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When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed established Yakima City in favor of its own private land, it didn't just build a station—it forced an entire town to pack up and move.
“Any one who knows the process of railway building knows that it is a common thing to build up a town and pull down another in this manner, if the established town offers an insufficient bonus for a station.”
The City Marshal’s report casually mentions the forced removal of fifty-five people, including Chinese and Black residents, as the council focuses on fire codes.
Company B of the Third Oregon regiment arrests 24 agitators in North Yakima and dozens more near Easton.
“Spectators outside the hall were dispersed and the guards patrolled the street. They allowed automobiles to pass but not pedestrians.”
A devastating blaze sweeps through the business district, leveled by fire and saved only by the grit of citizens and a stand of shade trees.
“The new steamer paid for itself Sunday evening. The wisdom of the late council cropped out conspicuously in that particular.”
A catastrophic deluge wrecks infrastructure and bridges across the Cascades, isolating Yakima as the Yakima River rises three feet in a day.
“The loss on the west side is incalculable... great stretches of country were transformed into lake beds.”
A new Department of the Interior circular abruptly halts all land filings in Yakima and Kittitas counties, invoking federal irrigation laws to freeze regional development.
“The object sought to be accomplished by the foregoing provision is unmistakable. The water sources and the arid lands that may be irrigated by the system of national irrigation are now reserved to be hereafter, when redeemed to agriculture, transferred to the people of the territories.”
Following a grand jury investigation into corruption, Yakima County voters purge their entire Board of Commissioners in a rare and sweeping recall election.
“Not on your life; back to the hay for me.”
City officials and railroad employees clash in the streets during a standoff over municipal infrastructure.
“Division Superintendent Prowall and Attorney Cary came down and with the assistance of railroad employees assaulted the laborers by turning the steam from the engine on to them.”
Citizens gathered at City Hall to protest the arrival of Chinese businesses, only to find themselves divided and without a legal strategy.
“The encroachment of the Chinese on the business portions of the city has been viewed with regret and alarm by our citizens.”
When the Northern Pacific bypassed old Yakima in 1884, it didn't just build a new town—it moved the old one, buildings and all.
“Over 100 buildings were moved on trucks and rollers, hotels, a bank, and other business houses doing their usual business en route.”
A local resident warns travelers that the Northern Pacific is attempting to bypass and destroy the original town of Yakima to benefit their new company town.
“This town, the oldest settlement in Washington Territory, and the only town within a hundred miles eastward on its line, was to be wiped off the face of the earth.”
North Yakima’s municipal government descends into physical brawls and political instability.
“She has a circus run entirely by home talent; admission free. They call it the City Council.”
A scathing exposé of how the Northern Pacific Railroad manipulated land values and abandoned the established citizens of Yakima City for a new, company-owned townsite.
“The company would build a new town; they... greatly desired the assistance of these men in the effort... all they asked was that the people of Yakima City should desert the homes which the work of a lifetime had made happy and comfortable.”
A fiery local editorial argues that Yakima, not Olympia, should be the state capital to break the corrupt influence of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
“If you want to perpetuate the Nick Owings ring, continue the same old gang in power at the same old stand and vote for Olympia.”
Striking laborers and members of the 'Industrial Army' face court scrutiny following a violent confrontation near Yakima.
“They are going to back the train to the river, and will shoot you off like dogs and dump you in the river.”
A group of armed men harassed Indigenous fishers and opened fire on the reservation below Union Gap.
“The whites, after threatening, finally pulled their revolvers and commenced shooting.”
A scathing indictment from 1885 reveals how the Northern Pacific Railroad's broken promises and predatory land schemes terrorized Washington frontier settlers.
“The whole country is terrorized by the multiplicity of evils continually sprung by this hydra-headed monster.”
A look at the massive Sunnyside Canal project promising to turn 75,000 acres of arid volcanic ash into a fruit-growing paradise.
“Water is the Alladin’s lamp which will, by its magic presence, cause orchards, green fields and gardens to rise from the barren ground of the Yakima country.”
Public anger against the Northern Pacific Railroad boils over in Yakima County, leading to the symbolic execution of a company agent.
“Much bitter feeling was engendered at this attempt of the Railroad Company to make it appear that the people of Yakima county are averse to Congressional legislation.”
Twenty-nine members of the 'Industrial Army' are sentenced to McNeil Island after defying a federal injunction in North Yakima.
“Any departure from strictly regular, honest, legal methods, instead of bringing relief, only adds to and increases the burdens that rest upon the poor and the unfortunate.”
Homesteaders staked out a long, cold vigil at the land office, only to find the government had already cut a backroom deal.
“The applicants evidently did not hail from Kentucky, for there was a noticeable absence of bottles.”
A tragic collision at a rocky bluff on the Yakima River leaves seven dead and exposes a reckless culture of railroad speeding and negligence.
“James Brannan and Fitzgerald were on the pilot of Hulett's engine and were killed instantly, being crushed into the head of the boiler and mangled beyond recognition.”
A multi-million dollar irrigation project promises to transform arid lands into an agricultural empire, aiming to support 60,000 residents.
“This system outlined is the greatest in the whole United States, if not in the world.”
A reservation sheriff flees his home after killing a man, sparking a tense standoff between rival factions over tribal law and custom.
“The wounded man said, ‘that’s all right,’ moved off a few paces and fell down, dying within fifteen minutes.”
The Herald alleges that the Republican victory was purchased through the support of the saloon and gambling classes.
“Wherever you would find a tinhorn gambler there you would find a “booster” for McGraw.”
After decades of distinguished service in the Mexican-American and Indian Wars, a decorated officer was summarily stripped of his rank based on a peer’s 'dreamed' accusation of disloyalty.
“Law be hanged! Don’t you know, Estabrook, that this is not a question of law, but of politics. We have the power and intend to use it.”
Hundreds of men, boys, and ladies converged on a four-mile line to corral hundreds of jackrabbits into a killing field, resulting in more broken bones than dead rabbits.
A Yakima Indian dies instantly after consuming lemon extract laced with strychnine, prompting a medical investigation.
“It makes drunk come as surely and quickly as the worst rot-gut on the market.”
When the telegraphs went silent and the news was thin, the local Democrats sat in gloom until the evening train brought a joyous turnaround.
“The republicans were wreathed in smiles, while democratic chieftains congregated in back rooms and had a very funereal appearance.”
A councilman breaks his silence to accuse the Yakima city government of blatant corruption and insider contracting.
“You may form 'rings' and 'combines,' but very soon the man who follows the plow and swings the hammer will have some say about our government.”
A long-standing legal battle over the railroad’s power to make or unmake towns concludes with a narrow Supreme Court decision.
“It opens up the road for other railway companies now heading for the west to make or unmake towns at their pleasure.”
A landmark Secretary of the Interior decision in 1888 effectively blocked the Northern Pacific Railroad from seizing 'indemnity' lands held by Washington homesteaders.
“The attempt to change the general route by the map of 1872 was without authority of law.”
Northern Pacific Railroad directors back a massive canal and reservoir system to transform the arid Yakima Valley for settlement.
“It is estimated that one of the results of these canals will be to more than double the population of Yakima county within the next year.”
A landmark land dispute, long considered impossible to resolve, has finally been decided by the federal government.
“It will surprise some who could not see how land could be taken up as a homestead with a mill and houses upon it and part of a platted city within its limits.”
A critique of how the Northern Pacific Railroad’s land grants forced local settlers to subsidize wealthy corporations.
“The wealth of the foreigners was stolen from the settlers. The land should be the people’s heritage.”
A railroad official defends the controversial move of the townsite to North Yakima, dismissing long-standing charges of corruption and 'outrage'.
“Every demagogue in this state made the Yakima outrage his stock in trade.”
A physical altercation between a white cowboy and a Chinese cook over breakfast coffee results in a stabbing and a manhunt.
A local rancher survives a harrowing highway robbery attempt involving a spiked flask and a desperate gunfight.
“Mr. Stone pulled his revolver and emptied three chambers at the fellow, who fell and the wheels of the wagon passed over him.”
Tensions mount over water rights as a local paper argues that irrigation for agricultural growth should take precedence over Indigenous fishing rights.
“The time has arrived when the North American red man must get down and dig for his living instead of sitting in the sun on the banks of a stream, fish-pole in hand.”
A leading Yakima journalist collapses while attempting to secure his tenement, marking the end of a life defined by political combat and the fight for the Yakima Valley.
“The immediate cause of Mr. Adams’ death was emphysema, a collapsing of the lung cells; but his life was no doubt shortened by worry over a most disgraceful contest of his ranch property.”
Federal authorities push to integrate Indigenous children into public schools to swell local district funds.
“The school district will contract distinctly to give to each Indian child all the opportunities and attention which are given to the white children.”
The discovery of a body in the Yakima River leads to the arrest of a man known as 'Pumps' for a brutal slaying.
“The head of the corpse was covered with a towel tied behind the ears. The flesh was well eaten away by the action of the water. But identification was easy.”
When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed the original town of Yakima City, they didn't just move the station—they forced the entire town to uproot itself.
“It must be heartbreaking to many of them to leave their gardens in mid-spring and go to new and barren locations, but it is a matter almost of life and death with them.”
Agent Jay Lynch warns that unmanaged irrigation is drying up tribal streams and threatening future agricultural viability for both the reservation and the surrounding valley.
“It would require a company of soldiers to keep the stockmen and their stock outside the reservation boundaries and to maintain the fishing preserves.”
A state health committee blames criminal negligence and unsanitary conditions for a deadly typhoid outbreak in North Yakima.
“After they got through [the committee] made the declaration that North Yakima is the filthiest place they ever saw.”
Federal authorities investigate a complex web of land transfers between the Northern Pacific Railroad and its own irrigation subsidiaries.
“One couldn't lie down with dogs without being in danger of getting fleas.”
When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed an established town to create a company-owned rival, the residents were left in a fight for their city’s survival.
“If the Northern Pacific made it an easy matter to move Yakima in the manner attempted, no town or city in the Northwest could feel secure.”
A broken axle causes a Northern Pacific passenger train to derail, tearing up hundreds of feet of track and injuring an express messenger.
“The ties were shattered into kindling wood and 600 feet of track torn up and twisted in all kinds of shapes.”
In May 1877, a Seattle correspondent published a vitriolic letter in the *Intelligencer* challenging claims of Native agricultural success on the Suckley Reservation, arguing that federal land policies encouraged 'idleness' and demanding the lands be opened to white settlers.
Deputy marshals recount the violent confrontation between strikers and authorities during the march of the Industrial Army.
“The crowd alongside the train was inciting the men on the train to stick to it. The first intimation of trouble was throwing of stones from the crowd; then a shot was fired.”
When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed Old Yakima, developers physically relocated the town's buildings—including the Holland House—to the new site, one mile at a time.
“Hatch jack screws the hills up, puts under it a set of cross beams... set on rollers that move on planks four inches thick which lay on the road.”
A broken rail causes a catastrophic train derailment, leaving two dead and scores injured.
“The sight was sickening, and those who saw it and heard the cries of pain and for assistance will never forget the scene.”
When the Northern Pacific Railroad tried to bypass the original town of Yakima to force residents and businesses to relocate to a new site, the citizens formed a committee to resist—and were met with cold corporate indifference.
“The chairman immediately informed Messrs. McNaught and Schulze that the committee did not come to consider what was best to be done, but to make a demand.”
How irrigation transformed the Yakima Valley from desert to a model of agricultural productivity and speculative ambition.
“The water combines with the properties peculiar to the volcanic ash and the result is restoration of the strength of the land.”
Federal agents pressure the Yakima Nation to accept land in severalty, eyeing surplus territory for white settlement.
“I consider the Yakima reservation beyond all question the finest valley in the state of Washington.”
After expensive drilling, a new artesian well turns arid sagebrush into a potential oasis for Yakima settlers.
“The news seemed almost too good to be true, for it solves the problem of the irrigation of lands lying above the ditch lines.”
A local editor calls for the disbarment of Ira M. Krutz, a former land office official accused of 'champerty and maintenance' by leveraging insider knowledge for legal fees.
“Little flits and loopholes—long delays—soiling business with the promise of gaining the point later on when he was out of the service.”
A new appraisal standard effectively excludes orchardists from the benefits of the farm loan act, threatening the stability of Yakima Valley agriculture.
“This ruling will mean that the benefits of the farm loan act will come only to the dry land farmers and the owners of the raw land in the irrigated sections.”
Federal agents inspect the Yakima Reservation as momentum grows to seize and redistribute tribal land to white settlers.
“It is now realized by those informed on the subject that the proper way to advance the Indian in the matter of industry and intelligence is in bringing him into closer contact with white civilization.”
A $5,000 jury verdict for a child injured on school apparatus has sparked fears that playgrounds across North Yakima will be stripped of their play structures.
“If the verdict is sustained, removal of all apparatus from the public school playgrounds is certain.”
Two railroad employees threw a Chinese passenger from a moving train, causing severe injuries.
A legal battle erupts as Yakima citizens challenge the state government's decision to locate the new agricultural college in Pullman.
“Yakima is still in it, and proposes to knock out the shameful deal by which the agricultural college was located at Pullman.”
A political firestorm erupted in 1885 when the Northern Pacific Railroad allegedly pressured the White House to fire a land official for his loyalty to local settlers.
“Instead of bowing to the decision of the people, this arrogant corporation... has been looking about for revenge.”
Yakima County citizens gather to denounce the Northern Pacific Railroad's land hoarding and call for immediate federal forfeiture of unearned land grants.
“The Northern Pacific Railroad has been enabled to hold, as with an iron grasp, nearly one-half of the public land of this Territory.”
A legislative protest against the Northern Pacific Railroad's ruthless manipulation of Yakima Valley geography and business.
“Such action utterly destroy[ed] the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of property, vested private interests, which were the accumulations of years of frontier privation, toil and industry.”
A legal dispute over Northern Pacific Railroad land grants highlights the struggle between territorial settlers and the encroaching influence of transcontinental rail monopolies.
“A settler filing a homestead in one place cannot float it over to another, and we see no reason why a railway company can float its line.”
Local investors panic as a national building and loan association faces allegations of a 'gigantic steal.'
“It has for some time been considered that somewhere within the association a gigantic steal was being operated.”
A major expansion of the Oregon Improvement Company’s rail network aims to link Seattle directly to Eastern Washington’s wheat belt, setting the stage for a showdown between rival railroad titans.
“The managers of the company have long since recognized the fact that Seattle’s interest is also theirs. One of the greatest benefits that could come to Seattle would be to have a railroad pierce the wheat belt.”
Tribal leaders challenge federal budget cuts and the encroachment of non-Indigenous residents on reservation land.
“The Indians held a council on Saturday last and forwarded to Washington a protest against the shutting down of the mill, and against the recent surveys.”
William Lee, foreman of the Knights of Labor, details a plan to unite farmers and workingmen to challenge the state's political establishment in 1892.
“Our only recourse is to carry the country and get relief from our own hands. We will be strong enough next year to sweep everything before us.”
A report from Kittitas detailing a violent encounter on Poll Creek sparks fears of conflict between settlers and Wilbur’s band of Indians in the Yakima territory.
“With plenty of guns and a great sufficiency of ammunition, the settlers feel quite safe now, and have mostly all gone back to their places, and are looking after their crops, which look fine.”
A legacy of tribal leadership ends in tragedy as the aged chief dies in poverty in Parker Bottom.
“There will be other leaders of the Yakima Indian clan, but there will be no chief such as Saluskin.”
When North Yakima was scolded by Seattle’s 'royal' newspaper for suggesting a statehood convention, the new local paper hit back with a venomous letter and a call for better manners.
“We modestly but firmly decline your invitation to take a 'lesson from her in manners,' and notwithstanding the illustrious name of her Godfather, we are led to believe that 'evil communications have corrupted her good manners.'”
Local outrage mounts as the federal government ousts an Indian agent despite tribal protests.
“The Indians do not take kindly to the change and a delegation of them offered to go to Washington, at their own expense, and enter a protest against the removal.”
A railroad worker is discovered drowned in the Yakima River, leaving behind only five cents and a trail of labor records from across the West.
“There were bruises on the face and chest which might have been made in falling or by contact with the rocks of the river bed.”
A visiting strongman who bullied locals found himself severely overpowered after attacking the Chinese quarter.
“The Chinamen poured down on him in such numbers that he was overpowered, thrashed to the ground, and packed so continuously and vigorously that when he was released there was scarcely life enough left in him to permit him to rise and stagger away.”
Hundreds of supporters defied rainy weather in a massive display of local political energy as the gubernatorial campaign heated up.
“The multitude is patient to a certain point, but woe betide the dead pies of improvidence, extravagance and inequality, who sue to the people for favors when such a point is reached.”
A young Scandinavian immigrant struggles with radical political theory before a desperate suicide attempt at the McGlothlen House.
“Recently he has been talking in a strange, rambling manner about Henry George’s theory of single tax and on social science, but previous to his trying to commit suicide little attention was paid to his vagaries.”
A legislative meeting turns into a spectacle of name-calling and physical threats, forcing the mayor to call in the city marshal to maintain order.
“The gyrations of some of the members are of such a character that the onlooker, if he had not the welfare of the city at heart, may well laugh at scenes so very ridiculous as to be funny.”
At the North Yakima convention, local leaders rejected a resolution honoring James G. Blaine, sparking outrage and accusations of political conspiracy.
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