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BLAZING THE WAY
BLAZING THE WAY
OR TRUE STORIES, SONGS AND SKETCHES OF PUGET SOUND AND OTHER PIONEERS BY EMILY INEZ DENNY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR AND FROM AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS SEATTLE: RAINIER PRINTING COMPANY, Inc. 1909 Copyright 1899 By EMILY INEZ DENNY Published 1909 To My Dear Father and Mother, Faithful Friends and Counselors, Whose pioneer life I shared, This book is affectionately dedicated By THE AUTHOR BLAZING THE WAY. In the early days when a hunter, explorer or settler essayed to tread the mysterious depth
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CHAPTER I CROSSING THE PLAINS.
CHAPTER I CROSSING THE PLAINS.
—Song of the Pioneers. The noble army of courageous, enduring, persistent, progressive pioneers who from time to time were found threading their way across the illimitable wilderness, forty or fifty years ago, in detached companies, often unknown and unknowing each other, have proved conclusively that an age of marvelous heroism is but recently past. The knowledge, foresight, faith and force exhibited by many of these daring men and women proclaimed them endowed with the genius of conquerors. Th
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CHAPTER II DOWN THE COLUMBIA IN ’51.
CHAPTER II DOWN THE COLUMBIA IN ’51.
After eighty days travel over one thousand seven hundred sixty-five miles of road these weary pilgrims reached the mighty river of the West, the vast Columbia. At The Dalles, the road Across the Plains was finished, from thence the great waterways would lead them to their journey’s end. It was there the immigrants first feasted on the delicious river salmon, fresh from the foaming waters. The Indians boiled theirs, making a savory soup, the odor of which would almost have fed a hungry man; the w
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CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENT AT ALKI.
CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENT AT ALKI.
Midway between Port Townsend and Olympia, in full view looking west from the city of Seattle, is a long tongue of land, washed by the sparkling waves of Puget Sound, called Alki Point. It helps to make Elliott Bay a beautiful land-locked harbor and is regarded with interest as being the site of the first settlement by white people in King County in what was then the Territory of Oregon. Alki is an Indian word pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, which is al as in altitude; ki is spo
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CHAPTER IV FOUNDING OF SEATTLE AND INDIAN WAR.
CHAPTER IV FOUNDING OF SEATTLE AND INDIAN WAR.
The most astonishing change wrought in the aspect of nature by the building of a city on Puget Sound is not the city itself but the destruction of the primeval forest. By the removal of the thick timber the country becomes unrecognizable; replaced by thousands of buildings of brick, wood and stone, graded streets, telephone and electric light systems, steam, electric and cable railways and all the paraphernalia of modern civilization, the contrast is very great. The same amount of energy and mon
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>CHAPTER V. THE MURDER OF MCCORMICK.
>CHAPTER V. THE MURDER OF MCCORMICK.
The shores of Lake Union, in Seattle, now surrounded by electric and steam railways, saw mills and manufactories, dwellings and public buildings, were clothed with a magnificent, dense, primeval forest, when the adventurous pioneers first looked upon its mirror-like surface. The shadowy depths of the solemn woods held many a dark and tragic secret; contests between enemies in both brute and human forms were doubtless not infrequently hidden there. Many men came to the far northwest unheralded an
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CHAPTER VI. KILLING COUGARS.
CHAPTER VI. KILLING COUGARS.
It was springtime in an early year of pioneer times. D. T. and Louisa Denny were living in their log cabin in the swale, an opening in the midst of the great forest, about midway between Elliott Bay and Lake Union. Not very far away was their only neighbor, Thomas Mercer, with his family of several young daughters. On a pleasant morning, balmy with the presage of coming summer, as the two pioneers, David T. Denny and Thomas Mercer, wended, their way to their task of cutting timber, they observed
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CHAPTER VII. PIONEER CHILD LIFE.
CHAPTER VII. PIONEER CHILD LIFE.
The very thought of it makes the blood tingle and the heart leap. No element was wanting for romance or adventure. Indians, bears, panthers, far journeys, in canoes or on horseback, fording rivers, camping and tramping, and all in a virgin wilderness so full of grandeur and loveliness that even very little children were impressed by the appearance thereof. The strangeness and newness of it all was hardly understood by the native white children as they had no means of comparing this region and mo
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CHAPTER VIII. MARCHING EXPERIENCES OF ESTHER CHAMBERS.
CHAPTER VIII. MARCHING EXPERIENCES OF ESTHER CHAMBERS.
The following thrilling account, written by herself and first published in the “Weekly Ledger” of Tacoma, Washington, of June 3, 1892, is to be highly commended for its clear and forcible style: “My father, William Packwood, left Missouri in the spring of 1844 with my mother and four children in an ox team to cross the plains to Oregon. “My mother’s health was very poor when we started. She had to be helped in and out of the wagon, but the change by traveling improved her health so much that she
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CHAPTER IX AN OLYMPIA WOMAN’S TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1851.
CHAPTER IX AN OLYMPIA WOMAN’S TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1851.
Mrs. C. J. Crosby of Olympia, Washington, contributes this narrative of her personal experience, to the literature of the Northwest: “It was in the early spring of ’51 that my father took the emigrant fever to come West, to what was then termed Oregon Territory, and get some of Uncle Sam’s land which was donated to any one who had the perseverance and courage to travel six long weary months, through a wild, savage country with storms and floods as well as the terrible heat and dust of summer to
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CHAPTER X. CAPT. HENRY ROEDER ON THE TRAIL.
CHAPTER X. CAPT. HENRY ROEDER ON THE TRAIL.
Capt. Roeder came by steamer to Portland and thence made his way to Olympia overland from the mouth of the Cowlitz River. This was in the winter of 1852. The story of this journey is best told in the words of the veteran pioneer himself, who has narrated his first experiences in the then Territory of Oregon as follows: “In company with R. V. Peabody, I traveled overland from the mouth of the Cowlitz, through the mud to Olympia. We started early in December from Portland. It took us four days to
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CHAPTER II. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND SKETCHES.
CHAPTER II. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND SKETCHES.
JOHN DENNY. As elsewhere indicated, only a few of the leading characters will be followed in their careers. Of these, John Denny is fittingly placed first. John Denny was born of pioneer parents near Lexington, Kentucky, May 4th, 1793. In 1813 he was a volunteer in Col. Richard M. Johnson’s regiment of mounted riflemen, and served through the war, participated in the celebrated battle of the Thames in Canada, where Tecumseh was killed and the British army under Proctor surrendered. Disaster fell
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CHAPTER III. DAVID THOMAS DENNY.
CHAPTER III. DAVID THOMAS DENNY.
David Thomas Denny was the first of the name to set foot upon the shores of Puget Sound. Born in Putnam County, Indiana, March 17th, 1832, he was nineteen years of age when he crossed the plains with his father’s company in 1851. He is a descendant of an ancient family, English and Scotch, who moved to Ireland and thence to America, settling in Berk’s County, Pa. His father was John Denny, a notable man in his time, a soldier of 1812, and a volunteer under William Henry Harrison. The long, rough
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CHAPTER IV THE FIRST WEDDING ON ELLIOTT BAY.
CHAPTER IV THE FIRST WEDDING ON ELLIOTT BAY.
Concerning this notable occurrence many interesting incidents were recorded by an interviewer who obtained the same from the lips of David Thomas Denny. “On January 23rd, 1895, Mr. and Mrs. David T. Denny celebrated their forty-second wedding anniversary—and the anniversary of the first wedding in Seattle—in their home at ‘Decatur Terrace’ (512 Temperance Street), Seattle, with a gathering of children, grandchildren, relatives and friends that represented four distinctive generations. “One of th
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CHAPTER V. LOUISA BOREN DENNY, THE FIRST BRIDE OF SEATTLE,
CHAPTER V. LOUISA BOREN DENNY, THE FIRST BRIDE OF SEATTLE,
Was born in White County, Illinois, on the 1st of June, 1827, and is the daughter of Richard Freeman Boren and Sarah Latimer Boren. Her father, a young Baptist minister, died when she was an infant, and she has often said, “I have missed my father all my life.” A religious nature seems to have been inherited, as she has also said, “I cannot remember when I did not pray to God.” Her early youth was spent on the great prairies, then a veritable garden adorned with many beautiful wild flowers, in t
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CHAPTER Va. A NATIVE DAUGHTER, BORN IN FORT DECATUR.
CHAPTER Va. A NATIVE DAUGHTER, BORN IN FORT DECATUR.
Madge Decatur Denny was born in Fort Decatur, in the year of the Indian war, on March 16th, 1856; to those sheltering walls had the gentle mother, Louisa Boren Denny, fled on the day of battle. Ushered into the world of danger and rude alarms, her nature proved, in its development, one well suited to the circumstances and conditions; courage, steadfastness and intrepidity were marked traits in her character. Far from being outwardly indicated, they were rather contrasted by her delicate and refi
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CHAPTER Vb. LIKE A FOREST FLOWER. ANNA LOUISA DENNY.
CHAPTER Vb. LIKE A FOREST FLOWER. ANNA LOUISA DENNY.
Anna was the fourth daughter of D. T. and Louisa Boren Denny. In infancy she showed a marked talent for music, signifying by her eyes, head and hands her approval of certain tunes, preferring them to all others. Before she was able to frame words she could sing tunes. When a young girl her memory for musical tones was marvelous, enabling her to reproduce difficult strains while yet unable to read the notes. Possessed of a pure, high, flexible soprano voice, her singing was a delight to her frien
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CHAPTER Vc. ONE OF THE COURAGEOUS YOUTHS.
CHAPTER Vc. ONE OF THE COURAGEOUS YOUTHS.
William Richard Boren was one of the boy pioneers. He was born in Seattle on the 4th of October, 1854. The children necessarily shared with their parents and guardians the hardships, dangers, adventures and pleasures of the wild life of the early days. When his father, Carson D. Boren, went to the gold diggings, William came to the D. T. Denny cottage and remained there for some time. As there was then no boy in the family (there were three little girls) he stepped into usefulness almost immedia
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CHAPTER VI. ARTHUR A. DENNY.
CHAPTER VI. ARTHUR A. DENNY.
(Born June 20th, 1822, Died January 9th, 1889.) A ponderous volume of biography could scarcely set forth the journeyings, experiences, efforts, achievements and character of this well-known pioneer of the Northwest Coast. He was one of the foremost of the steadfast leaders of the pioneers. A long, useful and worthy life he spent among men, the far-reaching influence of which cannot be estimated. When he passed away both private citizens and public officials honored him; those who had known him f
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CHAPTER VII. HENRY VAN ASSELT OF DUWAMISH.
CHAPTER VII. HENRY VAN ASSELT OF DUWAMISH.
In the Post-Intelligencer of December 8th and 9th, 1902, appeared the following sketches of this well known pioneer: “At the ripe old age of 85, with the friendship and affection of every man he knew in this life, Henry Van Asselt, one of the founders of King County, and one of the four of the first white men to set foot on the shores of Elliott Bay, died yesterday morning at his home, on Fifteenth Avenue, of paralysis. Mr. Van Asselt, with Samuel and Jacob Maple and L. M. Collins, landed in a c
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CHAPTER VIII. THOMAS MERCER.
CHAPTER VIII. THOMAS MERCER.
Thomas Mercer was born in Harrison county, Ohio, March 11, 1813, the eldest of a large family of children. He remained with his father until he was twenty-one, gaining a common school education and a thorough knowledge of the manufacture of woolen goods. His father was the owner of a well appointed woolen mill. The father, Aaron Mercer, was born in Virginia and was of the same family as General Mercer of revolutionary fame. His mother, Jane Dickerson Mercer, was born in Pennsylvania of an old fa
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CHAPTER IX. DR. HENRY A. SMITH, THE BRILLIANT WRITER.
CHAPTER IX. DR. HENRY A. SMITH, THE BRILLIANT WRITER.
This well known pioneer joined the “mighty nation moving west” in 1852. From Portland, the wayside inn of weary travelers, he pushed on to Puget Sound, settling in 1853 on Elliott Bay, at a place known for many years as Smith’s Cove. Being a gifted writer he has made numerous contributions to northwestern literature, both in prose and poetry. In a rarely entertaining set of papers entitled “Early Reminiscences,” he brings vividly to the minds of his readers the “good old times” on Elliott Bay, a
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CHAPTER X. FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
CHAPTER X. FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
Sealth or “Old Seattle,” a peaceable son of the forest, was of a line of chieftains, his father, Schweabe, or Schweahub, a chief before him of the Suquampsh tribe inhabiting a portion of the west shore of Puget Sound, his mother, a Duwampsh of Elliott Bay, whose name was Wood-sho-lit-sa. Sealth’s birthplace was the famous Oleman House, near the site of which he is now buried. Oleman House was an immense timber structure, long ago inhabited by many Indians; scarcely a vestige of it now remains. I
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CHAPTER I. SAVAGE DEEDS OF SAVAGE MEN.
CHAPTER I. SAVAGE DEEDS OF SAVAGE MEN.
At Bean’s Point, opposite Alki on Puget Sound, an Indian murdered, at night, a family of Indians who were camping there. The Puyallups and Duwampsh came together in council at Bean’s Point, held a trial and condemned and executed the murderer. Old Duwampsh Curley was among the members of this native court and likely Sealth and his counsellors. One of the family escaped by wading out into the water where he might have become very cool, if not entirely cold, if it had not been that Captain Fay and
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CHAPTER II. PIONEER JOKES AND ANECDOTES.
CHAPTER II. PIONEER JOKES AND ANECDOTES.
In early days, the preachers came in for some rather severe criticisms, although the roughest of the frontiersmen had a genuine reverence for their calling. Ministers of the Gospel, as well as others, were obliged to turn the hand to toil with ax and saw. Now these tools require frequent recourse to sharpening processes and the minister with ax on shoulder, requesting the privilege of grinding that useful article on one of the few grindstones in the settlement occasioned no surprise, but when he
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CHAPTER III. TRAILS OF COMMERCE.
CHAPTER III. TRAILS OF COMMERCE.
Samuel L. Simpson wrote this sympathetic poem concerning the old Hudson Bay Company’s steamer Beaver, the first steam vessel on the North Pacific Coast. She came out from London in 1836 and is well remembered by Puget Sound pioneers. In 1889 she went on the rocks in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia. The development of the most easily reached natural resources was necessarily first. The timber and fisheries were a boundless source of wealth in evidence. As early as 1847, a sawmill run with power a
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CHAPTER IV BUILDING OF THE TERRITORIAL UNIVERSITY.
CHAPTER IV BUILDING OF THE TERRITORIAL UNIVERSITY.
Early in 1861, the University Commissioners, Rev. D. Bagley, John Webster and Edmund Carr, selected the site for the proposed building, ten acres in Seattle, described as a “beautiful eminence overlooking Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.” A. A. Denny donated eight and a fraction acres, Terry and Lander, one and a fraction acres. The structure was fifty by eighty feet, two stories in height, beside belfry and observatory. There were four rooms above, including the grand lecture room, thirty-six by ei
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CHAPTER V. A CHEHALIS LETTER, PENNED IN ’52.
CHAPTER V. A CHEHALIS LETTER, PENNED IN ’52.
Mound Prairie, Chehalis River, near Mr. Ford’s Tavern, Lewis County, Oregon Territory. 14 Nov. 1852. My dear Elizabeth: I believe this is the first letter I have addressed to you since we removed from Wisconsin, and I feel truly thankful to say that through the infinite mercy of God both my family and self have been in the enjoyment of excellent, uninterrupted health. The last letter we received from Wisconsin was from my brother Thomas, complaining of our long silence. We found, too, that Mr. J
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CHAPTER VI SOME PIONEERS OF PORT TOWNSEND.
CHAPTER VI SOME PIONEERS OF PORT TOWNSEND.
In Port Townsend and Seattle papers of 1902 appeared the following items of history pertaining to settlers of Port Townsend: “Port Townsend, Feb. 15, 1902.—On Friday, February 21, there is to be held in Port Townsend a reunion of old settlers to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the landing at this place of some of the first white families to settle on Puget Sound north of the little town of Steilacoom. “Much interest is being manifested in the coming celebration among the old-timers on Puge
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CHAPTER VII. PERSONNEL OF THE PIONEER ARMY.
CHAPTER VII. PERSONNEL OF THE PIONEER ARMY.
A long roll of honor I might call of the brave men and women who dared and strove in the wild Northwest of the long ago. If I speak of representative pioneers, those unnamed might be equally typical of the bold army of “forest-felling kings,” “forest-fallers” as well as “fighters,” like those Northland men of old. There are the names of Denny, Yesler, Phillips, Terry, Low, Boren, Butler, Bell, Mercer, Maple, Van Asselt, Horton, Hanford, McConaha, Smith, Maynard, Frye, Blaine and others who felle
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