Chehalis to Shoalwater Bay, 11 West Shore, March 8 , 1890, pp. 209-311. Coan, C. F., ’’The First Stage of the Federal Indian Policy In the Pacific Northwest, 1849-52,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 22, 1921, pp. 46486.

Colbert, Mildred, ”Namlng and Early Settlement of Ilwaco, Washington,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 47, 1946, p p . 3 4 -8 9 .

•’Fiftieth Anniversary Edition,” South Bend Journal, August 9, 1940.

Gile, Alhion, ’’Notes on Columbia River Salmon,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 61, pp. 140-153. Idem, ”01d Oysterville, ” South Bend Journal, August 5, 1954, p. 2 . ’’Journal of John Work, November and December 1824,” Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 3, 1908, pp. 1 9 8 - 228 ^

”Letters of Charles Stevens,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 37, 1936, pp. 137-159. Lucia, Ellis and Fassett, Roy, ’’Old Oysterville,” North- west Living Magazine, Sunday Oregon Journal, March~l43 1955", p T b .

McArthur, L.A., ’’Survey of Pacific City,” Oregon Histori- cal Quarterly, Vol. 16, 1915, p. 2 7 3 .

McDonald, L ucile, ”A Pioneer Mansion D ie s ,” South Bend Journal, (Reprint from The Seattle Sunday Times Magazine), September 8 , 1949, p. 7.

Idem, ”A Swimming Pool for Baby Oysters,” The Seattle Sunday Times Magazine, September 18, 1955, p. 2. Idem, ’’Old Records Tell Stories of Pacific County's Past,” The S e a ttle Sunday Times Magazine, December 20, 1953, p. 4.

Idem, ’’The Sea vs. Tokeland,” The Seattle Sunday Tlme 3 Magazine, July 3 , 1955, p. 10. 348

° I d®m* ’’Washington's Cape Cod,” The S e a ttle Sunday Tlme 3 Magazine, October 27, 1946, p. 3.

Merk, Frederick, ’’The Oregon Pioneers and the Boundary,” American Historical Review, Vol. 29* 1924, pp. 681-699.

”No Pulp Mill Now, Weyerhaeuser Says; River Flow Blamed,” South Bend Jo u rn a l, A pril 7, 1955* P- ’’Pacific County and Its Resources,” South Bend Journal, South Bend, Wash., 1910.

’’Pacific County Centennial Anniversary Special Edition,” South Bend Journal, August 9 , 1951*

’’Pacific County Edition,” South Bend Journal, 1900.

’’Pacific County, Washington, The Coast, 1903, pp. 27-34. Raymond, Mrs. L. V., ’’Raymond's E arly H is to ry ,” The Raymond H erald, June 3, 1949* p* 6 .

Simon, John E ., ’’Wilhelm K eil and the Communist C o lo n ie s,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 3 6 , 1935* pp» 136-139. ”South Bend, Washington,” West Shore, May 24, 1890, p. 6 5 8 .

Staeger, Carl, "Lewis-Pacific 'Border Towns,'” South Bend Journal, issues of January 27* 1955* P* 4, and F eb ru ary '3, 1955* P* 2 . Tompkins, W. A., "Oysterville, 1840-97*” Oregon Histori­ cal Quarterly, Vol. 33* 1932, p. I 6 O-I6 3 . Turner, Frank* Auld Lang Syne, series of historical ar­ ticles in The Tribune, Ilwaco, Wash., 1948-1955.

Van Brunt, Norman, "O ysterville is Lone Survivor of County's First Towns,” South Bend Journal, August 9, 1951, p. 5 .

Van Cleef, Eugene, "The Finns of the Pacific Coast of the United States, and Consideration of the Problem of Scien­ t i f i c Land S e ttle m e n t,” Annals, Assoc, of Amer. G eogrs., voi, 3 0 , 1 9 4 0, pp. 2 5 -3 8 . 349 Vinnedge, R. W., "The Genesis of the Pacific Northwest Lumber Industry and I t s Developments,” The Timberman, December, Vol. 24, 1923* PP* 37-52. ''Washington Territorial Centennial Number,” Research Studies of the State College of Washington, Vol. 21, No. 2, Pullman, Washington, 1953*

Welsh, John T., "Pioneers, An address delivered at Bay Center, Wash., August 10, 1930,” Willapa Harbor Publish­ ing Company, South Bend, Wash., 1931* Wiegardt, Fred, ”C. of C. Told of 100 Years of Oyster- ing,” South Bend Journal, February 1, 1951> P« !• "Willapa Harbor," Souvenir Edition, South Bend Journal, 1891 .

Original Manuscripts and Unpublished Material

"Audit Report of The Seattle Daily Times," Audit Bureau of Circulations, Chicago, 111., 1947. 1951* and 1955* Barstow, Charles, "Some Experiences in the Territorial Legislature, 1863-1872," manuscript on file in the South Bend Public L ibrary, South Bend, Wash.

Clark, Hope Wilson, "The Bay Center Story," manuscript on f i l e in Raymond Public L ibrary, Raymond, Wash.

Esveldt, Geo. D., "A Review of the Oyster Industry of the State of Washington," (mimeo), South Bend, Wash., Nov. 29, 1948.

Glle, Albion, "The Early Pioneers of Pacific County," manuscript on file in Raymond Public Library, Raymond, Wash.

"History of Paulding and Soule Families,” manuscript on f i l e in Raymond Public L ibrary , Raymond, Wash.

Letters of William Keil, 1 8 5 5 -1 8 7 0 , (duplicated), on file in Raymond Public L ibrary, Raymond, Wash.

Minutes, Pacific County Historical Society, 1948-1955. 350 Pacific County, Washington, A. general Appraisal of Its Economic Position, prepai^d by Ivan Bloch and Associates, Portland, Ore., for Public Utility District No. 2 of Pacific County, Raymond, Wash., August, 1949.

Tyyska, Lorraine, Marie, "Naselle is Growing,*' manu­ s c rip t on f i l e a t Raymond Public L ibrary, Raymond, Wash., Nov. 21, 1954.

Wentworth, Mrs. Lydia, "The Smith Creek Pioneers," paper read before Pacific County Historical Society, South Bend, April 20, 1955; manuscript on file at Raymond Public L ibrary, Raymond, Wash.

Wiegardt, John, "Early Day Bruceport," manuscript in files of Pacific County Historical Society, Seaview, Wash.

Maps and Sketches

Map of Pacific County, Washington, by Theo. Rixon, Civ. Eng., South Bend, Wash., 1894.

Map of Pacific County, Washington, Capital Map & Blueprint Co., Olympia, Nov., 1921.

Map of Pacific County, Washington, Capital Map & Blueprint Co., Olympia, 1926.

Map of Pacific County, Washington, Raymond Land and Im­ provement Co., Raymond, Wash., 1 9 0 6.

Map of The Columbia River Entrance; The Wrecks, and a Marine History of Its Development, K. McBean, Astoria, Ore., 1936.

Map of Washington, J. K. Gill & Co., Portland, Oregon, I 8 8 9 . Map of Willapa Bay, Washington, Showing Oyster Land, H. A. Gibbs, Civ. Eng., South Bend, Wash., 1937.

Map Showing Land Grant of Northern Pacific Railroad Com­ pany in Western Washington and Northern Oregon, Northern Pacific Railroad Co., St. Paul, Minn., 1888. 351. Metakei^s Atlas of Pacific County, Washington, Charles F. Metsker, Tacoma, Wash., 1941, revised 1953* Sectional Map of Western Washington, W. H. Pumphrey, Philadelphia, 1892.

Southwest Washington, (oblique aerial sketch), The Kennedy Co., Seattle, 1913*

Washington and Oregon, J. H. Colton & Co., New York, 1856.

Washington Territory, Lowman & Hanford, Seattle, W.T., 1886 .

Map of Washington Territory, West of the Cascade Moun­ tains, Chas. A. White, Civ. Eng., G. W. and C. B. Colton & Co., New York, I87O. o

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I, Jean Hazeltine, was born in South Bend,

Washington, December 1 5 , 1929* I received my secondary education in the public schools of South Bend, Washington.

My undergraduate training was obtained at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, from which institution I received the

Bachelor of Art 3 degree in 1951. Prom The Ohio S tate University I received the Master of Arts degree in 1952.

During the academic years of 1952-53, 1953-54, and 1 9 5 4-

55 I served as Graduate Assistant in the Department of

Geography at The Ohio State University. For the academic year of 1955-56 I received an appointment as University Scholar and held this position while completing the re­ quirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

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