History of Chaenn Hill
By Curt Cunningham

Chain Hill as it is known today is located north of Tenino and lies between two large glacial drainage paths. At the north end of Chain hill is Rocky prairie. During the Ice Age, the Puget Sound glacier was advancing south and overrode the hills north of Tenino, and filled the valley more than 300 feet above it. The glacier did not advance any further than the south hills of Tenino. As the glacier crossed over the top of Chain hill it deposited rocky till on its north side. The rock and gravel raised the elevation of the prairie, and the ensuing melt eroded the prairie leaving the rocky terrain that gives the prairie its name.

As the glacier receded, the Tenino valley was opened first and the waters drained through the Tenino-Bucoda gap toward Grand Mound. When the glacier retreated back over Chain hill it opened the Maytown Channel and the waters began to flow toward Littlerock and Mima prairie. At one point during the melting, the waters flowed through both channels making Chain hill an island. Tenino was now under a few hundred feet of water. Today Scatter creek flows through the Tenino-Bucoda gap toward Grand Mound and Beaver creek flows through the Maytown Channel.

Charles and Zoda Chaenn

Chain hill was named after Charles and Mari "Zoe" "Zoda" Chaenn who purchased 80 acres from Avery Gilmore for $600 on the south side of the hill on July 9, 1884. Their place would become known as the Chaenn farm. The Chaenn's who were from Olympia owned the "Half Way House," that was located half way between Olympia and Tumwater.

In 1885, Charles and Zoe opened the Last Chance Saloon in Olympia. In 1886, the Chaenn's separated and Zoe took over the saloon. She then applied for a liquor license, but failed to secure one. On October 15, 1886, Zoe placed a notice in the Olympia newspaper disparaging Thomas Cavanaugh for trying to help her obtain a liquor license. She thanked Thomas for the kind interest he took in her, and did not blame him for his weak effort to assist her. She then said that because of his weak effort in helping her, it proved that he was a man who needed the sympathy of the people for his weakness. She also hoped that; "his mind will gain strength and his brain become more manly." On September 15, 1887, Zoe Chaenn was arrested for selling malt liquors without a license and was hauled in before Judge Keady. She was found guilty and fined $50, plus another $15.15 for court costs.

On September 16, 1887, Charles Chaenn rented out the Half Way house to M. B. Ward and Mrs. Gimel, and gave notice that he would not be responsible for any business transacted or any debts incurred by those who were now running the establishment. On October 5, 1887, the Chaenn's ended their marriage. On August 10, 1888, Zoda Chaenn placed an ad in the newspaper selling the Half Way House and the 80 acre Chaenn farm in Tenino.

The Stagecoaches and Teamsters

Chain Hill was a treacherous climb for wagons and stagecoaches traveling between Monticello, the Cowlitz Landing and Olympia. Steven Hodgdon operated the stage station in Tenino. The road over Chain hill was narrow, steep and many accidents occurred there. The wagon teams hauling lumber and farm goods to Olympia would have to double team their wagons while going up the hill. By the fall of 1872 the Northern Pacific had reached Tenino from Kalama and terminated construction for the winter. The stages would carry train passengers between Tenino and Olympia for the next 6 years. In 1872 a rate war between the stage companies lowered the fare to 50 cents.

Tenino was a busy place in the 1870's with traffic boarding the stages going back and forth from Olympia. With such a large volume of traffic, things do not always go smoothly. On November 12, 1872 stage owner George Coggan got into a fight with a man named Magraw at Hodgdon's Station. The dispute began when Magraw accused Coggan of mishandling some of freight that was consigned to him. After some yelling and cussing Coggan turned to leave and when his back was turned, Magraw pushed him down. He then grabbed a nearby ax and exclaimed! "Damn it, I will kill you anyhow," and struck Coggan in the back of the head just as some bystanders grabbed him. Coggan suffered a gash three inches long, but survived the incident. Magraw was as you could have guessed, thrown in the county jail.

There were many stage companies that took advantage of the tremendous need for public transport. Some of the larger companies were the Winsor and Davis stage lines who eventually sold out to George Coggan and Moses Rice Tilley. In the spring of 1873, Mr. Hick's established a stage line between Tenino and Olympia. He operated a light running stage and it was said that he carried his passengers with great care and offered lower rates than either of his competitors. Hick's stage line generally arrived in Olympia about 15 to 30 minutes ahead of the competition.

On March 15, 1873 teamster Frank Donohoe who was employed by the Coggan stage company was almost killed as he was descending Chain hill. The story begins when he was going down the hill and for some reason needed to stop. He climbed down from the wagon that was loaded with hay to chock the wheels. When he was climbing back up onto the wagon he fell under the wheels which somehow caused the wagon to break free and it ran over his body diagonally, crushing and bruising him severely. Dr. Ostrander was called for and the doctor said that while his injuries were severe, they were not life threatening.

On December 20, 1873 a fatal accident occurred on Chain hill. W. F. Morey who was the driver for the Tilley Stage line flipped his coach while descending Chain hill. It was already very dark when the train from Kalama arrived in Tenino. After loading his three passengers and their belongings, Morey cracked his whip and off they went. Chain hill is reached almost immediately and is a half mile climb to the top of the hill. 

Morey said that when he was about half way down at one of the steepest places he lost control of the brake either by his foot slipping off or the brake itself gave way. The heavy stagecoach began to press on the horses and they started to run. Morey tried his best to control them and keep the coach on the road. Just before the bottom of the hill the road makes a short curve. Here the stage struck a large stump three feet from the road causing the stagecoach to flip over and it sailed 30 feet through the air before hitting the ground.

Two of the passengers were completely uninjured and quickly ran to help the others. Jamieson said he was badly hurt and he died a half hour later. Poor Mr. Morey was found lying partly in a bed of a little stream at the foot of the hill, with the stage on him. He was unconscious when they pulled him out from under the coach. Coggan's stage came along a few minutes later, and brought everyone to a farmer's house a few miles away where Morey and Jamieson were left overnight. They were taken into Olympia the next day. It was found that Jamieson died of a ruptured liver. Jamieson's brother-in-law was also a passenger on the ill-fated stage, and had to break the sorrowful news to his sister in Tacoma.

As a result of the death on Chain hill that dark evening of December 20th, the Northern Pacific decided to change their schedule during the winter months. The new schedule started on October 1, 1874. The departure of trains from Kalama was changed to 11:30am instead of 12:30pm. This enabled the mud wagons to leave Tenino earlier and arrive in Olympia at about 6pm. The southbound train would depart Tacoma an hour later, and the mud wagons could leave Olympia at 5am instead of 4am. This change was made so the stagecoaches could make their trips during the daylight hours.

On March 26, 1876 Ben Benson who was a long time stage driver for the Tilley Stage line between Tenino and Olympia retired to his farm in Tenino. Joseph Abram Tilley, brother of Rice Tilley, took over the reins on Benson's coach.

The stagecoaches would continue to run between Tenino and Olympia until August of 1878. This is when the Olympia and Tenino short line railroad was completed thus ending the era.

The Pacific Highway

When the automobile started to come into existence in the 1900's the Tenino-Olympia Road still used the old stage road. The hill going up was dangerous enough for the early auto. But the descent was more dangerous as the braking systems were not so great on the old machines. Many concerned parents had their children walk down the hill so they would be safe in the event the car lost it's brakes going down.

The first road work on the Tenino-Olympia Road was in the spring of 1914 when Thurston county built a new grade over Chain hill. During construction, cars and wagons between Tenino and Olympia were routed onto Tilley Road. A. M. McLane moved two miles of posts from the old Chain hill road to the new grade.

Even after the road was improved in 1914, during the rainy season, the road was almost impassible. On February 17, 1916, Anna Smith traveled from Tenino to the Olympia library, where she attended a workshop on Mark Twain. Anna commented that the road was good for the time of year except for Chain hill, which was almost impassible.

On July 14, 1919 construction began on the concrete paving of the Pacific Highway from Olympia south toward Plumb. Cars would be detoured through Maytown and Yelm. The work was completed on July 24, 1920. On May 20, 1920, work started on 6.2 miles of concrete paving from Sussex Street in Tenino north to the end of the existing pavement north of the railroad underpass at Plumb. The 20 foot wide roadway complete with a new concrete bridge over Scatter creek was completed in the early part of 1921.

Automobiles traveling between Portland and Seattle would continue to use the Pacific Highway through Tenino and over Chaenn Hill for another 30 plus years until the freeway was completed between Grand Mound and Olympia in the late 1950's.