290429 [Wenatchee Valley; Apple Blossom Festival]

 

Turns out this episode didn't really have anything to do with the Apple Blossom Festivals, which came along later than the period covered by this story.

This tale of the Empire Builders was split into two parts. In the first, a story was told of one Captain Jonathan Thorn and the journeys of the barkentine Tonquin. This was tied to the establishment of Fort Astoria on the Oregon coast. The second tale related the efforts of two of Wenatchee’s earliest settlers and developers, W.T. Clark and Arthur Gunn, to enlist the aid of the GN’s James J. Hill to irrigate the Wenatchee Valley. This development occurred in about 1896-98.

The Tonquin was sent out from New York in 1810 to further the interests of John Jacob Astor and the Pacific Fur Company, and to build a fur-trading fort on the Pacific Coast of the United States. The journey took the ship around Cape Horn at the southern tip of the Americas.

Members of the ship’s complement included several Canadian voyageurs and four partners of the fur company: Alexander McKay, Duncan McDougall, David Stuart and his nephew, Robert Stuart.

Here’s how the Old Timer set the scene in the radio broadcast:

‘Twas long back in the early part of the last century when the Wenatchee Valley was first really settled, an’ the people who settled it came from Astoria, which was then a tradin’ post at the mouth of the Columbia River, where the city of Astoria is today. These Astorians, as they was called, was sent out there by Mr. Astor of New York, who was busy makin’ a fortune out of the fur trade in the northwest, and the first thing I want to tell you about tonight is the story of the voyage out these Astorians made, from there to Wenatchee, jest the way the Astorians did. Well, long in 1810 ‘twas that Mr. Astor made his ship, the Tonquin, ready fer the long voyage. He’d sent up to Canada fer some French voyageurs and some Scotsmen, who was expert in fur tradin’, and this Canadian outfit come whoopin’ down from the north, carryin’ their canoes with ‘em. Finally, they got to the Hudson River, an’ there they launched the canoes, an’ paddled down the river to New York, singin’ their voyageur songs on the way, an’ scandalizin’ all the Dutchmen that lived along the banks. They got to New York all right, an’ on September 6^th, 1810, they sailed fer northwest America. There was McKay, an’ McDougall, an’ David Stuart, an’ his nephew, Robert Stuart, besides the French voyageurs an’ the clerks they’d brought with ‘em. Now, Mr. Astor had put Captain Jonathan Thorn in command of the Tonquin, an’ Thorn, he was thorny! He was a naval lieutenant, on leave from his ship, an’ he was a good sailor, but he believed in havin’ everythin’ done ship-shape an’ nave style, which same appealed very little to these here gentlemen from Canada, who was used to rulin’ their own roosts, an’ doin’ things their own way.

As the Tonquin neared the southern tip of South America, Thorn chose to tie up at the Falkland Islands for repairs, fresh water and other provisions. In the Empire Builders story, however, the ship stops at the Cape Verde Islands – just off the west coast of Africa. In both the radio play and in real life, Thorn grew impatient with some of the shore party and commanded his crew to set sail without them. This did not sit well with some of the men still on the ship.

Here is the exchange as it played out on the radio:

THORN:               Make sail, and away there! There’s an off-shore wind, and I don’t want to lose it!

 

VOICES:               Aye, aye sir! Aye, aye!

R. STUART:          Captain Thorn! . . . Captain Thorn! You’re surely not going to sail without the shore party!

THORN:               I certainly am, Mr. Stuart! They had fair warning yesterday what my intentions were, and they’ve seen fit to disregard them. They can take consequences!

R. STUART:          But Captain, the main purpose of this voyage to get us out to the Columbia River to establish a trading post! If you leave my uncle and the others, your voyage will be useless!

THORN:               No, sir! It will not be useless! I shall at least have taught those fools on shore that an American sea captain is not to be trifled with!

R. STUART:          Look there! They’re following us in the ship’s boat! At least heave to and let them catch up, Captain!

THORN:               No, sir! If they can catch us, well and good! If they can’t let them stay there till they rot!

R. STUART:          Just one minute, Captain Thorn. Now! You will either bring the Tonquin to, and take those men aboard or I’ll shoot!

THORN:               A mutiny, by thunder!

R. STUART:          No, not a mutiny. I’m not one of your crew, and I’m not under your orders. Will you bring the ship to? Answer!

THORN:               My land, yes! I’d bring the whole Noah’s Ark to jest to get rid of your eternal arguing! Ho there! You lads! Heave to, and stand by to pick up the boat!

VOICES:               Aye, aye sir!

R. STUART:          Here they come! Another minute, and they’ll be along side! I was sorry to threaten you, Captain, but there wasn’t anything else to do.

THORN:               Oh, I didn’t care about that pistol of yours, but I’d do anything to stop your mouth! . . . All right! Come aboard there!

Whew! Certain bloodshed, narrowly averted. Now you’re probably wondering how the Old Timer managed to swing the story of the Tonquin and the founding of Fort Astoria into a story of the development of the Wenatchee Valley apple industry. You would not be alone. As awkward as it is, here you go:

PIONEER:            Well, the Tonquin got to the Columbia River all right, an’ a tradin’ post was established right where Astoria is today. They wasn’t content with that though! No, sir! Not that outfit. They hadn’t been there hardly any time at all when they started a pushin’ inland, up the Columbia River, over to the Okanogan, an’ to where Wenatchee is today. It was a wonderful country then, jest as it is now! Of course, what they was after was furs, an’ they got plenty of ‘em! Well, time came finally when people was settlin’ thicker, an’ thinkin’ of other things besides furs. Old Okanogan Smith, he’d been through all the Okanogan an’ Wenatchee country, droppin’ his apple seeds wherever he went, an’ the apple trees hed sprung up till, in the Spring of year, the place was a Paradise of apple blossoms!

Born in Maine, Hiram F. Smith – a.k.a., “Okanogan Smith” – once worked in New York for Horace Greeley and evidently took Greeley’s oft-quoted advice to “Go west, young man.” Seems there’s an asterisk on everything though –Greeley may not have ever said this phrase, or at least perhaps did not coin it. Anyhow, Smith was lured west by the California gold rush, tried gold prospecting in the Fraser River area near Vancouver, B.C., and eventually settled in the Okanogan Valley of Central Washington. He established a remote trading post near what is now the town of Oroville. Smith earned a high degree of respect among many of the Native Americans in the area, due to his fair play and consistency (as contrasted to the behavior of the federal and other government agencies). By the 1860’s, Smith was involved in the government of the Territory of Washington. In 1893, Smith contracted a very bad cold and developed pneumonia after riding his horse all the way from Oroville to Olympia, the state capital. Smith was taken to Seattle for medical treatment, but died there at the age of 64. Among his legacies is the attribution of having first planted (in about 1848 or 1850) the seeds for countless apple trees in the Okanogan Valley, which served as a precursor for the eventual blossoming of the Wenatchee Valley apple industry.

 

Hiram "Okanogan" Smith - Central Washington's answer to Johnny Appleseed

The Great Northern Railway reached Wenatchee in the latter part of 1892. Within months, the GN track workers laid the final rail of the transcontinental line in the Cascade Mountains, near Stevens Pass. So much construction work had made a temporary boom town of Wenatchee, but with the line completed, activity and commerce in the young community waned. Those who had settled there, determined to make a go of it, included a man named Arthur Gunn. He was in the newspaper business in Chicago before moving out to Washington. In Wenatchee, Gunn started a bank. He and another local businessman, William T. Clark, both envisioned an enormous opportunity for agricultural development of the Wenatchee Valley, if only an adequate irrigation system could be devised. The soil was rich but arid, and the climate was nearly perfect for growing fruit trees.



Arthur Gunn

William T. Clark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gunn and Clark had a conversation about their predicament, as dramatized on Empire Builders:

GUNN:                 Well, Clark, do you see any way out of it?

CLARK:                 Not so far. If we can irrigate and develop this country we’ve got the richest apple territory in the world. If we can’t – we’re through.

GUNN:                 It looks that way to me. It’s too late for me to go back to newspaper work in Chicago, but I’ll have to do something. I’m down to rock bottom.

CLARK:                 I know it. So am I. It just doesn’t seem reasonable that there isn’t a solution, but I’ll be hanged if I know what it is.

GUNN:                 There’s one thing, Clark. There is one man that might help us.

CLARK:                 Who do you mean?

GUNN:                 Jim Hill, president of the Great Northern.

CLARK:                 Why should he back us?

GUNN:                 For very obvious reasons. The Great Northern runs through here, and all this territory. If we can found a big apple industry here, it means freight for the road.

After various attempts to get things rolling, Gunn was virtually penniless when he determined the only hope for salvation of the struggling community at Wenatchee was to appeal to James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway. Hill had already made it clear that his intention for building a long-lasting and viable railroad was to construct the line through land rich in resources, and to boost the efforts of those hardy pioneers who had the persistence and gumption to stick things out and build commerce in the newly settled areas of the Pacific Northwest. Gunn finagled a free pass to ride Jim Hill’s train out to St. Paul to talk to him about the plans to irrigate the Wenatchee fruit orchards. Hill was not a man inclined to throw money at the work of fools, but he was sufficiently impressed by Gunn’s entreaty that he elected to support the project.

James J. Hill on the steps of the first locomotive of the GN, the William Crooks

Gunn made it out to St. Paul, and managed to have a meeting with the Great Man.

GUNN:               You know what a wonderful apple country we’ve got out there?

HILL:                  Yes. Why don’t you build it up?

GUNN:               That’s just it! We’ve gone as far as we can. We’ve sunk every penny we’ve got – and it’s not enough. Mr. Hill, if we can put twenty thousand acres of land under cultivation in the next few years we can produce more apples than any other like area in the world. If we can’t – we’re done for. It’s Pike’s Peak or Bust!

HILL:                  Well? What do you want me to do about it?

GUNN:               Back us up! We can put those twenty thousand acres under cultivation providing we can irrigate on a large scale. We’re practically starving. Will you take a chance on us?

HILL:                  Yes, I will! I don’t expect you thought I’d decide as quickly as that, did you? Well, there’s not much that goes on in the Great Northern territory that I don’t know about. The people along my right of way are my people. For their sakes and for mine, I want this to be a productive country. I believe in the northwest. I always have believed in it. That’s why I’ve been watching the fight you people have been making out in Wenatchee, and that’s why my decision was made before you got here. I knew you’d come to me, when you needed me.

Kinda starts sounding a bit like Santa Claus, if you ask me, what with all the “there’s not much that goes on… that I don’t know about” business. [He sees you when you're sleeping - He knows when you're awake - He knows if you've been bad or good - So be good for goodness sake!]

Circa 1910 GN booklet used to entice farmers to settle near Wenatchee

In the broadcast story, Hill told Gunn to send a telegram to Wenatchee and tell them their troubles were over. Hill declared (in the radio story, at least) that in ten years Wenatchee would become the Apple Capital of the World. Twenty-twenty hindsight works well in telling a story. Perhaps in real life Jim Hill really did envision great things for Wenatchee. In any event, that’s how the Old Timer wrapped things up that evening, eighty-five years ago.

PIONEER:            Well, in ten years, or even less than that, they did have the Apple Capital of the World out there in Wenatchee, and by Gum it’s there today. Last year they shipped 22,000 car-loads of apples that brought the growers in about $23,000,000! That’s what Clark, an’ Gunn, an’ Jim Hill did fer that country. Well, folks, I’ve got to be getting’ along now, but I’m a comin’ back next week to take you over into Seattle. That’s a city, that is! I’ve got some real good stories about it too. Got to be a goin’ now though! Good night, folks . . . Good night!

 

King Street Station in Seattle, Washington

 

 

290422 “The Most Gallant Indian Chieftain”

This broadcast of Empire Builders centered on the life and inspirational words of Chief Joseph (1840-1904) of the Nez Perce. Much of the dramatized dialogue actually came directly from speeches made by Chief Joseph (also called Young Joseph, as his father was also known as Joseph).

 

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1840-1904)

The dialogue of the radio script dramatizes conversation between Joseph and Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909), who was assigned to round up the Nez Perce and force them into reservation life in Idaho. Ultimately, after the flight of the Nez Perce across much of Montana in an ill-fated attempt to flee to Canada, Joseph and his people were forced to move to Kansas and then the so-called Indian Territory.

In about 1925, the Great Northern Railway published a booklet titled “Chief Joseph’s Own Story.” This little booklet was prepared as one of several titles distributed by the railway to accompany the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition, of which the Great Northern was the primary sponsor.

 

Use this link to download the entire booklet (about 9.5MB PDF), scanned and posted by Randal O'Toole on his terrific Streamliner Memories web site:  http://streamlinermemories.info/GN/ChiefJoseph.pdf

Much of the content of the Chief Joseph booklet was taken from the North American Review, April 1879 issue, which was later reported again in “Northwest Fights and Fighters,” originally published in 1907, and written by Cyrus Townsend Brady. As cited in “Chief Joseph’s Own Story,” some of the broadcast dialogue appears as having been spoken by Joseph on a trip to Washington, D.C. in 1897. On the other hand, there is a clear record that Joseph traveled to D.C. in 1879 to plead his people’s case. The date of 1897 in the Chief Joseph booklet published by the GN may be a transposition, versus the date of 1879. Regardless, and although I am not particularly knowledgeable about the life of Chief Joseph, it appears he may have spoken much of the material in the Empire Builders broadcast. If he did not literally say these things, much of it has at least been attributed to him.

In the broadcast of April 22, 1929, the Old Timer set up the dramatization of a conversation between Joseph and Howard. From the continuity of this episode of Empire Builders, here is part of the Old Timer’s narration as he set the stage for a council of Nez Perce with General Howard:

Well, finally, the whites got so thick in the Wallowa Valley, an’ the Government got so dumb, that it sent out a certain General Howard to try an’ persuade the Nez Perces to give up their Valley altogether, an’ move over to the Indian Reservation at Lapwai where they’d die off quicker! Well, the Nez Perces held a big council at Fort Lapwai to try an’ find out what to do. Young Joseph was there, an’ Smohalla, the prophet an’ magician, an’ Too-Hool-Hool-Suit, the preist, an’ lots of others. General Howard, he was there too, with his Staff, an’ there was plenty more. I’m a goin’ to show you that council, an’ I want to tell you that most of the speeches were jest as they are given here – taken down accurate at the time. The council fire was lit, an’ the ceremonies began when Smohalla came in, with seven drums in front of him, an’ the sacred bell a ringin’ clear.

          (The beat of the drums and the ringing of the bell is heard)

The Empire Builders dramatization of this council may contain some fairly accurate snippets of statements attributed to Chief Joseph, although some of his actual comments were more likely made while in Washington, D.C., either in 1879 or in 1897.

Here is a sample of the Empire Builders continuity, capturing Chief Joseph’s feelings, as he spoke to General Howard, about the importance to his people of remaining in the area they were in:

JOSEPH:    When my father, chief of the Nez Perces, died,

                  my white brother, he said to me –

My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit is going very soon to the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone, think of your people. They look to you to guide them. Always remember that this valley holds the bones of your father and mother. The white man has his eyes upon this land. Do not ever sell it to them! – And I answered that I would protect his grave with my life, and that the man who does not love his father’s grave is worse than a wild animal! Would you have me break my promise, General Howard?

 

After further dialogue that set up the decision of the Nez Perce to fight to defend their home, the Old Timer came to the microphone again – this time to introduce Hugh L. Scott.

PIONEER:          Well, that’s how it started! One misguided general, and a passel of piggish white men forced a war on an Indian tribe that never deserved it! The Nez Perces fought the most humane war that was ever waged on this continent, an’ I mean that jest as it stands! They didn’t scalp, an’ they treated the wounded well. Now folks, I’m a goin’ to give you a treat. I’m a goin’ to let you hear the story of Chief Joseph’s famous retreat from a man who took part in it – not in the retreat itself, but in the chase that followed! That is Major General Hugh Scott, who was Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and who is still a member of the Bureau of Indian Commissioners. General Scott was jest a young Lieutenant of cavalry when he took part in the pursuit of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces, but he was there, he knew Joseph, an’ he’ll tell you about it. Folks, I hev the pleasure an’ honor to introduce General Scott, one of the great soldiers of our country!

General Scott came on the air and gave a speech about his recollections of Chief Joseph. Scott’s talk began:

My friends, I have been asked to speak to you about Young Joseph, who was one of the noblest Indians America has ever produced. Tall, stalwart and commanding, he was a fine specimen of manhood morally and intellectually, with a humanity that set him apart from the wilder Indians of that time, as well as from many of his white neighbors.

Major General Hugh L. Scott

Although they fought as enemies on the field of battle, Scott and others among the Army leadership clearly saw valor and integrity in Young Joseph, and understood how unjust the treatment they received was. Here is another part of Scott’s speech:

The treatment received at this time and afterwards by the Indians from the Secretary of the Interior, which caused the death of a large proportion of this human kindly people who had befriended the white man times without number, forms one of the blackest pages of American history, and all to satisfy the greed and rapacity of the white man. The Indians were generally successful in their first engagements with the troops, hastily assembled by General Howard. Lieutenant Sevier Rains, 1^st Cavalry – my room-mate at West Point – a most promising young officer, was outnumbered on a scouting party with fifteen troopers and was killed with all his men.

General Scott concluded his remarks about Chief Joseph by relating this brief anecdote:

While sitting many years afterward with General Miles in his office in the War Department – Joseph came in – threw his arms around General Miles and hugged him, as I have seen Geronimo do also. When he went out I said “General there goes the best of them all.” The General said – “I think he is!”

A version of Joseph’s famous speech at the conclusion of his heroic flight toward Canada (which fell just 40 miles short of the international border – about 15 miles south of the Great Northern station of Chinook, Montana) – was dramatized in the Empire Builders broadcast:

JOSEPH:            Brothers! I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead, and Too-Hool-Hool-Suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say Yes and No, and he who heads the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to look for my children. Listen, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more against the white man forever!

                                              (The drums and the music die away)

PIONEER:          An’ so it was! A great Indian, a great general,

                  and great man had fought his last fight.

Sometimes, when we start gettin’ a little too proud of ourselves, it may do us good to think back to Young Joseph, Chief of the Nez Perces, an’ jest consider what we did to him. ‘Tain’t nothin’ fer the white race to be proud of. It’s a sad story, but it’s a fine one. Well, well, here I am still a botherin’ you, an’ you a wonderin’ when I’m goin’ to quit! I’m a goin’ to run along right now, but I’ll be back next week. Now that Spring’s here I want to take you out into the Wenatchee Valley with me, where they grow the big apples! I’ve got to run now though! Good night, folks! … Good night!

 

 

290415 - The Spell of the Yukon

I have "The Spell of the Yukon" as the title given to this episode of Empire Builders, but it's not clear to me why they chose that title. There were a couple of changes to stories used in April of 1929, but there's no indication that another story - aired or only planned - had the Yukon as a prominent theme.

 

I have not located the continuity for the Empire Builders broadcast of April 15, 1929, although I do have a press release that describes the content of the show. Also, the April, 1929, issue of the Great Northern Railway’s Goat magazine explained the show would tell of:

 

“… the discovery and exploration of Puget Sound. During the greater part of the eighteenth century this inland sea was featured in story and legend. It was thought to be the much sought after Northwest Passage and in many a tossin fo’c’sle, during many an idle hour, tales were told by grizzled mariners of this, then, imaginary sea whose shores were ever green, of its fabulous cities and of its legendary king – Tantarrax. Gradually this blank spot on the map became better known. First the Spaniards pushed their way north from California, then the English and the Americans, each adding a little to the world’s store of knowledge. Finally, near the end of the century, came Captain Vancouver of the British Navy to make a thorough survey of this inland sea and to stop for all time the rumor of its northwest passage. He is the principal character of this evening’s entertainment.”

 

This episode addressed the exploration by Captain George Vancouver of much of the Puget Sound region. Those who are familiar with the Pacific Northwest are well-acquainted with the fact we have not one but two cities bearing the name Vancouver – one in the state of Washington, the other north of the international border in Canada.

 

In 1792, George Vancouver and his crew sailed around the Pacific Northwest coast and explored some of the inland waters, bestowing many locations and geographic features with British names – frequently the names of members of the crew. These areas began to draw trappers of such organizations as the Hudson Bay Company and their rivals.

 

In 1824, HBC established a fort in present-day Washington state on the Columbia River, across from what is now Portland, Oregon. On March 19, 1825, Sir George Simpson named the facility Fort Vancouver. A settlement grew near the fort, and it adopted the fort’s name. By act of the territorial legislature, the name was briefly changed to Columbia City, but only a year later, in 1855, the second session of the legislature changed the name again, this time simply to Vancouver.

 

It was three years later, in 1858, that a gold rush ensued on the Fraser River in British Columbia. A settlement first named “Gastown” evolved by the late 1860’s. With time, this settlement grew into a Townsite that took the name Granville, but with the approach of a transcontinental railroad, the City of Vancouver was incorporated in 1886.

 

If someone in Western Washington says “I’m going to Vancouver,” the response is likely to be “which one?”

 

The press release for the April 15 broadcast states that on June 4, 1792, Captain Vancouver tied up at the mouth of the Snohomish River (at the site of what eventually became the city of Everett, Washington) and with his men celebrated the 54^th birthday of King George III. Vancouver declared possession in the King’s name of all the lands he had explored. He called the region “New Georgia.” Many of the names established by Vancouver are still in use today (Puget Sound, Mount Baker, Port Townsend, Hood Canal, Mount Rainier, etc.), but New Georgia did not stick.

 

 

 

 

40-page GNRHS article (Reference Sheet #386) is now available for purchase

The day has finally arrived. My 40-page “Reference Sheet” (article), published by the Great Northern Railway Historical Society, has been distributed to all its members. For those who are not members of GNRHS, but who have an interest in the article, it is now available for purchase online, in downloadable PDF form, at this link:

https://gnrhs.myshopify.com/products/g6386?_pos=11&_sid=50110f4ed&_ss=r

My article is published as GNRHS Reference Sheet #386. 

GNRHS is set up to accept your purchase requests online, and accepts payment by PayPal, Shop Pay (using a Shopify account), or Google Pay.

Just for the record, my contribution was researching and writing the article, for which I am not paid in any way. I get nothing from any additional sales of the article. I am providing information on how to order it only as a service to those who may want a copy but who are not members of GNRHS.

I really don’t recall how long I’ve been working on the Empire Builders story. It has to be since at least 2008. Most of this time was spent ferreting out every scrap of information I could find about the series. I began actually writing the article about three years before it was published as this Reference Sheet by GNRHS.

 

My research on the article has included study trips to the following locations and collections, not in any particular order:

Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

               Great Northern Railway corporate records

Library of Congress, Washington, DC

               Recorded Sound Reference Center

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

               Library of American Broadcasting

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

               Special Collections

Spark Museum of Electrical Invention, Bellingham, WA

Skykomish Historical Society, Skykomish, WA

Glacier National Park archives (NPS), West Glacier, MT

Great Northern Railway Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

               Jackson Street Roundhouse archives

I have encountered and interviewed some really fascinating people in their own right, who are descendants of principals of the Empire Builders series. These include descendants of the following key individuals:

• Bob and Betty White, actors
• Harry Edison, sound engineer
• O.J. McGillis, GN Railway Advertising and Publicity manager
• Bob McGimsey, harmony whistler

There are many more people connected with Empire Builders whose descendants I hope to make contact with. If you are such a person, or know of someone who meets that description (and you know how to contact them), please get in touch with me. I would be very grateful to learn from you.

My email address is:

 

 

I do owe a debt of gratitude to quite a number of people. I'm sure I will forget someone, because I didn't take very good notes on that score along the way. But here are a few of them, in no particular order, who deserve at least a "shout-out" for their generous input and support:

 

Jan Tanner (okay, my wife comes first), Ray Djuff, R.R. "Bob" King, Michael Henry, Bruce Barsness, Bill Lundgren, Bob Kelly, Jerry Haendiges, John Thomas, Rich Samuels, Ben Kibler, Stuart Holmquist, Deirdre Shaw, Karl Schadow, Gordy Spiering, and Craig Neros.