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OLD BLOCKHOUSE TO BE REBUILT AT GOLDENDALE
[Special Correspondence.]
GULER, Wash. Jan. 26. -- The logs that once comprised
the blockhouse in use during the late '50's, when the Yakima redskins were
on the warpath, have been removed from their former location on Spring Creek,
this county, and now occupy a vacant lot in Goldendale. It was the intention
of the history-loving people of Goldendale to rebuild the fort, restoring
it to its former state, and to use it as a museum for the collection of Indian
relics and other things pertaining to the early history of Klickitat county,
and it is said the old structure will soon be rebuilt.
The blockhouse was built by Major Haller and Lieutenant
Day, of the regular United States troops, in 1856, just after the former,
with 100 men, had a skirmish lasting several days, keeping up a running fight
from the Pisco River, in what is now Yakima County, to the border of Klickitat
county, when Chief Kamiakin was in his prime. The Yakimas had 1500 warriors,
who suddenly surprised Haller, surrounding him in a ravine. He lost five
men killed and 17 wounded. As well as could be ascertained, 40 Indians were
killed in the engagement. At the time of the Yakima war all the Indians in
the territories of Oregon and Washington were on the warpath.
During the time the blockhouse was occupied by the troop
of cavalry, it was surrounded by a stockade eight feet in height. At about
that time the Government had a force of men in the field surveying a military
road across the Simcoe Mountain, past the blockhouse, to Fort Simcoe, near
where the Indian school is located.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer