The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., May 17, 1935, page 1
GEORGE W. McCREDY, BICKLETON PIONEER SINCE 1878
Mr. and Mrs. George W. McCredy of Bickleton were in
Goldendale Monday on business matters. Mr. McCredy, one of Klickitat's pioneers,
came to the Bickleton country in 1878, before there was any settlement there,
and only three ranches in the locality - the Huntington, the Holbrook and
Imbrie farms being located and fenced in. Goldendale was but a small trading
point, and the whole bunch-grass country was thinly populated. When he came
to eastern Klickitat county he brought a band of sheep with him.
At that time there were no fences to interfere with his
bringing them into the country. He did not take any land at first, but grazed
he sheep on the open prairie, which then, in his opinion, furnished the best
stock range at the time, east of the Cascades.
Mr. McCredy has the distinction of having been the first
sheep men to venture into the Little Klickitat meadows, where he went with
his flock in 1885, packing his provisions from Goldendale the first year
and later from Yakima City and Tampico. He also was the first man to take
sheep into the Ellensburg mountains, where he went in 1887.
In 1890 he took a homestead a mile and a half south of
the present town of Bickleton, however, he continued in the sheep business
until the fall of 1900, then sold his 10,000 sheep to his brothers, John
and Leland. He had bought an interest in the mercantile establishment at
Bickleton the year previous, the firm name being Clanton, Mitty & Co.,
and was active in the business for many years.
He was born in 1854, near McMinnville, Oregon. His father,
the late William A. McCredy, came to Klickitat in 1880, settling at what
was known as Coil's landing, on the Columbia river, near where the town of
Roosevelt is now located, where for nine years he made his home. He then
moved to the little town of Cleveland, four miles from Bickleton, but at
that time known as a Dodgetown -- from its founders of name, Riply Dodge.
Mr. McCredy was married in 1885 to Miss Emma Coleman,
a daughter of the late L.I. Coleman, -- the Coleman's having come to Klickitat
county in 1880 and for many years were interested in stock raising.
Great preparations are being made for the 25th annual
picnic of the Alder Creek Pioneers' association, which usually draws several
thousand people. Mr. McCredy's brother, Leland W. McCredy, is president of
the 1935 meeting. The date is set for June 14, with the following committee
on program: W.G. Faulkner, chairman; A.S. Rossier, S.F. Ganders and Charlotte
Jensen. The picnic will be held in the park at Cleveland as usual.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer