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The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., July 1, 1954, page 1
Diamond Anniversary Edition

CENTERVILLE WAS SETTLED BY FINNISH
Original Party Arrived There May 10, 1877
By Jetta Niva

This is a short history of the first settlement, by Finnish people in the Centerville region. They came from the East where they had worked in copper mines, but they wanted to go where they could farm.
There were many English speaking families in the area before the Finns came.
The Finns heard of the homesteads of 160 acres being given to families, so they came west by train to Portland.
A man by the name of Elias Peltopera had written to them to come to Pendleton to get their homesteads. But the migrants lost the man's address -- and didn't know where Pendleton was.
They were told to go to The Dalles. They had heard of Klickitat county -- including the tidings that there were Indians there. They sent a few of the men ahead to see how the Indians were behaving. Those sent were John Hager, Jacob Jacobsen, Lars Mattson, and son Matt who interpreted for the group. The party found the Indians weren't giving any more trouble.
So they all decided to come. Crossing the Columbia in boats, bringing along a couple of horses and wagon (the Finnish people never travelled by ox team) they arrived at Centerville May 10, 1877.
When they topped the hill, they were greeted by a wonderful sweep of green farmland. Those who came later the same year were John Johnson, Eric Jussila, John Kaidera, August Klockner, Henry Lahte, Matt Hyrkas, Matt Ahola and son, Matt, John Niemela, Silvert Tormanen, Andrew Wiidanen, Mike Wilson, all with their families.
Others followed and took up homesteads: Peter Niemla in 1889, Henry Niva in 1880, Gabriel Wahnan 1877.
Lumber was cheap then and the men had saved, so they built small houses first and then built additions as they were needed. They made their own shingles and fence material and a few log houses were erected which are still standing.
Some of the men also worked so the railroad on the Oregon side near Celilo. They were husky, used to hard work.
There was nothing but tall grass and Indian trails when the first pioneers came. They brought a few horses and hand plows to start breaking the toil. They farmed a few acres at first and then added more. Finally all the available ground was in wheat. The settlers bought more land and built better homes as they prospered.
In all, thirty families and a few single men got homesteads.
This valley was named Centerville because it is in the center of the plateau ringed by the Columbia Hills and the Simcoe Mountains. From here can be seen Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. The pioneers couldn't have picked a better view.
Al Brown had the first grocery and dry goods store here, and also the Post Office. He was succeeded by a man named Wallace. There the women of the early days sold eggs for five cents a dozen, and butter, too.
Lars Mattson, incidentally, was the first of the pioneers to set foot on Washington soil as the party crossed from Oregon.
I want to say a few words about the brave pioneer mothers. They were at home with the children and did all the chores while the men worked out. Often Indians, travelling from Yakima Valley to The Dalles, would stop for water or something to eat. They wore large feathers and had painted faces.
Pioneer women made their own wool yarn and made stockings for the whole family. There were no sewing machines, everything was done by hand, including the washing.
I was born at Centerville May 24, 1882 of pioneer parents and have lived here all of my life.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., June 22, 1989, page 3

YESTERYEARS - CENTERVILLE WRITER RECALLS, RETELLS LOCAL HISTORY
By Jetta Niva

The following is a reprint of an article about the first settlers in the Centerville region taken from the Sentinel's 1954 Diamond Anniversary Edition commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the newspaper and the city of Goldendale.

This is a short history of the first settlement by Finnish people in the Centerville region. They came from the east where they had worked in copper mines, but they wanted to go with they could farm.
There were many English-speaking families in the area before of the Finns came.
The Finns heard of the homesteads of 160 acres being given to families, so they came west by train to Portland.
A man by the name of Elias Peltopera had written to them to come to Pendleton to get their homesteads. But the migrants lost the man's address, and didn't know where Pendleton was.
They were told to go to The Dalles. They had heard of Klickitat County, including the tidings that where there were Indians there. They sent a few of the men ahead to see how the Indians were behaving. Those set were John Hagar, Jacob Jacobsen, Lars Mattson, and son Matt who interpreted for the group. The party found out the Indians weren't giving any more trouble.
So they all decided to come. Crossing the Columbia in boats, bringing along a couple of horses and wagon (the Finnish people never traveled by ox-team) they arrived in Centerville May 10, 1877.
When they topped the hill, they were greeted by a wonderful sweep of green farmland.
Those two came later the same year were John Johnson, Eric Jussila, John Kaidera, August Klockner, Henry Lahte, Matt Hyrkas, Matt Ahola and son, Matt, John Niemela, Silvert Tormanen, Andrew Wiidanen, Mike Wilson, all with their families.
Others followed and took up homesteads; Peter Niemela in 1889, Henry Niva in 1880, Gabriel Wahnan in 1877.
Lumber was cheap then and the men saved, so they built small houses first and then built additions as they were needed. They made their own shingles and fence material and a few log houses were erected.
Some of the man also worked on the railroad on the Oregon side near Celilo. They were husky, used to hard work.
There was nothing but tall grass and Indian trails when the first pioneers came. They brought a few horses and hand plows to start breaking the soil. They farmed a few acres at first and then added more. Finally all the available ground was in wheat. The settlers bought more land and built better homes as they prospered.
In all, thirty families and a few single man got homesteads.
This valley was named Centerville because it is the in the center of the plateau ringed by the Columbia Hills and the Simcoe Mountains. From here can be seen Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. The pioneers couldn't have picked a better view.
Al Brown had the first grocery and dry foods store here, and also the post office. He was succeeded by a man named Wallace. There the women of the early days sold eggs for five cents a dozen, and butter too.
Lars Mattson, incidentally, was the first of the pioneers to set foot on Washington soil as the party crossed from Oregon.
I want to say a few words about the brave pioneer mothers. They were at home with the children and did all the chores while the men worked out. Often Indians, traveling from Yakima Valley to The Dalles, would stop for water or something to eat. They wore large feathers and had painted faces.
Pioneer women made their own wool yarn and made stockings for the whole family. There were no sewing machines, everything was done by hand, including the washing.
"I was born at Centerville May 24, 1882 of pioneer parents and have lived here all my life.

(ed. note: the Sentinel would be interested in learning the age of Mrs. Niva the year this letter was published. The information will be included in future accounts from the Sentinel files.