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
spoken as _ky_ in silky. Alki means "by and by."
It doth truly fret the soul of the old settler to see it printed and
hear it pronounced Al-ki.
The first movement toward its occupancy was on this wise: A small
detachment of the advancing column of settlers, D. T. Denny and J. N.
Low, left Portland on the Willamette, on the 10th of September, 1851,
with two horses carrying provisions and camp outfit.
These men walked to the Columbia River to round up a band of cattle
belonging to Low. The cattle were ferried over the river at Vancouver
and from thence driven over the old Hudson Bay Company's trail to the
mouth of Cowlitz River, a tributary of the Columbia, up the Cowlitz to
Warbass Landing and on to Ford's prairie, a wide and rich one, where the
band were left to graze on the luxuriant pasturage.
On a steep, rocky trail along the Cowlitz River, Denny was following
along not far behind a big, yellow ox that was scrambling up, trying
vainly to get a firm foothold, when Low, foreseeing calamity, called to
him to "Look out!" Denny swerved a little from the path and at that
moment the animal lost its footing and came tumbling past them, rolling
over several times until it landed on a lower level, breaking off one of
its horns. Here was a narrow escape although not from a wild beast. They
could not then stop to secure the animal although it was restored to the
flock some time after.
From Ford's prairie, although footsore and weary, they kept on their way
until Olympia was reached. It was a long tramp of perhaps two hundred
fifty miles, the exact distance could not be ascertained as the trail
was very winding.
As described by one of our earliest historians, Olympia then consisted
of about a dozen one-story frame cabins, covered with split cedar
siding, well ventilated and healthy, and perhaps twice as many Indian
huts near the custom house, as Olympia was then the port of entry for
Puget Sound.
The last mentioned structure afforded space on the ground floor for a
store, with a small room partitioned off for a postoffice.
Our two pioneers found here Lee Terry, who had been engaged in loading a
sailing vessel with piles. He fell in with the two persistent
pedestrians and thus formed a triumvirate of conquerors of a new world.
The pioneers tarried not in the embryo city but pushed on farther down
the great Inland Sea.
With Captain Fay and several others they embarked in an open boat, the
Captain, who owned the boat, intending to purchase salmon of the Indians
for the San Francisco market. Fay was an old whaling captain. He
afterwards married Mrs. Alexander, a widow of Whidby Island, and lived
there until his death.
The little party spent their first night on the untrod shores of
Sgwudux, the Indian name of the promontory now occupied by West Seattle,
landing on the afternoon of September 25th, 1851, and sleeping that
night under the protecting boughs of a giant cedar tree.
On the 26th, Low, Denny and Terry hired two young Indians of Chief
Sealth's (Seattle's) tillicum (people), who were camped near by, to take
them up the Duwampsh River in a canoe. Safely seated, the paddles dipped
and away they sped over the dancing waves. The weather was fair, the air
clear and a magnificent panorama spread around them. The whole
forest-clad encircling shores of Elliott Bay, untouched by fire or ax,
the tall evergreens thickly set in a dense mass to the water's edge
stood on every hand. The great white dome of Mount Rainier, 14,444 feet
high, before them, toward which they traveled; behind them, stretched
along the western horizon, Towiat or Olympics, a grand range of
snow-capped mountains whose foothills were covered with a continuous
forest.
Entering the Duwampsh River and ascending for several miles they reached
the farther margin of a prairie where Low and Terry, having landed, set
out over an Indian trail through the woods, to look at the country,
while Denny followed on the river with the Indians. On and on they went
until Denny became anxious and fired off his gun but received neither
shot nor shout in answer. The day waned, it was growing dark, and as he
returned the narrow deep river took on a melancholy aspect, the great
forest was gloomy with unknown fears, and he was alone with strange,
wild men whose language was almost unintelligible. Nevertheless, he
landed and camped with them at a place known afterward as the Maple
Prairie.
Morning of the 27th of September saw them paddling up the river again in
search of the other two explorers, whom they met coming down in a canoe.
They had kept on the trail until an Indian camp was reached at the
junction of Black and Duwampsh Rivers the night before. All returned to
Sgwudux, their starting point, to sleep under the cedar tree another
night.
On the evening of the 27th a scow appeared and stopped near shore where
the water was quite deep. Two women on board conversed with Captain Fay
in Chinook, evidently quite proud of their knowledge of the trade jargon
of the Northwest. The scow moved on up Elliott Bay, entered Duwampsh
River and ascended it to the claim of L. M. Collins, where another
settlement sprang into existence.
On the 28th the pioneers moved their camp to Alki Point or Sma-qua-mox
as it was named by the Indians.
Captain Fay returned from down the Sound on the forenoon of the 28th.
That night, as they sat around the campfire, the pioneers talked of
their projected building and the idea of split stuff was advanced, when
Captain Fay remarked, "Well, I think a log house is better in an Indian
country."
"Why, do you think there is any danger from the Indians?" he was quickly
asked.
"Well," he replied, with a sly twinkle in his eye, "It would keep off
the stray bullets when they _poo mowich_" (shoot deer).
These hints, coupled with subsequent experiences, awoke the anxiety of
D. T. Denny, who soon saw that there were swarms of savages to the
northward. Those near by were friendly, but what of those farther away?
One foggy morning, when the distance was veiled in obscurity, the two
young white men, Lee and David, were startled to see a big canoe full
of wild Indians from away down the Sound thrust right out of the dense
fog; they landed and came ashore; the chief was a tall, brawny fellow
with a black beard. They were very impudent, crowding on them and trying
to get into the little brush tent, but Lee Terry stood in the door-way
leaning, or braced rather, against the tree upon which one end of the
frail habitation was fastened. The white men succeeded in avoiding
trouble but they felt inwardly rather "shaky" and were much relieved
when their rude visitors departed. These Indians were Skagits.
The brush shelter referred to was made of boughs laid over a pole placed
in the crotch of another pole at one end, the other end being held by a
crotch fastened to a tree. In it was placed their scanty outfit and
supplies, and there they slept while the cabin was building.
A townsite was located and named "New York," which no doubt killed the
place, exotics do not thrive in the Northwest; however, the name was
after changed to Alki.
D. T. Denny and Lee Terry were left to take care of the "townsite" while
J. N. Low returned with Captain Fay to Olympia and footed it over the
trail again to the Columbia. He carried with him a letter to A. A. Denny
in Portland, remarkable as the first one penned by D. T. Denny on Puget
Sound, also in that upon it and the account given by Low depended the
decision of the rest of the party to settle on the shores of the great
Inland Sea. The substance of the letter was, "Come as soon as you can;
we have found a valley that will accommodate one thousand families,"
referring to that of the Duwampsh River.
These two, David T. Denny and Lee Terry, proceeded to lay the foundation
of the first cabin built on Elliott Bay and also the first in King
County. Their only tools were an ax and a hammer. The logs were too
heavy for the two white men to handle by themselves, and after they were
cut, passing Indians, muscular braves, were called on to assist, which
they willingly did, Mr. Denny giving them bread as a reward, the same
being an unaccustomed luxury to them.
Several days after the foundation was laid, L. M. Collins and "Nesqually
John," an Indian, passed by the camp and rising cabin, driving oxen
along the beach, on their way to the claim selected by Collins on the
fertile banks of the Duwampsh River.
When D. T. Denny and Lee Terry wrote their names on the first page of
our history, they could not fully realize the import of their every act,
yet no doubt they were visionary. Sleeping in their little brush tent at
night, what dreams may have visited them! Dreams, perhaps, of fleets of
white-winged ships with the commerce of many nations, of busy cities, of
throngs of people. Probably they set about chopping down the tall fir
trees in a cheerful mood, singing and whistling to the astonishment of
the pine squirrels and screech owls thus rudely disturbed. Their camp
equipage and arrangements were of the simplest and rudest and Mr. Denny
relates that Lee Terry would not cook so he did the cooking. He made a
"johnny cake" board of willow wood to bake bread upon.
Fish and game were cooked before the camp fire. The only cooking vessel
was a tin pail.
One evening Old Duwampsh Curley, whose Indian name was Su-whalth, with
several others, visited them and begged the privilege of camping near
by. Permission given, the Indians built a fire and proceeded to roast a
fine, fat duck transfixed on a sharp stick, placing a large clam shell
underneath to catch the gravy. When it was cooked to their minds, Curley
offered a choice cut to the white men, who thanked him but declined to
partake, saying that they had eaten their supper.
Old Curley remembered it and in after years often reminded his white
friend of the incident, laughing slyly, "He! He! Boston man halo tikke
Siwash muck-a-muck" (white man do not like Indian's food), knowing
perfectly well the reason they would not accept the proffered dainty.
J. N. Low had returned to Portland and Terry went to Olympia on the
return trip of Collins' scow, leaving David T. Denny alone with "New
York," the unfinished cabin and the Indians. For three weeks he was the
sole occupant and was ill a part of the time.
Meanwhile, the families left behind had not been idle, but having made
up their minds that the end of their rainbow rested on Puget Sound, set
sail on the schooner "Exact," with others who intended to settle at
various points on the Inland Sea, likewise a party of gold hunters bound
for Queen Charlotte's Island.
They were one week getting around Cape Flattery and up the Sound as far
as Alki Point. It was a rough introduction to the briny deep, as the
route covered the most tempestuous portion of the northwest coast. Well
acquainted as they were with prairie schooners, a schooner on the ocean
was another kind of craft and they enjoyed (?) their first experience of
seasickness crossing the bar of the Columbia. As may be easily imagined,
the fittings were not of the most luxurious kind and father, mother and
the children gathered socially around a washing tub to pay their
respects to Neptune.
The gold miners, untouched by mal de mer, sang jolly songs and played
cards to amuse themselves. Their favorite ditty was the round "Three
Blind Mice" and they sang also many good old campmeeting songs. Poor
fellows! they were taken captive by the Indians of Queen Charlotte's
Island and kept in slavery a number of years until Victorians sent an
expedition for their rescue, paid their ransom and they were released.
[Illustration: BARGAINING WITH INDIANS AT ALKI, 1851]
On a dull November day, the thirteenth of the month, this company
landed on Alki Point.
There were A. A. Denny, his wife, Mary Boren Denny, and their three
little children; Miss Louisa Boren, a younger sister of Mrs. Denny; C.
D. Boren and his family; J. N. Low, Mrs. Low and their four children and
Wm. N. Bell, Mrs. Sarah Bell and their family.
John and Sarah Denny with their little daughter, Loretta, remained in
Oregon for several years and then removed to the Sound.
On that eventful morning the lonely occupant of the unfinished cabin was
startled by an unusual sound, the rattling of an anchor chain, that of
the "Exact." Not feeling well he had the night before made some hot tea,
drank it, piled both his own and Lee Terry's blankets over him and slept
long and late. Hearing the noise before mentioned he rose hastily,
pushed aside the boards leaned up for a door and hurried out and down to
the beach to meet his friends who left the schooner in a long boat. It
was a gloomy, rainy time and the prospect for comfort was so poor that
the women, except the youngest who had no family cares, sat them down on
a log on the beach and wept bitter tears of discouragement. Not so with
Miss Louisa Boren, whose lively curiosity and love of nature led her to
examine everything she saw, the shells and pebbles of the beach, rank
shrubbery and rich evergreens that covered the bank, all so new and
interesting to the traveler from the far prairie country.
But little time could be spent, however, indulging in the luxury of woe
as all were obliged to exert themselves to keep their effects from being
carried away by the incoming tide and forgot their sorrow in busily
carrying their goods upon the bank; food and shelter must be prepared,
and as ever before they met the difficulties courageously.
The roof of the cabin was a little imperfect and one of the pioneer
children was rendered quite uncomfortable by the more or less regular
drip of the rain upon her and in after years recalled it saying that she
had forever after a prejudice against camping out.
David T. Denny inadvertantly let fall the remark that he wished they had
not come. A. A. Denny, his brother, came to him, pale with agitation,
asking what he meant, and David attempted to allay his fears produced by
anxiety for his helpless family, by saying that the cabin was not
comfortable in its unfinished state.
The deeper truth was that the Sound country was swarming with Indians.
Had the pioneers fully realized the risk they ran, nothing would have
induced them to remain; their very unconsciousness afterward proved a
safeguard.
The rainy season was fairly under way and suitable shelter was an
absolute necessity.
Soon other houses were built of round fir logs and split cedar boards.
The householders brought quite a supply of provisions with them on the
"Exact;" among other things a barrel of dried apples, which proved
palatable and wholesome. Sea biscuit, known as hard-bread, and potato
bread made of mashed potatoes and baked in the oven were oft times
substitutes for or adjuncts of the customary loaf.
There was very little game in the vicinity of the settlement and at
first they depended on the native hunters and fishermen who brought
toothsome wild ducks and venison, fresh fish and clams in abundance.
One of the pioneers relates that some wily rascals betrayed them into
eating pieces of game which he afterward was convinced were cut from a
cougar. The Indians who brought it called it "mowich" (deer), but the
meat was of too light a color for either venison or bear, and the
conformation of the leg bones in the pieces resembled _felis_ rather
than _cervus_.
But the roasts were savory, it was unseemly to make too severe an
examination and the food supply was not then so certain as to permit
indulgence in an over-nice discrimination.
The inventive genius of the pioneer women found generous exercise in the
manufacture of new dishes. The variations were rung on fish, potatoes
and clams in a way to pamper epicures. Clams in fry, pie, chowder, soup,
stew, boil and bake--even pickled clams were found an agreeable relish.
The great variety of food fishes from the kingly salmon to the tiny
smelt, with crabs, oysters, etc., and their many modes of preparation,
were perpetually tempting to the pioneer appetite.
The question of food was a serious one for the first year, as the
resources of this land of plenty were unknown at first, but the pushing
pioneer proved a ready and adaptable learner.
Flour, butter, syrup, sugar, tea and coffee were brought at long
intervals over great distances by sailing vessels. By the time these
articles reached the settlement their value became considerable.
Game, fish and potatoes were staple articles of diet and judging from
the stalwart frames of the Indians were safe and substantial.
Trading with the Indians brought about some acquaintance with their
leading characteristics.
On one occasion, the youngest of the white women, Louisa Boren,
attempted to barter some red flannel for a basket of potatoes.
The basket of "wapatoes" occupied the center of a level spot in front of
the cabin, backed by a semicircle of perhaps twenty-five Indians. A
tall, bronze tyee (chief) stood up to wa-wa (talk). He wanted so much
cloth; stretching out his long arms to their utmost extent, fully two
yards.
"No," she said, "I will give you so much," about one yard.
"Wake, cultus potlatch" (No, that is just giving them away) answered the
Indian, who measured several times and insisted that he would not trade
for an inch less. Out of patience at last, she disdainfully turned her
back and retired inside the cabin behind a mat screen. No amount of
coaxing from the savages could induce her to return, and the
disappointed spectators filed off, bearing their "hyas mokoke" (very
valuable) potatoes with them, no doubt marveling at the firmness of the
white "slanna" (woman).
A more successful deal in potatoes was the venture of A. A. Denny and J.
N. Low, who traveled from Alki to Fort Nesqually, in a big canoe manned
by four Indians and obtained fifty bushels of little, round, red
potatoes grown by Indians from seed obtained from the "Sking George"
men. The green hides of beeves were spread in the bottom of the canoe
and the potatoes piled thereon.
Returning to Alki it was a little rough and the vegetables were well
moistened with salt chuck, as were the passengers also, probably,
deponent saith not.
It is not difficult for those who have traveled the Sound in all kinds
of weather to realize the aptness of the expression of the Chinese cook
of a camping party who were moving in a large canoe; when the waves
began to rise, he exclaimed in agitation, "Too littlee boat for too
muchee big waters." It is well to bear in mind that the "Sound" is a
great inland sea. A tenderfoot's description of the water over which he
floated, the timorous occupant of a canoe, testifies that it looked to
him to be "Two hundred feet deep, as clear as a kitten's eye and as cold
as death."
All the different sorts of canoes of which I shall speak in another
chapter look "wobbly" and uncertain, yet the Indians make long voyages
of hundreds of miles by carefully observing the wind and tide.
A large canoe will easily carry ten persons and one thousand pounds of
baggage. One of these commodious travelers, with a load of natives and
their "ictas" (baggage) landed on a stormy day at Alki and the occupants
spent several hours ashore. While engaged with their meal one of them
exclaimed, "Nannitch!" (look) at the same time pointing at the smoke of
the campfire curling steadily straight upward. Without another word they
tumbled themselves and belongings aboard and paddled off in silent
satisfaction.
The ascending column of smoke was their barometer which read "Fair
weather, no wind."
The white people, unacquainted with the shores, tides and winds of the
great Inland Sea, did well to listen to their Indian canoemen; sometimes
their unwillingness to do so exposed them to great danger and even loss
of life.
The Indians living on Elliott Bay were chiefly the indigenous tribe of
D'wampsh or Duwampsh, changed by white people into "Duwamish."
They gave abundant evidence of possessing human feeling beneath their
rough exterior.
One of the white women at Alki, prepared some food for a sick Indian
child which finally recovered. The child's father, "Old Alki John," was
a very "hard case," but his heart was tender toward his child, and to
show his gratitude he brought and offered as a present to the kind white
"slanna" (woman) a bright, new tin pail, a very precious thing to the
Indian mind. Of course she readily accepted his thanks but persuaded him
to keep the pail.
Savages though they were, or so appeared, the Indians of Elliott Bay
were correctly described in these words:
"We found a race, though rude and wild,
Still tender toward friend or child,
For dark eyes laughed or shone with tears
As joy or sorrow filled the years.
Their black-eyed babes the red men kissed
And captive brothers sorely missed;
With broken hearts brown mothers wept
When babes away by death were swept."
--Song of the Pioneers.
But there were amusing as well as pathetic experiences. The Indians were
like untaught children in many things. Their curiosity over-came them
and their innocent impertinence sometimes required reproof.
In a cabin at Alki one morning, a white woman was frying fish. Warming
by the fire stood "Duwampsh Curley;" the odor of the fish was doubtless
appetizing; Curley was moved with a wish to partake of it and reached
out a dark and doubtful-looking hand to pick out a piece. The white
woman had a knife in her hand to turn the pieces and raised it to strike
the imprudent hand which was quickly and sheepishly withdrawn.
Had he been as haughty and ill-natured as some savages the result might
have been disastrous, but he took the reproof meekly and mended his
manners instead of retaliating.
Now and then the settlers were spectators in dramas of Indian romance.
"Old Alki John" had a wife whose history became interesting. For some
unknown reason she ran away from Puyallup to Alki. Her husband followed
her, armed with a Hudson Bay musket and a frame of mind that boded no
good. While A. A. Denny, D. T. Denny and Alki John were standing
together on the bank one day Old John's observing eye caught sight of a
strange Indian ascending the bank, carrying his gun muzzle foremost, a
suggestive position not indicative of peaceful intentions. "Nannitch"
(look) he said quietly; the stranger advanced boldly, but Old John's
calm manner must have had a soothing effect upon the bloodthirsty
savage, as he concluded to "wa-wa" (talk) a little before fighting.
So the gutturals and polysyllables of the native tongue fairly flew
about until evidently, as Mr. D. T. Denny relates, some sort of
compromise was effected. Not then understanding the language, he could
not determine just the nature of the arrangement, but has always thought
it was amicably settled by the payment of money by "Old Alki John" to
her former husband. This Indian woman was young and fair, literally so,
as her skin was very white, she being the whitest squaw ever seen among
them; her head was not flattened, she was slender and of good figure.
Possibly she had white blood in her veins; her Indian name was
"Si-a-ye."
Being left a widow, she was not left to pine alone very long; another
claimed her hand and she became Mrs. Yeow-de-pump. When this one joined
his brethren in the happy hunting ground, she remained a widow for some
time, but is now the wife of the Indian Zacuse, mentioned in another
place.
There were women cabin builders. Each married woman was given half the
donation claim by patent from the government; improvement on her part of
the claim was therefore necessary.
On a fine, fair morning in the early spring of 1852, two women set forth
from the settlement at Alki, to cross Elliott Bay in a fishing canoe,
with Indians to paddle and a large dog to protect them from possible
wild animals in the forest, for in that wild time, bears, cougars and
wolves roamed the shores of Puget Sound.
Landed on the opposite shore, the present site of Seattle, they made
their way slowly and with difficulty through the dense undergrowth of
the heavy forest, there being not so much as a trail, over a long
distance. Arrived at the chosen spot, they cut with their own hands some
small fir logs and laid the foundation of a cabin. While thus employed
the weather underwent a change and on the return was rather threatening.
The wind and waves were boisterous, the canine passenger was frightened
and uneasy, thus adding to the danger. The water washed into the canoe
and the human occupants suffered no little anxiety until they reached
the beach at home.
One of the conditions of safe travel in a canoe is a quiet and careful
demeanor, the most approved plan being to sit down in the bottom of the
craft and _stay there_.
To have a large, heavy animal squirming about, getting up and lying down
frequently, must have tried their nerve severely and it must have taken
good management to prevent a serious catastrophe. The Bell family were
camped at that time on their claim in a rude shelter of Indian boards
and mats.
The handful of white men at Alki spent their time and energy in getting
out piles for the San Francisco market. At first they had very few
appliances for handling the timber. The first vessel to load was the
brig Leonesa, which took a cargo of piles, cut, rolled and hauled by
hand, as there were no cattle at the settlement.
There were also no roads and Lee Terry went to Puyallup for a yoke of
oxen, which he drove down on the beach to Alki. Never were dumb brutes
better appreciated than these useful creatures.
But the winter, or rather rainy season, wore away; as spring approached
the settlers explored the shores of the Sound far and near and it became
apparent that Alki must wait till "by and by," as the eastern shore of
Elliott Bay was found more desirable and the pioneers prepared to move
again by locating donation claims on a portion of the land now covered
by a widespread city, which will bring us to the next chapter, "The
Founding of Seattle and Indian War."
The following is a brief recapitulation of the first days on Puget
Sound; in these later years we see the rapid and skillful construction
of elegant mansions, charming cottages and stately business houses, all
in sight of the spot where stood the first little cabin of the pioneer.
The builders of this cabin were D. T. Denny, J. N. Low and Lee Terry,
assisted by the Indians, the only tools, an ax and a hammer, the place
Alki Point, the time, the fall of 1851.
They baked their bread before the fire on a willow board hewed from a
piece of a tree which grew near the camp; the only cooking vessel was a
tin pail; the salmon they got off the Indians was roasted before the
fire on a stick.
The cabin was unfinished when the famous landing was made, November
13th, 1851, because J. N. Low returned to Portland, having been on the
Sound but a few days, then Lee Terry boarded Collins' scow on its return
trip up Sound leaving D. T. Denny alone for about three weeks, during
most of which time he was ill. This was Low's cabin; after the landing
of Bell, Boren and A. A. Denny and the others of the party, among whom
were Low and C. C. Terry, a roof was put on the unfinished cabin and
they next built A. A. Denny's and then two cabins of split cedar for
Bell and Boren and their families.
When they moved to the east side of Elliott Bay, Bell's was the first
one built. W. N. Bell and D. T. Denny built A. A. Denny's on the east
side, as he was sick. D. T. Denny had served an apprenticeship in cabin
building, young as he was, nineteen years of age, before he came to
Puget Sound.
The first of D. T. Denny's cabins he built himself with the aid of three
Indians. There was not a stick or piece of sawed stuff in it.
However, by the August following his marriage, which took place January
23rd, 1853, he bought of H. L. Yesler lumber from his sawmill at about
$25.00 per M. to put up a little board house, sixteen by twenty feet
near the salt water, between Madison and Marion streets, Seattle.
This little home was my birthplace, the first child of the first white
family established at Elliott Bay. Mr. and Mrs. D. T. Denny had been
threatened by Indians and their cabin robbed, so thought it best to move
into the settlement.