WITH THE LAWYERS, JUDGES AND DOCTORS

A special interest always attaches to the legal, judicial and medical representatives of any country, and especially a new country. The lawyers and judges necessarily play so large a part in the creation of laws and the founding of institutions that their history is well nigh co-extensive with the development of their country. The physicians are so vital an element in the home life and the general conditions of their communities, that their history also comes near being a history of these communities.

We are presenting here several special contributions from representatives of these classes of citizens. We have had occasion at many points in the progress of this history to name prominent representatives of the bench and bar, and of the medical profession.

We present first a sketch of the early Walla Walla bench and bar by one of the foremost lawyers of the city, who is himself also a member of a family which has, perhaps, been more closely identified with the bench and bar of this section of the state than any other. We refer to the Sharpstein family, and we have the privilege of here presenting this article by John L. Sharpstein:

We next present a contribution from Judge Chester F. Miller, of Dayton, long and intimately identified with the legal practice and with the court decisions of this section. We have had occasion to refer to Judge Miller many times in the course of this history, and we have had the privilege of enrolling him among the advisory board for the work. Anything from his pen is of exceptional value. His contribution follows here:

LAWYERS AND JUDGES OF COLUMBIA AND GARFIELD COUNTIES

The district court of Walla Walla County, with jurisdiction over all of the eastern part of the territory, was created by the Legislature in 1860, and made a part of the First Judicial District of the territory. Judge William Strong of Vancouver then presided over this court, and held his first term at Walla Walla on June 4, 1860. In 1861, James E. Wyche was appointed judge of the district, took up his residence in Walla Walla and thereafter held regular terms in that place. The territorial judges succeeding him were James K. Kennedy in 1870, J. R. Lewis in 1873, Samuel C. Wingard in 1875, and William G. Langford in 1886.

The only resident attorneys appearing of record at the first term of court held in Walla Walla were Andrew J. Cain and Col. Wyatt A. George. There may have been other mining camp lawyers in Walla Walla at that time, but they did not remain long enough to become identified with the courts or the early history of this section. William G. Langford, James H. Lasater and James D. Mix came in 1863, Benjamin L. Sharpstein in 1865, Nathan T. Caton in 1867, Thomas H. Brents in 1870, Thomas J. Anders in 1871, John B. Allen and Charles B. Upton in 1878 and Daniel J. Crowley in 1880. Although these lawyers resided in Walla Walla, and were more closely identified with the history of that county, yet they should be mentioned here, for the reason that they followed the judge around the circuit of the old first judicial district, and practiced in the district courts of Eastern Washington, as fast as they were created by the Legislature. The court practice in those days was very different from what it is now. When Judge Wingard was appointed in 1875, he held court in Walla Walla, Yakima and Colville. Afterwards Dayton, Colfax and Pomeroy were added to the court towns. Court was held two or three times each year in each town, and usually lasted for two or three weeks. The judge was followed around the circuit by the members of the bar above mentioned. They took their chances of picking up some business at each term, and on account of their experience and ability were usually associated with local counsel on one side or the other of each case. There was no preliminary law day, and the attorneys had to be ready on a moment's notice to argue the motions and demurrers, and get their cases ready for immediate trial. Stenographers and typewriters were unknown, and the lawyer prepared his amended pleadings at night with pen and ink, and in the morning proceeded with the trial of his case. Law books were few and far between; a good working library consisted of the session laws, "Bancroft's Forms," "Estee's Pleadings," and a few good text books. Supreme Court reports were unknown in this section of the country, and the case lawyer had not yet come into existence. In the argument of legal questions, decisions of the courts were seldom mentioned, but the lawyers depended upon their knowledge of the principles of the law, and their ability to apply those principles to the facts of the case on trial. There were no specialists in different branches of the law in those days and the successful lawyer was able to take up in rapid succession, with only one night for preparation, first an important criminal case, then a complicated civil jury case, and then an intricate equity case. There may be at this time abler lawyers in some one branch of their profession, than were this pioneer bar, but for a general knowledge of all the branches of the law, and readiness in applying the fundamental principles of the law to their particular case, without having reference to the court reports, the pioneer lawyer was far in the lead of the modern practitioner. This method of practice made big, broad and ready men; the little lawyer drifted in and soon drifted out; only the big ones remained, and they made their mark both in law and in politics. In those days, when there were no railroads, no daily newspapers, no moving picture shows, or other places of amusement, the people from far and near came to town during court week and regularly attended its session, enjoying the funny incidents coming up during the trials, and listening attentively to the eloquent speeches of the able lawyers.

The District Court for Columbia County was created in 1878, and in June of that year, Judge Wingard held his first term in Dayton. In addition to the Walla Walla lawyers above mentioned, the following members of the local bar were in attendance at that time: Andrew J. Cain, Robert F. Sturdevant, Wyatt A. George, Morgan A. Baker, Mathew W. Mitchell, Thomas H. Crawford, John T. Ford, William Ewing and John D. McCabe, of Dayton and William C. Potter and Joseph H. Lister of Pomeroy.

Judge Wingard was red headed, a little dyspeptic, somewhat irritable at times and usually wore a shawl around his shoulders, while occupying the bench. He was much given to imposing fines on lawyers, jurors and witnesses who came in late, but generally remitted them after he had cooled off. He was always kind to the young, inexperienced lawyer, giving him good advice, and extending a helping hand when the young fellow was lost in his case and grasping for a straw. He was more exacting with the older lawyer and quickly became impatient when one of them tried to mislead him as to the law. However, he was a good judge, honored and respected by all, and administered the law as it appeared to him, without fear of being recalled.

Andrew J. Cain was probably the pioneer lawyer of Southeastern Washington, and made his first appearance as a clerk in the quartermaster's department, at the time the treaty was concluded by General Wright with the Indians, at Walla Walla in 1858, and assisted in preparing the terms of this treaty. He practiced in Walla Walla from 1860 until 1873, when he came to Dayton and soon afterwards founded the Dayton News, Dayton's pioneer newspaper. He had full charge in the Legislature of the bills creating the present County of Columbia, is frequently mentioned as the father of that county, and was its first county auditor. He was always considered an able and well equipped lawyer, not particularly eloquent, but very forcible in his speech, and was quite successful while engaged in the practice. He died in 1879.

Col. Wyatt A. George was born in Indiana in 1819, and after serving in the Mexican war, came to the coast during the gold excitement of 1849. He followed the mining camps until 1860, when he settled in Walla Walla, practicing there until the District Court was established in Dayton in 1878, when he removed to that town. He practiced in Dayton for ten years and then went to Pomeroy for a short time, then to Colfax, and afterwards returned to Walla Walla, where he died without means, his last wants being administered by the members of the bar, with whom he had practiced for so many years. His knowledge of the law was wonderful, and he was often referred to as a walking law library, and by many as "Old Equity." He seldom referred to a law book, yet his knowledge of the principles and reasons of the law, and his familiarity with the technical system of pleadings then in vogue, was such that he seldom entered a case, without interposing a demurrer or motion against the pleading of his adversary, and always demanded and collected terms before allowing them to plead over. He was perhaps the ablest common lawyer in the territory, and was very successful in his practice. The old colonel with his tall, slender form, his white beard, his stove pipe hat and cane, was noticeable in any gathering, and he always believed in maintaining the dignity of his profession in the manner of his dress and his bearing on the street. The colonel wasn't much of a joker, but had a sense of dry humor about him, which sometimes cropped out, and was much appreciated by his associates. There was a drayman in Dayton in those days, known as "Old Jake," who drove a pair of mules to his dray. His mules were attached and he employed Colonel George to claim them as exempt. The previous Legislature in describing the property exempt to a teamster, had unintentionally omitted the word "mules," and Judge Wingard held against the colonel. After studying the statute for a moment, the colonel remarked to the judge that the members of the late lamented Legislature had evidently overlooked mules, but that it was the first time in the history of the world that a mule had been overlooked by a set of jackasses.

Judge Sturdevant came to Dayton in 1874, and was soon elected prosecuting attorney of the first judicial district. He was the first probate judge of Columbia County and its prosecuting attorney for many years. He was a member of the constitutional convention, and the first judge of this judicial district after we became a state. He practiced law in Columbia County until a few years ago, when he removed to Olympia, but occasionally comes back for the trial of some case and recalls old memories. The judge was of a very genial disposition, always ready to lay aside his work and tell a good story, yet withal he was a splendid lawyer, trying his cases closely and generally with success, and even yet in his old age, he retains his knowledge of the law, his cunning and his ready wit, and bids fair to practice law for many years to come.

Morgan A. Baker was a young man when he came to Dayton from Albany, Ore., in 1877. He was a good office lawyer and a safe adviser. He was somewhat diffident in court, but usually tried his cases well. As a politician and manager of the old democratic party in this county, he was in a class by himself. He practiced here for thirteen years and was very successful in his profession and in a financial way. He removed from here to Seattle and afterwards returned to his first home at McMinville, Ore., where he died a few years ago.

The other local lawyers who were present at the first term of court, did not remain here long. M. W. Mitchell is still living at Weiser, Idaho. Tom Crawford located at Union, Ore., and attained considerable political prominence in that state.

In 1879, David Higgins and James Knox Rutherford came to Dayton. Higgins was an elderly man, and somewhat hard of hearing; he never had to amend his pleadings, because no one could read his writing; he had a very good knowledge of the law, and is principally remembered as the man who broke the first city charter. He afterwards located at Sprague where he died many years ago.

Rutherford was prosecuting attorney for several years and assisted John B. Allen in the prosecution of Owenby, McPherson and Snodderly, the most celebrated murder trials of this part of the state. Rutherford went from here to Whatcom, and when last heard from was working at his old trade as a paper maker at Lowell, Wash.

In 1880, Melvin M. Godman and John Y. Ostrander located in Dayton. Judge Godman was then a young lawyer, from Santa Clara, Cal., but was very successful from the start, and soon attained prominence in his profession. He was acknowledged by all, as one of the greatest trial lawyers in Eastern Washington. He was an eloquent advocate, with a good knowledge of the law, forcibly presenting the strong points of his own case, and quick to discover the weak points in his opponent's case, and turn them to his own advantage. He was twice a member of the Legislature, a member of the constitutional convention, the second superior judge of this district, an unsuccessful candidate for supreme judge, congressman and governor of the state, and at the time of his death was chairman of the Public Service Commission. He was one of the great men of the state. John Y. Ostrander was the son of Dr. Ostrander, and born in Cowlitz County, but came to Dayton from Olympia. He was a good lawyer for a young man; was red headed and a natural fighter, and even when he lost his case, he gave his opponent good reason to remember that he had been in a lawsuit.

In 1881, Elmon Scott was admitted to practice in the courts of this district, at Dayton, and located at Pomeroy, where he became prominent in his profession, and when we became a state, he was elected to the Supreme Court, doing honorable service for twelve years. He then retired from practice and is now living quietly at Bellingham, enjoying a well earned competency. In 1883, Mack F. Gose took his examination at Dayton and also located at Pomeroy, where he developed into one of the most successful lawyers in Eastern Washington. He served for six years on our supreme bench, where he justly earned the reputation of being one of the greatest judges our state has yet produced. Judge Gose delved deeply into the law and his thorough knowledge of its fundamental principles was responsible for his great success upon the bench. The judge is admired by his acquaintances and worshiped by his friends in Garfield County, where he spends his summers on his ranch at Mayview.

In 1884, Samuel G. Cosgrove located at Dayton and was admitted to practice in the courts of the territory, but soon removed to Pomeroy. He was a veteran of the Civil war, an orator and an excellent trial lawyer. His predominant characteristics were ambition and perseverance, never losing sight of his goal until by persistent efforts he had reached it. He was a member of the constitutional convention and finally achieved his life long ambition to be governor of Washington. It is to be regretted that he did not live to enjoy the fruits of his life long work.

Much might be said of these three men, but their history is a part of the history of the state; they put Pomeroy on the map, and gave it the reputation of having produced more prominent men than any small town in our state.

During the year 1886, Charles R. Dorr and James Ewen Edmiston, both of whom had read law in Dayton, took the examination and were admitted to practice. Charlie Dorr was an orator and a student and quickly took his place among the leading lawyers, and it was often said that he was the most brilliant young lawyer in this part of the state. With him ambition reigned supreme, and this coupled with natural industry and backed by that drive power which causes men to do things worth while, would have made him a power in this state, had he lived a few years longer. He was prosecuting attorney for two years, and took his place among the campaign orators of the state. His death in 1892, after six years of practice, was the cause of much regret.

James E. Edmiston in private life was a quiet unassuming gentleman, loved and respected by everyone. As a lawyer he was successful from the start, and soon built up a large practice. His knowledge of men and his ability to judge them as they are, gained from his experience as a teacher, a minister and a business man, prior to his taking up the law, made him a dangerous opponent in the trial of cases in court. He was well founded in the principles of the law, was a convincing speaker and had great weight with a jury. He filled the office of prosecuting attorney for two years, with credit to himself. His death in 1900, while yet in the prime of life and the midst of his usefulness, was a great loss to the community. It can be truly said, that a better, kinderhearted man than J. E. Edmiston, never lived.

The history of this state cannot be written without referring many times to the lawyers mentioned in this paper. A senator, a congressman, a governor, many judges of the Supreme and Superior courts, and all have made good in the positions to which they were called. Southeastern Washington has been the training ground for many great men.

The present bar of Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties are mostly home products, but they are good lawyers, upholding the honor of their profession, and full of promise, and will undoubtedly follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, and help write the future history of our great state.

The representative of bench and bar in old Walla Walla County who has attained the most distinguished rank in office, having been a member of the State Supreme Court of Washington, as well as possessing high rank in the regard of multitudes of his fellow-citizens, is Judge Mack F. Gose of Pomeroy. He also, like the other contributors, belongs to a prominent pioneer family, and also a family of lawyers. He too is on our advisory board.

We have the pleasure of presenting here a special sketch by Judge Gose, including a narration by him of a case of peculiar interest and importance, the case of old Timothy, the Nez PercÉ hero of the Alpowa:

TIMOTHY OF ALPOWA AND HIS LAND CASE

On a broad fertile plain on the Snake River near the mouth of the Alpowa Creek, about 1800, there were born two Nez PercÉ children of the full blood, a boy and a girl, named Timothy and Tima, who, upon attaining the age of manhood and womanhood, became husband and wife and remained such until the death of the wife which occurred in 1889. Timothy, the subject of this sketch, passed on about a year later. He was a chief of the Nez PercÉ tribe and, from the time of his birth until his decease, dwelt at the place where he was born.

He was converted to Christianity by the Reverend Spalding, and became a licensed preacher. There was born to Timothy and Tima as issue of their marriage four children, three sons and a daughter: He-yune-ilp-ilp, or Edward Timothy, Jane Timoochin, Estip-ee-nim-tse-lot, or Young Timothy, and Amos Timothy who died during childhood. Edward was twice married. There was born to his first wife a daughter Pah-pah-tin, who married Wat-tse-tse-kowwen. To them was born a daughter Pitts-teen. The issue of his second marriage was daughter Nancy Tse-wit-too-e, who was married to Rev. George Waters, an Indian of the Yakima tribe. The issue of this marriage was two daughters, Ellen and Nora. Jane Timoochin was twice married. To her was born a son, William, the issue of her first marriage. To William was born a daughter named Cora. To Young Timothy was born a daughter Amelia, who had a son named Abraham. The living issue of Timothy and Tima at the time of the death of the latter was Jane Timoochin, Pitts-teen, Ellen, Nora, Cora and Abraham. The second husband of Jane Timoochin was John Silcott, a prominent and much respected citizen of the State of Idaho, with whom she lived until her death in 1895. In 1877 Timothy filed his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States. A year later he filed a homestead entry on the tract of land upon which he was born, and had continued to reside. In 1883 he made final proof as a naturalized citizen of the United States, and a year later received his letters patent. No record evidence of his naturalization has been found, but there is abundant evidence that he voted at least once and that he was a taxpayer.

A reference to the dates given will show that Timothy was a lad four or five, perhaps six, years of age when the Lewis and Clark party made its memorable voyage down the Snake River in 1805 and stopped at the Indian village where he resided. The writer has heard it stated by a friend of Timothy that he claimed to remember seeing these white men. There can be but little doubt that he was old enough to have an occurrence so strange to him indelibly stamped upon his memory. From early manhood until his death Timothy was a good man, whether measured by the white skin or the red skin standard. He early adopted the habits of civilized life, and was a friend of the white race. History records that he was instrumental in saving the lives of General Steptoe and his command. Gen. Hazard Stevens in the life of his father, the eminent Gen. Isaac J. Stevens, relates that Timothy attended the great Indian council held at Walla Walla between Governor Stevens and many Indian tribes in 1853, at which time and place a treaty was concluded, and that "the morning after the council, being Sunday, he (Timothy) preached a sermon for the times and held up to indignation of the tribe and the retribution of the Almighty those who would coalesce with the Cayuses and break the faith of the Nez Perces." Like Lawyer, the head chief of the Nez PercÉ tribe at the time this council was held and the treaty was made, Timothy loved to dwell in peace. They alone among all the chiefs there assembled saw the folly of fighting the white man.

The remains of Timothy rest in an unmarked grave on the banks of Snake River—the spot of his birth, his life and his death. Efforts have been made to secure Congressional recognition of his worth to the white man when he was struggling to make a settlement in the Northwest in the heart of a country peopled by thousands of Indians, many of whom were hostile to our race. So far the effort has been unavailing. It is said that there were but two pictures in Timothy's simple cabin home—one of George Washington, the other of himself. This may excite the derision of those who know nothing of the simple, honest, Christian, loyal character of Timothy; but to those who know his history it seems not an improper linking of two names: one great and loyal to all that was right and just; the other, obscure as measured by white skin standards, but also loyal to right and justice as he understood the Christian teaching.

With this sketch of Timothy and a proper understanding of the prominent part that he played in several of the momentous events of history in this section, the reader will see the interest which gathers around a noted law case connected with the land upon which he filed near the junction of Alpowa Creek with Snake River.

A summary of the case is as follows:

The patent through which Timothy acquired the legal title to his homestead recites that the land shall not be sold or incumbered for a period of twenty years. Despite this limitation, Timothy and Tima, in June, 1884, about two months after the patent had been issued, executed an unacknowledged lease of the land to John M. Silcott for a term of ninety-nine years. The expressed consideration for the lease was a nominal sum, payable yearly. In April, 1890, Silcott assigned an undivided one-half interest in the lease to L. A. Porter. In March, 1892, he assigned the remainder of the lease to Richard Ireland. In March, 1902, Silcott conveyed his interest in the land to Ireland by a deed of quitclaim. In October, 1903, Ireland and wife conveyed their interest in both the land and lease to William A. White and Edward A. White. In March, 1904, Porter assigned his interest in the lease to W. J. Houser and Ross R. Brattain, and at the same time conveyed to them certain fee interests in the land which he had purchased from certain of the heirs of Timothy and Tima.

In May, 1904, Houser and Brattain entered into a contract with White Brothers, above mentioned, whereby they agreed to convey to them the Porter interests, both fee and leasehold.

About 1903 or 1904 Charles L. McDonald, a lawyer residing and practicing his profession at Lewiston, in the State of Idaho, purchased the inheritances of Cora, the granddaughter of Jane, and Abraham, the grandson of young Timothy, and of Noah, the father of Abraham. The other interests were claimed by White Brothers. They also claimed the one-sixth interest inherited by Cora.

As an outgrowth of the facts stated, intricate and prolonged litigation followed. Mr. McDonald commenced a suit against White Brothers, alleging that the lease was invalid on two grounds: First, because the lease was unacknowledged, and second, because the patent to Timothy should have contained a five-year non-alienation clause in accordance with the act of Congress of March 3, 1875. He also asserted title to the entire fee in the land acquired as he claimed through conveyances from all the heirs of Timothy and Tima. He did not claim to have acquired the inheritances of Silcott or of the heirs of Edward, but his contention was that Silcott and Jane had not been legally married and that Edward had not married.

At the trial it was established that in early times living together in the manner usual between husband and wife constituted a legal marriage, according to the Nez PercÉ tribal custom. It was also established that, according to the same custom, either spouse was at liberty to separate from the other and at once take a new mate; thus giving legality to both the divorce and second marriage. From the evidence offered the court found that Edward was twice married; that there was living issue of both marriages, and that Silcott and Jane were legally married. It was shown that Rev. James Hines, an Indian preacher, licensed but not ordained, performed the marriage ceremony between Silcott and Jane about the year 1882, at some place on the Alpowai Creek, in the then Territory of Washington. Mr. McDonald's contention that only ordained ministers could perform the marriage ceremony and that a ceremonial marriage without proof that a marriage license had been procured was invalid, was held to be without merit.

The evidence showed that the actual consideration for the lease was that Silcott should support Timothy and Tima during their natural lives; that he did so, and that he gave them a decent burial was amply proven. Under the laws of Washington an unacknowledged lease of real property for more than a year is not valid. The Whites relied upon permanent and valuable improvements and the long continued possession of their predecessors under the lease as constituting both laches and estoppel against the right to assert the invalidity of the lease. Touching this aspect of the case it was shown that the land was unfenced and covered with sage brush, except about one acre which had been used as an Indian garden when the lease was made; that the land then had a value of five dollars per acre; that in the fall of 1890 Silcott and Porter plowed, cleared and leveled about sixty acres and planted it to fruit trees; that the next spring they planted about twenty acres to alfalfa; that in the fall of 1903 White Brothers planted about twenty acres additional to orchard; that water had been carried to the land for irrigation by those claiming under the lease, and that at the time of the trial (about 1906) the orchard was in good condition and the land of the value of $20,000.

Both the trial court and the supreme court took the view that the heirs were guilty of laches, which precluded setting aside the lease, they having permitted those claiming under it to have the undisturbed possession of the land for more than twenty years. It was also held that, in view of the valuable improvements placed on the land by those who in good faith believed the lease to be valid, it would be doing violence to the plainest rules of equity to permit those who have remained passive when it was their duty to speak, to be rewarded for their inattention to their legal rights. Upon these principles the lease was sustained. Mr. McDonald was adjudged to be the owner of the one-sixth interest inherited by Cora and the one-third interest inherited by Abraham and his father, Noah, making an undivided one-half of the fee simple title. White Brothers were adjudged to be the owners of the remaining fee interest composed of the inheritances through Edward and of John Silcott, all, however, subject to the ninety-nine-year lease. The marriages and heirships were proven by the testimony of Indian witnesses.

The case was tried at Asotin. One old Indian testified that he was born there and that he owned the town and adjoining land. In testifying to the first marriage of Edward, he caused some merriment by saying that he was busy as usual when it happened and gave little attention to an incident so trivial in his busy life. Edward Reboin, whose father was a Frenchman and whose mother was a Nez PercÉ Indian, was used as an interpreter. He testified to the customs of marriage and divorce among the Nez PercÉ Indians. He said in early times two marriage customs were recognized and followed. The simplest one has been stated. The other was to have a wedding feast, attended by the relatives and friends of the young couple; following which the happy pair betook themselves to the tepee of the husband and they twain became husband and wife.

The trial of the case consumed several days. The court permitted wide latitude in the presentation of the evidence. Several white men and many Indians gave testimony on the various phases of the case. Among others, Mr. R. P. Reynolds, now a resident of the City of Walla Walla, made oath that he was well acquainted with Timothy; that he explained the lease to him before he signed; that the actual consideration for the lease was that Silcott should support Timothy and Tima during the natural life of each thereof; that he did so and that he gave each of them a decent burial. The examination of an Indian witness through an interpreter is an interesting experience. The Indian carries his traditional stoicism to the witness stand. There he is as impassive as a piece of marble. Neither by sign nor act does he give any indication of the working of his mind to the examiner. His answer to one question rarely suggests another question. The examiner works his way in the dark as best he may. This experience is particularly true of cross-examination. It has been said that cross-examination is an art. Some artist may have seen the light in cross-examining an Indian, but to the writer the Indian has been a man of mystery.

THE PHYSICIANS

From the bench and bar we turn to the medical profession. It is hard to express the debt of gratitude which these pioneer communities owe to their physicians. Among those who have completed their work and passed on, the minds of all people of old Walla Walla would turn with profound respect and veneration to Dr. N. G. Blalock as justly entitled to be called the foremost citizen of this section, and among the foremost of the State of Washington. Conspicuous among the great physicians who have passed away, Dr. John E. Bingham would be called up by all the old-timers as a man of extraordinary ability, great attainments in general knowledge, and a skillful and successful practitioner. Many others, gone and still living, have made noble contributions to the upbuilding of the region covered by our story, but limits of space forbid special mention.

Among the living representatives of the medical profession undoubtedly the man whose name would come at once to the minds of all in his section of our field is Dr. G. B. Kuykendall of Pomeroy. We have had occasion frequently in these pages to refer to this foremost of the physicians of his section of the state. Prominent both by reason of his medical ability and his peculiarly genial and attractive personality, Dr. Kuykendall has also been one of the leading historical students, and one of the especially gifted writers in this section of our field. In this chapter we give a contribution by this well-known and well-loved physician of Garfield County:

REMINISCENCES OF MEDICAL PRACTICE IN GARFIELD COUNTY, WASHINGTON, IN PIONEER TIMES

Forty years as a measure of the earth's geological changes, or of the history of the world, are as but a moment—as the lightning's flash or the fall of a meteor. The same lapse of time in the life of a physician, during the early settlement of the Inland Empire, seems long when viewed in retrospection. A sketch of those forty years would be a vitagraph of the most active period of his life and also the panorama of the building of an empire.

Four decades ago, the larger part of all this country was a wilderness—a typical western frontier.

In those days, when the physician started out in the country to visit his patients, he rode over a region covered with tall grass, swept into wavy undulations by the western winds. As far as the eye could see there were but few human habitations; and seldom a fence to mar the landscape or obstruct the way.

The doctor's mode of travel then, on medical trips, was usually on the "hurricane deck of a cayuse horse," and his armamentarium was carried in the old-time saddle or pill bags. Often the jolting and jostling of the bottles therein caused the effluvium of ether, valerian and other odoriferous medicaments to exude and make the air redolent with their perfume. We had to carry our medicines with us, and a pretty good supply of them, too; for we never knew what we should find or how many sick we might meet before our return.

In the pioneer days of this country, the "settlers" had small houses and but few conveniences as we now know them. Mostly they lived in domiciles of one room, and there were few indeed that had more. When sickness came it always found them unprepared.

Dust, flies and impure water were the curse of the sick, and made it impossible to give then proper sanitary environments. Dust in those days was much worse than now, as roads were then in the making by the easiest and quickest route. They passed up and down the bunch-grass hills and across the sage plains, the soft, ashy soil being ground into dust of prodigious depth by "single-track" summer travel. Freight wagons, incoming settlers and caravan trains kept the roads so dusty that the traveler was greatly inconvenienced.

Homesteaders at first procured water from the little gulches near their homes or from shallow wells of seepage water. In either case, it was nearly always impregnated more or less with alkali and loaded with organic matter. The result was that every year, after the country had a considerable population, typhoid (then called mountain fever) appeared, and every summer and fall there were numerous cases. People, then, had not been educated to the necessity of proper care of the body and knew scarcely anything of disease germs, antiseptics or sanitation. Bath rooms, hot and cold water in the home, existed only in memories of the past or dreams of the future.

Many times when I was called to a country home to see a patient, to dress a wound or reduce and dress a fracture, I frequently went out to a hole in the ground dignified by the name of well, to wash the dust from my face and hands. We got along almost "any old way" those days, and did not seem to mind so very much the inconveniences either.

In those days we did not have telephone lines running everywhere over the country and to nearly every home, as now. When a member of a pioneer family suddenly became sick, or when someone had been "bucked" from a horse and got a leg or arm broken, or the baby had a collection of wind crosswise in its stomach and was howling "loud enough to raise the rafters," then there was a sudden demand for someone to go, from three to twenty-five miles, for the doctor. They could not step to a phone and call him up and ask advice, or request him to start at once. The program was to rout out the hired man or one of the boys, or send to a neighbor, and have him saddle a horse and start to town for the physician.

It is remarkable how much worse green plums and cucumbers affect the internal apparatus of a "kid" in bad weather, and what a predilection colic has for attacking the "in'ards" of a baby on dark, stormy nights. It always seemed to me that the children of the early settlers passed by the "moonshiny" nights and selected the very worst possible weather for their birthdays. This seems to be one of the inscrutable arrangements of providence, and bears indisputable testimony to the early age at which human perversity begins.

In those days the time required to get word to the doctor and secure his attendance was so great that the patient sometimes died or recovered before the physician could possibly reach him. During all this time the patient and friends were kept in an agony of uncertainty and suspense.

In retrospection, some of my long, hard night drives through darkness, freezing cold, snowdrifts, rain, slush or mud, are still like memories of a horrible nightmare.

There have been several epidemics that swept over the country since the beginning of its settlement. The first was smallpox. It is a remarkable fact that many physicians diagnosed the disease as chickenpox, until it began to slay many of its victims. There was at that time quite a controversy among the physicians and a part of the people in regard to the nature of the disease.

In the spring of 1888, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis appeared in Garfield County and the surrounding country. It came suddenly and the symptoms were so violent, and the results in many cases were so rapidly fatal that it created consternation among the people. The physicians over the country generally had not previously met the disease nor had any experience with it, and were puzzled both as to diagnosis and treatment. The writer had, during the epidemic, an experience that was enough for a lifetime. The disease prevailed more or less for about two years. In Garfield County there were a large number of cases on the upper and lower Deadman Creek, Meadow Gulch, Mayview, Ping, along the Snake River and in Pomeroy and Pataha. It is probable that Garfield County, in proportion to its population, had more cases than any county in the state.

The attacks of the malady were of all shades of severity and the symptoms of the greatest diversity. It attacked, for the most part, young persons from the age of three to twenty years, but there were numerous cases older and younger. In some instances the person was taken instantly, while apparently in ordinary health, with agonizing pains in the head and spine, with or without vomiting, and in a few minutes he became wildly delirious, with convulsions, muscular contractions, rigidity of the neck, head drawn far back, and was soon unconscious; and in some cases, died within a few hours. In other cases, the patient lingered on for many weeks or even months, halting between life and death, with excruciating agony, only at last to die, worn out and reduced to a skeleton. Others slowly emerged from their desperate condition to regain complete health, while others were left partially paralyzed, with distorted and shrivelled limbs or impaired mental powers.

I witnessed many harrowing scenes among my meningitis cases, and when the epidemic was past, I fervently thanked God and wished I might never again have to pass through a similar experience.

Following up the meningitis scourge, there came along soon afterwards a notable epidemic of influenza or la grippe. The symptoms it produced were very characteristic of and came near to answering the description of epidemic "Russian influenza," graphically pictured in old medical works. Whole communities were prostrated in a few hours. It seemed to spread through the medium of the atmosphere, and was also very contagious, passing from person to person. Many were stricken and overpowered almost or quite as suddenly as the meningitis cases, while some exhibited meningeal tendencies that made the diagnosis doubtful at first.

I remember of going to Ilia to see a patient with the disease, and before getting back home I had been called to prescribe for seventeen persons; and a few days later I took the disease myself.

The effects of this epidemic were manifest for years, there being left in its wake a multitude of cases of enlarged and suppurating cervical glands, otitis media (suppuration of the middle ear), weakened lungs, bronchitis, and a number of cases of tuberculosis.

Before the country was fenced up, when the roads were few and settlements sparse, the doctor's trips were occasionally very lonely. When going out into remote parts after nightfall, traveling an unfamiliar road and uncertain as to where it led, without a house, fence or sign of human habitation in sight, I have been startled by the weird, doleful howlings of the coyote or the melancholy hootings of the prairie owl. At such times there came over me an undefined feeling of loneliness, not real fear, but perhaps it was that instinctive dread of darkness and danger at night that has come down to us from savage and superstitious ancestors of past ages. Be that as it may, the sight of a candle or lamp gleaming across the prairie, from some settler's window, had a most welcome and cheering effect. Even the barking of a dog or the noise of domestic fowls, or any sound indicating the proximity of human beings tended to enliven the gloom and make home seem nearer.

Thirty or forty years ago we never dreamed that we should ever drive over the country in an automobile. We considered ourselves pretty "well fixed" when we had a good top buggy and a nimble team with which we could make eight or nine miles an hour. In the fine weather of spring and early summer, if there happened to be no need of special haste, it was often a real pleasure to drive out through the country. When the air was redolent with the perfume of flowers and growing vegetation, or sweet with the perfume of new mown hay, the blue sky above, the distant pine-covered mountains, the rolling, grass-covered hills and prairies, all formed a combination well calculated to exhilarate and give delight.

But night visits in the winter time, during cold, stormy weather, were altogether different, when, with darkness there was snow and mud, or strong wind and hard freezing, and the physician had to plod his way slowly along, sitting chilled through and through, feet almost frozen, hands and fingers so benumbed they could hardly clasp the lines—no play of the imagination could make it seem a pleasure trip. It was far worse, however, when there were added to these conditions the feelings and emotions caused by the consciousness that off in a little pioneer cabin on the prairie, or in some gulch, or up in the mountains, there was a patient that was lying at the point of death, with wild delirium or low muttering and stupid mental wandering, or some woman shrieking in agony and praying to God to send her relief from the suffering she was enduring to give life to another, while friends distracted were waiting and wishing the doctor would come. Spurred by these reflections I have often plied the whip and automatically pushed on the lines, to help my horses, my mind running ahead to my destination. As disagreeable as were the outward circumstances, often the state of mental torture and suspense were worse than the physical discomfort.

In those days, the physician had ample time to think while on his long trips in the country, particularly when patients presented no serious symptoms, or when returning home. Often on such occasions, I have looked up at the starlit sky and the myriads of scintillating worlds therein, and thought of the vastness of the universe, and of the aeons of ages since all these blazing worlds were set floating in space. Then came the thought of the immensity of the distance to even the nearest fixed star, and of the vast stretches of the illimitable universe beyond; and of the worlds in the outer confines of space beyond the Milky Way or the Pleiades, whose light took thousands of years to reach the earth. Then would come the thought, "Why all this stupendous illimitable, incomprehensible aggregation of worlds?" "Are any of the planets of these glowing orbs inhabited by intelligent beings?" "If not, why do they exist at all?" Thus my thoughts have run on and on, until cold, darkness, discomfort and almost everything else have been forgotten and lost in my contemplations, and time passed almost unperceived as I traversed the miles in solitude. At other times my thoughts would run upon the problems of human existence, the connection between mind and matter, the mystery of life and death.

Traveling on a moonlit night along the breaks of Snake River, Tucanon or Alpowa, watching the silvery lights and dark shadow along the escarpments and basaltic walls that border these streams and make such grand and beautiful scenery, I pictured to my mind this country when fresh from the hands of the fire gods, a seething, sizzling mass of molten basalt. Then I thought of the long years of its cooling, the gradual crumbling of the rock and the formation of the soil, the appearance of plant and animal life, and of the tropical and semi-tropical climate that must have existed; and of the wonderful extinct animals that once inhabited our hills and valleys; of the hairy mammoth, the three-toed horse and the other strange beings that roamed through the forests that one time were here.

As I looked far down into the wonderful gorge through which Snake River flows, and contemplated the many centuries it must have taken to cut the great channel, it gave me a more comprehensive conception of how the author of the universe operated in creation.

Back in the days when we drove buggies or rode horseback, we had time on the road to do a lot of thinking, as well as of freezing and scorching, or plodding through snow, mud or dust.

A physician trained in thought is sure to thresh out in his mind while on the road, during the day or night, many knotty problems in the isms, ologies and pathies of medical practice; and when serious sickness claims his attention, and is pressing for his best endeavors, he will search all the treasure houses of his memory for everything that he has ever read or heard of in relation to similar cases. Often the time was wearisome, roads were long, and waiting for pay for services was long, and all this longness tended to make a shortness of the pocket-book.

When in the midst of weary night vigils, or when nearly worn out and exhausted by loss of sleep, or when chilled to the bone by cold and exposure, I have thought that if ever any one was justified in taking a stimulant to "brace up," it is the overworked physician. While I never took any kind of stimulant or narcotic, I have felt like making some allowance for the hard driven doctor who occasionally took something to brace him up and deaden his sensibility to cold and fatigue.

One of the worst combinations a doctor had to meet was a deep snow, dense fog and unbroken roads. If added to this there was intense cold, the trip was to be dreaded. One would be about as well off in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, without a compass, as in such a snow and fog. Whether one looked up, down or any other direction, the appearance was all the same—it was one blank, impenetrable, misty-white. If a man turned around and once missed his bearings, he was lost indeed. There were instances, those days, where persons were caught out in the darkness and wandered around all night on a forty-acre tract, utterly bewildered. One who has been lost in one of those foggy snows will never forget his sensations and feelings.

Time has wrought many changes since the days of the early settlement of the country. Places that were reached only with the greatest difficulty and sometimes with peril, we now drive up to on smooth roads of easy grades. Where we could scarcely get to a cabin on horseback, one now drives up with ease in an automobile to a beautiful modern home.

Where it used to take many hours or a whole day to make a visit, the same distance can now be made in an hour or even in minutes. The telephone, good roads, automobiles and new discoveries and advances in medical science, surgery and pharmacy, have revolutionized medical practice.

Riding out today, over on Snake River, out in the Deadman country, up on the Pataha Prairie, up to Peola or the Blue Mountains, over on the Tucanon or toward Lewiston or Dayton, one still sees here and there the reminders of "old times" and "old timers." Here are the relics of old cabins, where the pioneers first had their homes.

Memory goes back to a desperate case of typhoid fever here, or of pneumonia or other disease over there. There come up memory pictures of scenes of anxiety, suffering and suspense and then of recovery, or possibly death.

Over yonder stood the home of an early pioneer. In that house was born a son or daughter that today is leading in business and society; the father and mother are sleeping in one of the cemeteries of the county. A few are still lingering, old and feeble, waiting for the final summons. Back in the mountains, where today we go gliding along in automobiles on summer outings, there are still seen the fading sites of the sawmills, pole and shingle mills that were operated there in early days. These remind me of broken legs and arms, of wounds and accidents, and of serious sickness that happened between thirty and forty years ago. The places where the old mills stood are marked by little clearings now overgrown with weeds and brush, with here and there a few slabs, dim in piles of sawdust, and scattering stumps. The old mills are gone and the people who owned and ran them have died or left the country.

As I write these hasty reminiscences, I wonder if thirty-five or forty years from now will bring as many changes to this country as the same length of time in the past.

What wonderful improvements the science of medicine the past forty years have brought! What additions to our knowledge of the cause of disease, of disease germs and how to combat them, of serums, opsonins, vaccines and of physiological chemistry! What advances have been made in the knowledge of antiseptics and preventative medicine, and what great strides in surgery and the treatment of wounds! What a vast field has been opened up in the study of internal secretions of the ductless glands and their relation to the well-being of the human physical system.

What will be the state of medical science forty or fifty years from now? Will physicians make their country calls in airplanes, soaring over hills and plains high in air? In pioneer days anxious ears strained for the sound of the gallop of the doctor's horse; later the patter of horses' feet and the rattle of the buggy denoted the approach of medical aid; now the gleam of the motor car lights announce that relief is near. A few years hence, mayhap, anxious ones awaiting awaiting the doctor will be made aware of his coming by the whir of the airplane motor and anxiously view his approach through powerful binoculars. Even now the most rosy dreams of our trail-making fathers have been far surpassed. That vast expanse of sage and sand that formed a large part of the Columbia River Valley will have become the garden and granary of Northwestern America.

But the beautiful homes, fertile fields, green expanses of alfalfa, the fruit-laden orchards, the cities and towns, schools, churches, factories, mills and marts of industry, will, to those who never saw the country in its original wildness, have little to tell of the toils, struggles, waiting and weariness that were the cost of this marvelous transformation.