The Great Butter Hoax of 1859
A classic tall tale of rancid butter, two tipsy pioneers, and an elaborate prank on a local tavern keeper in Olympia.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
During the month of July 1859, I was at Olympia making preparations to accompany Col. Simmons on an expedition down the Chehalis river. The Governor was boarding at Galliher's, and one evening he complained that the butter provided was rancid and unfit to eat. Galliher explained he had purchased it from a settler, but Col. Simmons suggested he tell the company he got it from Judge Ford just to have some sport. The Colonel then concocted a 'Munchausenism' that the Judge and his friend Uncle Gabe Jones, in a drunken state, had purchased rancid butter from a poor traveler to help him out and then sold the whole lot to Galliher. The ruse succeeded perfectly, convincing the Judge that he had been so intoxicated he could not remember the transaction, and the story became a lasting piece of local lore.
“I thought all the time that the whole story was one of Simmons's d—d lies, but as you heard Galliher say he got it from me I suppose it is so.”
This piece of historical gossip captures the tight-knit, often absurd social fabric of early Olympia, where local legends were built on pranks and the 'barley bree.' It serves as a reminder that the town's founding generation was defined as much by its tall tales and tavern culture as by its civic ambitions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.