History of Pumphrey's landing
By Curt Cunningham

Olequa Creek

Olequa creek flows through the town of Vader and empties into the Cowlitz river about 6 miles southwest of Toledo. The creek begins in the Napavine prairie and flows southward toward Vader. Between these points the creek was originally called Homochen or Hom creek. At Vader, Homochen creek meets Stillwater creek which comes from the west, and together they flow into the Cowlitz river at Pumphrey's Landing. Between Vader and the Cowlitz river, the creek was known as Olequa creek. Years later Homochen creek was renamed Olequa creek.

Olequa is a variation of the name "Aloquois." On the 1858 township map of Section 10 north, 2 west, created by Surveyor General James Tilton, Olequa creek is spelled "Aloquois." Others have called it Iroquois creek, which I believe is a misspelling of the name "Aloquois." Olequa sounds very similar to Aloquois, and it was common in those days to have multiple variations of Indian words written in English.

Olequah may be of Klickitat origin. This is because there was an Upper Chehalis village near Claquato which was called "Sequah." This name is similar to the name "Olequa." Over 200 years ago a band of Klickitats settled on the upper Cowlitz river, and over time they intermingled with the Upper Chehalis and Upper Cowlitz people.

At the mouth of Olequa creek there once was a large Cowlitz village called "Kamtsi." It was a busy place during the salmon spawning season. Kamtsi translates to; "where the salmon run to," and since then many people from the Cowlitz tribe have continued to live in and around Olequa. In 1910, there were about 100 members of the Cowlitz tribe living in the vicinity. The largest Cowlitz settlements in 1910 were at; Olequa, Toledo and Randle.

Pumphrey's Landing

The first European emigrant to settle in the area was in 1851, when William H. Pumphrey arrived at the mouth of Olequa creek. On September 29, 1856, Pumphrey bought some additional property from James Gardiner who the owner of Hard Bread’s Hotel which was located at the mouth of the Toutle river. In 1858, Pumphrey, who may have been looking to make a few extra bucks, placed bids on contracts for carrying the mail on several local postal routes. Unfortunately he was never awarded a contract. On July 7, 1866, Pumphrey's 172 acre farm was officially filed at the Bureau of Land Management. Pumphrey had purchased the land from the Government in a cash sale.

By 1860, Pumphrey had built a hotel which included a saloon to serve the traffic going between Portland and Puget Sound. When the Cowlitz river was too low for the steamers to reach Toledo, they would land at Pumphrey's. Pumphrey's Landing was once known as the "Old Cowlitz Landing" and prior to Pumphrey's arrival some of the earliest settlers such as Sidney Ford of Ford's Prairie, landed there in 1847.

In 1861, the Military Road was completed and crossed Olequa creek at Pumphrey's place. The road between the Jackson Inn and Pumphrey's was the steepest and least populated section of the route. Pumphrey's hotel became the second stopping place on the road north from Monticello. On October 30, 1867, the first post office was established and was named Pumphrey's Landing. The post office remained open for only a year and closed on July 16, 1868. This was most likely because there was not enough residents to sustain it.

Indian Charlie as he was called by the settlers, was an early resident of Olequa and may have been born there in the 1830's. During the War of 1855, Indian Charlie was part of a 9-man Cowlitz band allied to the Americans. They were scouts and wore deep blue caps with red facings which were sewn in by Governor Stevens wife. These caps distinguished them from the hostiles, and the scouts prized these caps as "life insurance." They served under the command of Pierre Charles of the Cowlitz Rangers. 

Another early resident of Olequa was Wyaneschet, better known as "Captain Peter," he was an Upper Cowlitz-Klickitat and lived with his family at Olequa. Captain Peter was a Cowlitz river canoe pilot and served alongside Indian Charlie in the Cowlitz band during the war. In 1878 Captain Peter became the Chief of the Klickitats who were living on the Cowlitz river. Atwin Stockum of the Cowlitz prairie, was appointed Chief of the Cowlitz tribe by Superintendent of Indian Affairs R. H. Milroy. Stockum was a son of Scanewa, the Cowlitz chief who was killed in 1828. Stockum was also the brother-in-law of Simon Plamondon of the Cowlitz prairie.

Both Indian Charley and Captain Peter had worked for William Pumphrey at his hotel washing dishes, waiting on tables and making any repairs when needed. It is said that both Indian Charley and Captain Peter were orphans and Pumphrey took them in as his unofficial adopted sons.

On December 25, 1877, William Pumphrey wrote to Agent Milroy from Olequa, and said; "We in this settlement would ask you to make Captain Peter Chief of the Klickitat Indians who live on the Cowlitz river. We know him to be a good Indian, and we think it is the wish of all the settlers in the Cowlitz that he can manage the Indians better than any other person. I will send you a petition signed by all the people in the neighborhood if necessary. This is also the wish of the Indians. PS we are wiling to have all the Indians left here on this river."

Milroy replied requesting the petition and, besides the endorsement of Captain Peter, he asked the settlers to generally state their wishes about having the Indians to remain where they are. The petition said; "we the undersigned citizens residing in the Valley of the Cowlitz River having heard that their is some talk of the Government removing the Indians residing in said Valley to some reservation and knowing said Indians to be peaceable and well disposed and generally useful to the settlers as paid laborers respectfully petition and ask that they be permitted to remain where they are undisturbed. We also petition that Captain Peter who we know to be a good trusty Indian be appointed Chief of the Klickitat Indians in said valley."

Of the 23 signers of the petition at least 11 were either married to Cowlitz women or were themselves Metis. In 1878, Agent Milroy issued a certificate on behalf of the United States to Antoine "Atwin" Stockum citing him as chief of the Cowlitz tribe. Although Captain Peter became the Chief of the Cowlitz Klickitats, no certificate was found for Captain Peter.

Captain Peter lived the rest of his life at Olequa and passed away in 1892. Captain Peter and his family are buried along the Westside Highway about one half mile north of where the railroad crosses the Cowlitz river, at about the 17 mile marker. The cemetery is known as the "Pete Graveyard," for the Pete family that is resting there. The gravesites are located about 200 feet east of the highway, between the road and the power line. The following members of Captain Peter's family who are said to be there; Captain Peter, died 1892; Alexander, son of Captain Peter, born March 4, 1871 - died December 2, 1892; Smira Laous, born November 4, 1860 - died November 20, 1892; and Kitty, the wife of Captain Peter, who passed away on July 16, 1887 at age 40.

During 1864 a telegraph wire was strung between Victoria and Portland, and on April 4, 1864 a steamer landed at Pumphrey's with a load of telegraph wire for the new line. On June 4, 1864 Pumphrey's Landing was connected to the new telegraph line. The telegraph poles followed the Military road. North of Pumphrey's, the line continued northeast on what is now called Telegraph road. This was the last leg of the 1857 original 28 mile Military Road which ran between Monticello and Drew's Mills.

In 1868 William Pumphrey was married to Cecilia Cottonaire, daughter of Michelle Cottonaire and Sophie Plamondon of the Cowlitz prairie. Michelle had worked for the Hudson's Bay Company, and Sophie was the daughter of Simon Plamondon, and the grand daughter of Chief Scanewa. Cecilia was born on the Cowlitz prairie on October 18, 1832, and would pass away on October 23, 1878. Pumphrey would marry again around 1879 to Elizabeth "Lizzie" Foule.

In the summer of 1869, the Oregon Steamship and Navigation Company began to take passengers up the Cowlitz on their steamers to Pumphrey's Landing who were then transferred to waiting stages for the remainder of the trip to Olympia.

In 1871, women's rights activist, Susan B. Anthony made a trip to Washington State to help the women there, fight for the right to vote. At Portland she joined local activist Abigail Scott Duniway for a trip up north to Puget Sound. Cowlitz county was second only to King county in the support of women's rights. Anthony wrote a letter about her trip up the Military Road while she was at Olympia. The following is from the book; The Life and Work of Susan B Anthony By Ida Husted Harper printed in 1899;

"Here I am, October 22, at the head of Puget Sound. This was my route; Portland, down the Willamette River 12 miles to the Columbia; then down that river about 50 miles to Monticello at the mouth of the Cowlitz; then a 90 mile stage-ride, a full 60 miles of it over the roughest kind of corduroy. Then 25 miles to Pumphrey's Hotel, arriving at 6pm, then it was supper and bed; called up at 2 o'clock in the morning, and off again at 2:30, perfectly dark with a lantern on each side of coach. It was 14 miles to breakfast at 7am, horses walked every step of the way; 18 more, walk and corduroy, to dinner; then 30 miles of splendid road, and arrival in Olympia at 5:30pm."

Another account of what it was like to travel this road is from the book, All Over Washington by Francis Fuller Victor, written in 1872; "What strikes us most in this drive, are the magnificence of the timber on the mountain, and the roughness of the country for a highway. In this July weather it is well enough, jolting through the forest, over roots of giant trees, and into hollows between them; but, in the rainy season, it is a different undertaking. However, the Northern Pacific railroad is to cure this evil, in another year, perhaps."

"We are glad that for once we had to come this way. Such a forest as this is something to remember having seen and fills completely our conception of solemn and stupendous grandeur. Fir and cedar are the principal trees. They stand thickly upon the ground, are as straight as Ionian columns, so high that it is an effort to look to the tops of them, and so large that their diameter corresponds admirably to their height."

"If there is any thing in nature for which we have a love resembling love to human creatures, it is for a fine tree. The god Pan, and the old Druidical religion, are intelligible to us, as expressions of the soul struggling 'through Nature up to Nature's God,' and as a religion free from arrogance, and the temptation to build upon itself worldly ambitions, recommends itself even in the nineteenth century."

"A lover of the woods must enjoy this drive, as we did, both in an esthetical and religious point of view. It is quite natural in such profound solitudes to look for some of its most distinguished inhabitants, but our desire to meet a cougar, or a brown bear, is not gratified. Only the gray hare, and the grouse and quail, cross our road. These seem not the least to mind us, evidently unacquainted with the sanguinary disposition of man, and so audaciously familiar as to provoke an uprising of the lordly thirst for killing. The weather is fine, the mountain air and balsamic odors tonic and delightful." 

"Altogether we are in the best of spirits for two-thirds the distance to the night station. Then growing well acquainted with the scenery about us, we begin to demand fresh excitement, and are rather glad that there is a prospect of breaking down, which requires us to do some walking and some wagon-mending, so that we arrive at the crossing of Aloquois creek about dark, and take lodgings at Pumphrey's, on the farther side." 

"Pumphrey's Landing is at the head of navigation on the Cowlitz. Until the middle of July a small steamer ran up to this point, but is now discontinued until a return of high-water. It is from here that canoe passage is taken down stream to Monticello an exciting and pleasant excursion the river being very rapid, and the Indians very expert. We are on the road again by day-break, crossing Pumphrey's Mountain before breakfast. The road, in all respects, resembles that of the day previous. The morning is quite cool, although it is July weather, and the blazing, open fire which welcomes us at McDonald's, gives the most cheering impression. Here we obtain a substantial breakfast, and have time to admire the comfortable, home-like appearance of this isolated station." 

"Our road now lies across McDonald's prairie, from which we catch the first real view of Mount Rainier, the grandest snow-peak of the Cascade range; which fact it pains us to admit, because we had taken Mount Hood to be the highest, and even maintained its pretensions over Mount Shasta, its California rival. But our eyes convince us that Rainier is chief among the snow-peaks, and altogether lovely. Measurement makes it just four feet higher than Shasta, so the north has the champion mountain after all. The lights and shades upon it, as we catch frequent glimpses during the day, are beautiful beyond criticism."

The Steamers

Steamers began to ply the Cowlitz in the 1860's. On November 9, 1867 the Washington Standard said this about the river; "The Cowlitz river is still a link in the chain of direct communication between the Columbia river and Puget Sound. It is a large, rapid stream, at high stages of water navigable for steamers of light draft above the landing, and for most of the year to "Pumphrey's" about twenty-four miles from its mouth, where steamers frequently run. The steamer Rainier, built by a company of citizens of Lewis and Cowlitz counties, has recently been placed upon the river to ply between the upper Cowlitz settlements and Monticello, and connect with the steamers via. the Columbia river to Portland."

On May 20, 1871 the Washington Standard said; "The Wenat plies daily between Pumphrey's and Monticello, connecting with the stage at noon, and returning to Monticello the same evening where the passengers from each way remain over night at a house kept by one of the Huntington family, a large and fine looking house, which for meagerness of fare and chamber comforts and conveniences ranks any shanty tavern in Washington or Oregon. Opposition boats leave Monticello for Portland three alternate days in the week carrying passengers for 25 cents, on the other days but one boat leaves and charges two dollars."

"The opposition boat Vancouver, owned and commanded by Capt. Troupe is patronized by the people of this Territory, and is worthy of it. On our return, the Vancouver ran to Pumphrey's direct, and made quicker time on the Cowlitz than was ever before made on that river, bringing the passengers to that point eighteen hours ahead of regular time."

The Wenat operated on the Cowlitz river between Monticello and Pumphrey's Landing, from 1871 to 1875. In 1875, she was transferred to Puget Sound, where the steamer spent the rest of her life on the Duwamish, Puyallup, and Skagit rivers, before the boat converted into a barge in 1878.

The End of the Pioneer Era

In the Fall of 1871 the Northern Pacific was busy building it's new line from Kalama north along the Cowlitz river, and hoped to reach Pumphrey's Landing before Winter set in. Pumphrey had recently given the Northern Pacific 40 acres so they could build a depot near his property were he was to start a town. This is where the railroad originally crossed the Cowlitz river. You could say that the coming of the Northern Pacific through the Cowlitz Corridor was the beginning of the end of the Pioneer era now that Portland and the Puget Sound would be connected by a band of steel instead of a river of mud.

The small village at Pumphrey's Landing became known as Olequa in the spring of 1871. On May 20, 1871 a traveler wrote about their stagecoach ride from Olympia to Portland; "From Olympia to Skookum Chuck is very fair generally, not less than six miles an hour being made by the stage teams with full loads of passengers. Between there and Pumphrey's, it is horrible beyond description, occupying full six hours to make the seventeen miles to McDonald's where the passengers, remain overnight, and five hours to make the next fourteen miles to Pumphrey's on the following day."

On December 25, 1871 stage owner George Coggan said that there were 20 buildings being built at Pumphrey's Landing, which was now the thriving town of Olequa. 

During December of 1871, about 4 miles from Olequa, workers began to build a temporary steamer landing. Also that month the locomotive and passenger cars arrived at Kalama on the bark Rival, and were then placed on the track.

On January 6, 1872, the Northern Pacific construction crews had reached the temporary steamer landing about 4 miles south of Olequa. Trains began to run to the end of the line on January 10, 1872. The passengers were then transferred to the steamer which then continued up the river to Olequa. The passengers would then board the waiting stages at Pumphrey's hotel for the remainder of the trip to Olympia. The journey from Kalama to Olequa took just an hour and a half. This was a blessing compared to the long tedious 2 to 3 day excursion over the Military Road from Monticello or being stuffed into a canoe for a trip up the Cowlitz river.

The railroad now needed a bridge over the Cowlitz river. Construction crews soon arrived at Pumphrey's Landing and began to set up camps near the hotel. J. B. Montgomery was in charge of building the bridge and he made the hotel his office and principle boarding house for the foremen and engineers.

In 1872, the editors of The Beacon reported; "By the amount of beef furnished at the contractor's principal boarding house at Pumphrey's, Montgomery's force must be exceedingly carnivorous in their tastes and appetite. On Tuesday and Wednesday last at Schell's boarding camp, Young and Hilton delivered 3,000 pounds of fresh beef! It speaks well for the place that with all its proclivity for a meat diet at a single camp. There are only two whiskey mills in the town with no shortage of business."

During the Winter of 1872, the road between Pumphrey's and Olympia had become so so bad that the mud wagons could not get through and they were taken off the run until the road improved. Anyone going between Portland and Olympia had to ride a horse. The mail was also carried on horseback.

On July 20, 1872, the rails were almost to the river and train passengers now stayed over night at Kalama going both ways. Travelers going between Portland and Olympia could now ride in a comfortable passenger car, for twenty-five miles, from Kalama or Pumphrey's. This was a great luxury to those who have had to take the trip over the rugged mountains through mud and rain.

During the summer of 1872 Olequa was getting to be quite a commercial place. There was now a sawmill and several stores. The railroad bridge was about to begin construction, they were just waiting for the water level of the river to drop a bit before they put up the bridge. Rumors began to spread that the construction of the railroad would make Bill Pumphrey one of the richest men of the Territory. The bridge over the Cowlitz river at Olequa was completed during September of 1872 and the line reached Tenino that November.

Short sections of the old Military Road over the rugged mountain would continue to be used by the locals until about 1915, when the road became impassible due to the downed trees and overgrowth. Today, the original road across the mountains between the Jackson Inn and Pumphrey's, has faded into history.