290513 Topic: The first Fourth of July in Tacoma

On this episode of Empire Builders, listeners were treated to a dramatization of the first 4^th of July celebration ever conducted on the West Coast. It was 1841, and Capt. Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877), a U.S. Navy officer and explorer, joined the men and women of Fort Nisqually and a nearby Methodist mission in the barbeque and celebration.

Wilkes had commenced some of his exploration work out of a harbor on Puget Sound, which he therefore named “Commencement Bay.” The city that eventually grew at this location was Tacoma, Washington.

As I have reported on this blog, the one constant character to appear in nearly every broadcast of Empire Builders was the Old Timer (or sometimes, the Pioneer), played by actor Harvey Hays. The Old Timer was sometimes accompanied by his faithful hound, “January.” The May 13^th broadcast began with the Old Timer chatting with the announcer about January, and then rolling the conversation into an explanation of that evening’s program.

The dog first joined the Old Timer on the radio in the broadcast of February 4^th, 1929. In that episode, January served the role of segue for the Old Timer to introduce a story of sea dogs. The Old Timer’s hound took a slightly more significant role later on, but mostly just adopted the role of stage prop. I don’t know if the dog actually barked on cue, or if a human voice supplied the brief and only occasional barking that was called for. January did appear in a handful of press photos, and was even woven into one of the later scripts.

The broadcast of February 4th opened with the announcer (John S. Young, according to records for the first season) bringing the Old Timer to the microphone, accompanied by his dog January.

ANNOUNCER:  And now the series will be continued under the direction of our good friend the Pioneer. Come on over here Old Timer and talk to these people. I see you’ve got your dog with you tonight. – Bring him over too. What’s his name?

PIONEER:   That ain’t a dog. That’s a hound! Name’s January, him bein’ born in thet there month. Cm’here, January, and say somethin’ to these folks.

                              (Dog barks, and then howls)

My land, listen to that dog! Must think he smells a rabbit! Lay down, January! Lay down, an’ be still! I didn’t come here tonight to talk to you folks about my old hound dog. No siree! Sea-dogs are what I came here for. Dogs of the sea thet can fight an’ smash their way through any gale that blows. One of the best of the whole kit-an’-bilen was Captain Robert Gray, a New England skipper. Made of steel and whalebone, he was, without a lazy pound on his body.

At the close of the broadcast, the Old Timer once again called out to January, and they ambled off until the following Monday:

Well, got to be trapesen’ along now, me an’ January. Here you, January, git up an’ stir them stumps of yours!   (Dog barks)   I hear you!  --  -- --  Good night, folks! We’ll be back next week. Cm’on . . . January!  Good night!

This was the last we’d hear of January the hound dog until the broadcast of May 13th. This episode opened again with the announcer calling upon the Old Timer to deliver his folksy greeting and roll into a somewhat forced segue for the evening’s story:

ANNOUNCER:    The program will now continue under the direction of our old friend, the Pioneer. Well, old time, I see you’ve got your dog, January, with you tonight. I haven’t seen him for quite a while. He looks hungry!

PIONEER:    Well, you see, mister, it’s this way. When I come over here on Monday evenings to talk to you folks, I don’t eat much, an’ when I don’t eat, January he don’t eat either – not till we both gets home anyways! Result is, January ain’t often very anxious to come with me. But let me tell you, speakin’ of eatin’, the story I’ve got fer you tonight is about a barbecue, an’ that barbecue was held right near where the city of Tacoma, Washington now stands on the occasion of the first 4th of July celebration ever held in the Pacific Northwest. That was quite a while ago. Let’s see … ‘twas in 1841, jest 65 years after the signin’ of the Declaration of Independence. Came about in this way, it did. Back in the old days there used to be a fort and a mission right where Tacoma is today.

The Old Timer went on to explain that the earliest Anglo settlements near present-day Tacoma were Fort Nisqually and a nearby Methodist mission.

The Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Nisqually in 1832 at a location about three miles north of the Nisqually River. Fort Nisqually is said to be the first permanent white settlement on Puget Sound. Among those who operated the Methodist mission were Reverend David Leslie (c. 1797 – March 1, 1869), Dr. John P. Richmond (August 7, 1811 – August 28, 1895), and Dr. William Holden Willson (April 14, 1805 – April 17, 1856). A young woman named Chloe Aurelia Clarke, a teacher at the mission school, was married to W.H. Willson on August 16, 1840.

Willson came out to the west coast from Boston as a layman in the first reinforcement for the Methodist Mission, by way of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), arriving on the brig Diana on May 18, 1837. The first child born to William and Chloe Willson was a girl they named Diana.

In the Empire Builders broadcast, a conversation ensues between William Willson (inaccurately referred to as “Wilson” in the continuity) and his wife Chloe about entrusting the care of little Diana to an Indian girl, Spotted Fawn, while they attend the 4^th of July celebration.

CHLOE:     Oh, William, you don’t think anything can happen to her, do you? You don’t think we were wrong to leave her today?

WILSON:  Of course not! What in the world could happen to her? You left Spotted Fawn with her, didn’t you?

CHLOE:    Of course I did. But you know these Indians, even the best of them. They’re all so excited over our 4^th of July celebration today that they don’t know what to do. I know Spotted Fawn hated staying home with Diana.

WILSON:  I don’t know that I entirely blame her. Look at the sailors playing games over there!

CHLOE:     Yes, and see the size of that trench they’ve dug for the barbecue! It looks big enough for an army. Did Dr. McLoughlin of Fort Vancouver give us an ox for the dinner today, William?

WILSON:  Yes, he sent one over. It’s a pity he’s not here himself.

The story then draws in Captain Charles Wilkes, who introduces Dr. Richmond to speak to the assembly.

WILKES:    I take great pleasure in informing you that the speaker of the day will be Dr. Richmond of Nisqually Mission, who is very naturally well known to you all. Ladies and gentlemen – Dr. Richmond!

RICHMOND:  My friends! We are gathered here today to celebrate the first 4^th of July held in the Pacific Northwest, indeed, the first to be celebrated west of the Missouri River. We entertain the belief that the whole of this magnificent country, so rich in the bounties of nature, is destined to become a part of the American Republic. The time will come when these hills and valleys will be peopled by our enterprising countrymen, and when they will contain cities and farms and manufacturing establishments, and when the benefits of home and civil life will be enjoyed by the people. They will assemble on the 4^th of July, as we have done today, and renew their fidelity to the principles of liberty embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The future years will witness wonderful things in the settlement, the growth and development of the United States, and especially of this coast. The door to the future is only opening. My friends, the best address is the shortest address, and in that belief I will not detain you longer!  

(Cheers and music)

At this point, William and Chloe notice Spotted Fawn approaching with little Diana, but the sailors are about to shoot off a salute with their guns. This did not sit well with baby Diana.

DIANA:      Waa! Waa!

CHLOE:     We’ll have to take her home, William. There’s nothing else to do. I just can’t leave her with Spotted Fawn now.

WILSON:  I’m afraid you’re right. It seems a pity to miss the fun though. I wonder if there’s no way of keeping her entertained.

CHLOE:     No, I’m sure there isn’t We’ll just have to give it up.

FAWN:     Here come Koquilton. Papoose like him.

DIANA:     Waa! Waa!

CHLOE:    Who on earth is Koquilton?

WILSON:  Don’t you remember? He’s the son of the chief, and a mighty big gun himself in these parts. I met him one day when I had Diana out for the air. She did seem to like him. I’ll say that.

Wouldn’t you know it, but Koquilton had an almost magic touch with Diana, drumming and singing to her softly to put her to sleep. At this point, the Old Timer returned to carry the story along.

PIONEER:  (Laugh)  Well, that was the first 4^th of July in the Pacific northwest, an’ Diana an’ all of ‘em had a right good time. ‘Twant the last celebration in that neck of woods, though, not by a long shot. No sir! – Well, the years passed an’ the country prospered, jest the way the clear seein’ folks always knew it would.

The Old Timer explained how the original “Commencement City” later became Tacoma, and he mentioned that “Mount Tacoma” rises up majestically nearby. The mountain is known today as Mount Rainier, highest peak in the state of Washington at a little more than 14,400 feet. The Old Timer told the story of how the first 4^th of July celebration in the area was memorialized many years later. 

 

 

PIONEER:  Came to be finally 1906, jest 65 years after the first 4^th of July celebration in 1841, an’ Tacoma thought that somethin’ should ought to be done about it. So they fixed fer a big time. Old Chief Koquilton, the same that had played the drum for little Diana, he was still alive, and he helped ‘em to locate the exact spot where that first celebration had been held. Then they jest busted loose, an’ began their celebration on the 3^rd an’ carried it clear through to the 5^th of July. ‘Twas on the 5^th that they unveiled a monument out in the place where Captain Wilkes an’ all the rest of ‘em had their original jamboree, an’ because the beautiful roses of the northwest was all in bloom they had a rose carnival, an’ they crowned a Queen of the Roses. Not only that, but they had a pie eatin’ contest too!

The Empire Builders program drew to a close with a brief and understated plug to encourage listeners to travel to Tacoma, followed by a teaser about the next week’s show.

PIONEER:  Well, folks, if there’s any of you that haven’t been to Tacoma, an’ haven’t seen that mountain of theirs I hope you’ll go! ‘Taint anythin’ you can afford to miss in this life. My land, if it isn’t gettin late agin! I got to get along. I ain’t et myself – let alone that January dog of mine. Come on, January! Come along! We’ve got to be a goin’. Good night, folks . . . . . Good night.

ANNOUNCER:    You have been listening to “Empire Builders”, a program featuring the American Northwest, and sponsored by the Great Northern Railway. Next Monday evening at the same hour this program will present another dramatization under the title of “Tulip Time in Bellingham.”