Number 1 November 2016 Welcome to our first issue! How the Northern Pacific Railroad A Perfect Day for Flying—Charles Came to Thurston County Lindbergh Soars Over Thurston County Nancy Jim Parsons: The Life and Happy 50th Birthday, Lacey! Legacy of a Cowlitz-Nisqually A Photo Essay Native American Basket Weaver Number 1 Table of Contents November 2016 3 The Genesis of the County Journal Charles B. Roe, Gerry L. Alexander, Shanna Stevenson, Janine Gates, and Carter Hick 4 From the Editor Karen L. Johnson 5 How the Northern Pacific Railroad Came to Thurston County James S. Hannum, M.D. 21 Can You Identify This Photo? 23 Nancy Jim Parsons: The Life and Legacy of a Cowlitz-Nisqually Native American Basket Weaver Drew W. Crooks 35 A Perfect Day for Flying—Charles Lindbergh Soars Over Thurston County Karen L. Johnson 43 Happy 50th Birthday, Lacey! A Photo Essay Erin Quinn Valcho On the cover: In 1927, Charles Lindbergh and his airplane Spirit of St. Louis soar over the State Capitol building while Olympia residents crowd the roofs of nearby structures. See story on page 35. Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives: Lindbergh over the Capitol Building, 1927, by Vibert Jeffers, Susan Parish Photo- graph Collection. 1 THURSTON COUNTY HISTORICAL JOURNAL The Thurston County Historical Journal is dedicated to recording and celebrating the history of Thurston County. The Journal is published by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation in cooperation with a wide range of public and private entities within Thurston County. Publisher Editor Olympia Tumwater Foundation Karen L. Johnson John Freedman, Executive Director 360 -890-2299 Katie Hurley, President, Board of Trustees [email protected] 110 Deschutes Parkway SW P.O. Box 4098 Editorial Committee Tumwater, Washington 98501 Drew W. Crooks 360-943-2550 Janine Gates www.olytumfoundation.org James S. Hannum, M.D. Erin Quinn Valcho Submission Guidelines The Journal welcomes factual articles dealing with any aspect of Thurston County history. Please contact the editor before submitting an article to determine its suitability for publica- tion. Articles on previously unexplored topics, new interpretations of well-known topics, and personal recollections are preferred. Articles may range in length from 100 words to 10,000 words, and should include source notes and suggested illustrations. Submitted articles will be reviewed by the editorial committee and, if chosen for publication, will be fact-checked and may be edited for length and content. The Journal regrets that authors cannot be monetarily compensated, but they will gain the gratitude of readers and the historical community for their contributions to and appreciation of local history. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation Written permission is required to reproduce any part of this publication. Copyright © 2016 by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. All rights reserved. ISSN 2474-8048 2 THE GENESIS OF THE C OUNTY JOURNAL Charles B. Roe, Gerry L. Alexander, Shanna Stevenson, Janine Gates, and Carter Hick Thurston County Journal Project Committee of the Board of Trustees, Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum Many counties in Washington pub- Olympia Tumwater Foundation, lish a periodic journal in order to St. Martin’s University, memorialize their history. Despite South Sound Heritage Association, the rich history of Thurston County, South Thurston County Historical no such journal has existed here. Society, This journal is designed to overcome Squaxin Island Tribe, that glaring omission. Thurston County, and Tumwater Historical Association The effort to publish a history jour- nal for Thurston County began in At these meetings, enthusiastic sup- the summer of 2015 when the board port developed for publication of a of the Olympia Historical Society county history journal. and Bigelow House Museum formed a Journal Committee. Shortly there- Despite the unanimity of thought on after, the Committee approached the need for such a journal, the rep- other historical associations and in- resentatives of the various organiza- terested private and governmental tions and entities spent considerable entities within Thurston County time addressing practical issues with a proposal to discuss the col- such as the need for a journal man- lective publication of a history jour- ager-publisher, an editorial board, nal for the county. Over the suc- and long-term sustainable funding. ceeding year, meetings were held at Fortunately, the Olympia Tumwater which the following organizations Foundation volunteered to initially and entities were represented: fill the management position. On the financial front, the organizations Chehalis Indian Tribe, and entities unanimously agreed City of Lacey, that funding for an initial “pilot jour- City of Olympia, nal” should be secured in order to Daughters of the Pioneers of demonstrate to potential funders ex- Washington, actly what form the journal would Lacey Historical Society, take. Thanks to the generosity of the Old Brewhouse Foundation, following groups and entities for Olympia Historical Society and their financial support which has Bigelow House Museum, made this first edition a reality: 3 City of Lacey, approached about publishing this City of Olympia, journal, John readily agreed, initial- Olympia Historical Society and ly offering the use of OTF office Bigelow House Museum, space and equipment to whomever Olympia Tumwater Foundation, might be chosen as editor, and sub- Tumwater Historical Association, sequently allowing me to serve as and individual donors editor in addition to my regular du- ties as curator of the Schmidt A regularly published journal, which House archives. contains articles about the history of Thurston County, is much needed. Thanks are also due to the groups Its existence will enrich the lives of and individuals who donated funds all who presently live in the county making the publication of this pilot as well as those who will live here in issue possible (see list at left). the future. Thanks too to those who agreed to We hope you enjoy perusing this serve on the editorial committee: first issue of the journal and invite Drew Crooks, Erin Quinn Valcho, you to join us in supporting its per- Jim Hannum, and Janine Gates. manent presence in historically sig- This group has reviewed, edited and nificant Thurston County. proofed the following articles (in ad- dition to having written them!). ____________________ I invite you to submit articles about any aspect of county history, in- FROM THE EDITOR cluding personal recollections. The articles should be factual, well- In the preceding article about the researched, and well-sourced. If genesis of this historical journal, no you have an idea for an article, but mention is made of the fact that don’t feel you have the necessary Charlie Roe was the spark plug for writing skills, our team may be able this whole idea. Although many indi- to help. If you love to write but viduals, groups and government en- don’t have a compelling subject, tities have taken part (and I hope our team may be able to help there, will continue to participate), Charlie too. Unfortunately, the Journal can- deserves primary credit. Gerry Alex- not pay authors for their articles. ander and Shanna Stevenson, among others, have had a hand in Please contact me if you have cor- this venture from nearly its incep- rections to or comments about the tion. Journal. I also thank John Freedman, execu- Karen L. Johnson tive director of the Olympia Tum- 360-890-2299 water Foundation (OTF). When [email protected] 4 HOW THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD CAME TO THURSTON COUNTY James S. Hannum, M.D. INTRODUCTION Construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad in western Washington be- gan in 1871 along the Columbia Riv- er, at a place which shortly became known as Kalama. That settlement was the southern terminal for this earliest local segment of the railroad. At the time, a second terminal had not been selected, although plans called for it to be sited somewhere on Puget Sound. By 1873, Tacoma had been chosen as the northern terminal, and regularly scheduled trains began running between Kala- ma and Tacoma in May 1874. These historical facts, as they relate to Thurston County, are best under- stood by describing the background in which these events occurred. Ear- ly on, the residents of the county fully expected that the northern ter- minal of the railroad would be in Thurston County. Speculation in land was rampant, especially in Isaac Ingalls Stevens, who led an 1853 1871. The mood of the business survey party to determine the route for a community ranged from manic that northern transcontinental railroad. This year to profound depression in the photograph was made December 31, latter half of the next, when it be- 1861. Stevens was killed in September came apparent that the Puget Sound 1862 at the Battle of Chantilly, Virginia. terminal would be somewhere far- Photo courtesy of Library of Congress: ther north. Prints and Photographic Division, digital ID cwpb.00757, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, photographer. 5 CONGRESS AUTHORIZES A NORTHERN Congress chartered the Northern Pa- TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD cific Railroad Company (NP) in 1864. President Lincoln signed the legisla- To understand the events that oc- tion on July 2 of the same year, but curred in the 1870s, it is helpful to the country was preoccupied with look back at 1853, the first year of the Civil War and construction did the Franklin Pierce presidency. not begin until several years later. A Pierce and Isaac Ingalls Stevens novel plan was used to build the were former classmates at West line, with work commencing at both Point and Stevens had supported the east (Duluth, Minnesota) and Pierce’s bid for the presidency in west (Kalama, Washington Territory) 1852. Stevens was rewarded for his ends of the railroad. The most support by being appointed the first daunting problem faced by the fledg- governor of Washington Territory.