Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 2: Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties

The Story

The narrative begins with a vision of the Pacific Northwest as a vast, untamed territory, a land that was "wild and uninhabited save by Indians and fur traders" in the middle of the nineteenth century. It is a place where boundaries between American and British rule remained uncertain, and where the geography itself posed the primary challenge to any settler. Into this expanse come individuals from across the United States—and sometimes from abroad—motivated by the promise of opportunity and the restless spirit of expansion. These early arrivals, often traveling by team across the plains or making long, arduous journeys from the East, find a landscape characterized by isolation, where the simple act of survival requires immense labor and the ability to adapt to severe natural conditions.

As these pioneers secure land, the story shifts from the struggle for existence to the process of community building. Early settlers claim donation lands, clear the wilderness, and begin to cultivate wheat and orchards. The narrative tracks how these isolated farmsteads gradually evolve into organized social units. The founding of school districts, the establishment of churches, and the formation of fraternal organizations like the Odd Fellows or the Woodmen of the World serve as the architectural framework for a new civilization. As the region matures, the focus moves toward the development of commerce. Towns like Walla Walla, Dayton, and Prescott grow from small mercantile outposts into centers of economic activity, supported by the milling industry, regional banking, and expanding infrastructure.

The middle portion of the narrative highlights the necessity of adaptability. Settlers frequently move between states, chasing better soil or fleeing natural disasters like the grasshopper scourges of the Midwest. The arrival in the Washington territory represents a final stabilization for many, though it is rarely an end to work. The text details the cyclical nature of agricultural life, from the planting of wheat to the management of fruit orchards, emphasizing that success is predicated on careful planning, diversification, and the willingness to learn modern methods. Even as industry flourishes—with companies like the Whitehouse-Crawford concern manufacturing interior trimmings and bank fixtures—the identity of the region remains rooted in the land.

Political and civic life parallel this economic ascent. The narrative describes the creation of new county governments, the election of officials, and the patriotic devotion of citizens who express their identity through the raising of flags and the marking of national holidays. Moments of sorrow, such as the assassination of President Lincoln, are recorded through the shared, somber experiences of small communities gathering at local schoolhouses, bridging the distance between the remote territory and the broader pulse of the nation. These events serve to integrate the local history into the fabric of American development.

The final arc of the story is one of generational transition. By the early twentieth century, the original pioneers are passing away or entering a period of retirement, leaving their lands and businesses to sons and daughters who were often born and educated in the region. These successors represent a more settled era, managing larger, more capitalized operations and participating in a global market. The narrative concludes by painting a portrait of a landscape fully transformed: where once there were only trails, there are now electrified homes, modern schools, and robust commercial enterprises. The individuals who survive this transition are characterized by their integration into the social and political life of their towns, having moved from the periphery of the frontier to the center of a stable, industrious society.

The People

• Dr. N. G. Blalock: A physician who leaves a comfortable life in Illinois to scout the Washington territory in 1872. He embodies the immigrant spirit of the time, arriving with twenty-seven others and only twenty dollars, yet eventually becoming a leader in both medical practice and commercial development.
• Ransom Clark: A pioneer who represents the restless, adventurous generation. A veteran of the 1843 Fremont expedition to the Pacific, he spends years moving through the American West, finally settling on a donation claim near Walla Walla, bridging the gap between the era of fur traders and the era of permanent agriculture.
• D. C. Guernsey: A man of finance and public service who manages a local bank through the severe financial panic of 1893. His life serves as a testament to the resilience of the local economy, as he transitions from political roles to banking and eventually to managing mining infrastructure and real estate.
• J. M. Crawford: An entrepreneur who consolidates local milling and lumber interests into a large-scale corporate entity. He represents the shift toward industrial-scale success, using his reach to encourage friends and family from the East to join him in the region, effectively acting as an architect of local population growth.
• W. H. Stonecipher: A quintessential "self-made man" who arrives empty-handed. His life is defined by the endurance of hardships and the slow, persistent acquisition of a "handsome competence," demonstrating the belief that industry and school board involvement are the keys to honorable standing in the community.

In Its Own Voice

The book often frames the history of the region through the lens of those who personally navigated the transition from the frontier to a settled society.

"He first came in 1872 to spy out the land."

This sentence describes Dr. N. G. Blalock's initial approach to the Pacific Northwest, a sentiment shared by many others who had to judge the viability of the region before committing their families to a permanent move.

"He most carefully safeguarded the interests of the institution and managed to weather the financial storm which swept over the entire country in that year."

This quote, regarding D. C. Guernsey’s management of the Columbia National Bank, illustrates the precarious nature of early economic development and the importance of individual character in maintaining community stability during national crises.

"The sturdy pioneers stood with bowed heads and solemn countenances, while the children were awed and half afraid, not knowing what it all meant."

In this account of the reaction to the news of President Lincoln’s assassination, the author captures the profound sense of connection that these isolated communities felt toward the nation, even when the news of history arrived weeks or months late via horseback.

What It's Really About

At its core, this volume is a study of the transformation of the American West through the accumulation of individual life stories. It is less a traditional narrative of conquest and more an exercise in documenting the transition from wilderness to civilization, measured in the currency of property, education, and civic institutionalization. The text posits that the "material development" of the Northwest is an inevitable outcome when the right character types—those characterized by industry, perseverance, and a willingness to "adapt to conditions"—are placed in a land rich with natural resources.

The book explores the tension between the nomadic impulse of the pioneer and the permanent desires of the settler. The individuals profiled are almost universally migrants who have moved multiple times across the continent, yet the ultimate goal for every subject is the acquisition of land and the creation of a "handsome competence." This suggests an underlying argument that the American experience in this region was a process of refining restlessness into stability. The "self-made man" is the central archetype, and his success is framed not merely as financial gain, but as a moral victory achieved through a marriage of hard labor and strict adherence to social and religious codes.

Furthermore, the volume reflects a strong belief in the progressive nature of history. It views the arrival of railroads, schools, and banks as objective markers of improvement over the "wild and uninhabited" state that preceded them. There is a clear preoccupation with the establishment of institutional order; the frequency with which subjects are mentioned as serving on school boards or holding positions in fraternal lodges suggests that these organizations were considered as vital to the survival of the community as the crops themselves. The book is not interested in the nuances of political dissent; rather, it emphasizes unity, patriotism, and the shared values of the Christian church and the Republican or Democratic party.

The questions the book implicitly asks are: What makes a society? How do you turn a group of transient strangers into a durable community? The answer provided is found in the repetitive, systematic accumulation of civil acts—building a road, opening a bank, hiring a teacher, and raising a flag. It is a portrait of a society that defined its success by how quickly it could replicate the structures of the Eastern states in the remote, fertile soil of the Pacific Northwest.

Why Read It Today

Reading this work today offers a peculiar, grounded experience. It feels less like a traditional history book and more like an expansive, exhaustive archive of human effort. The prose is utilitarian, marked by the earnest, slightly repetitive tone of the biographical dictionaries common to the early twentieth century. It does not seek to dazzle the reader with dramatic flourishes, but instead offers a meticulous account of the lives of ordinary citizens, their marriages, their businesses, and their children’s educational paths.

Readers will find the book challenging if they are looking for a singular plot. It is a mosaic, and one must be prepared for the sheer volume of names, dates, and locations. It is a slow read that rewards the patient observer with a sense of the sheer variety of ways people found to anchor themselves in a new world. The period attitudes are on full display, particularly in the way the book frames the arrival of white settlers as the definitive dawn of civilization, often glossing over the displacement of Indigenous populations. Readers should approach this with the understanding that it is a document of its time—a self-congratulatory record of progress written by a society that felt itself to be at the peak of its own development.

What stays with you long after the final page is the quiet, insistent theme of the "self-made man." There is something both admirable and exhausting in the relentless, multi-generational pursuit of home and security described here. You gain a visceral sense of the geographic vastness of the Northwest, and the way that distance was conquered not by one grand gesture, but by the accumulation of thousands of individual, mundane, and persistent daily choices. For anyone interested in the social history of the American frontier, or the way communities were built from the ground up, this book serves as a fascinating, if dense, record of the labor that turned a wild expanse into a network of small towns and productive fields.