The Skamania County Pioneer, Stevenson, WA., January 24, 1941, page 3

PIONEER WRITES OF LIFE IN COUNTY 50 YEARS AGO
By Henry Metzger, Carson.

Carson, Jan. 19, 1941

     According to the census of 1890, Skamania County had at that time 744 inhabitants, the smallest number of any county in the State of Washington.  Taking advantage of this, wags would tease us Skamanians by saying that we did not have enough men in the county that could read and write to get a set of county officials.  Of course it never was as bad as all that, but it must be admitted that the educational standards of the Skamanians 50 years ago was far below from what it is now.
     In 1892 I attended the Democratic County Convention when the county seat was still at “Cascade” where North Bonneville is now.  We, a small delegation of Wind River Democrats, started out on one nice September morning, got in a rowboat, drifted down the Columbia about 6 miles to as near above the rapids as we dared to go, then we walked over the portage railway about 5 miles to the county seat.  There we found the Courthouse to be a one-story frame building about 24 x 40 feet in dimension.  Inside it was much all one room or hall where the County officials had their desks.  In one corner of this hall stood a safe in which the money and records were kept.  Two husky men could have picked up this safe and walked away with it.  In this hall we held the convention, and, by the way, it was also in that “courtroom” where I swore allegiance to the Stars and Stripes and became a citizen of the U.S.A.  As soon as the meeting was organized one delegate made a speech in which he criticized the actions of the County Commissioners.  Another delegate interrupted the speaker by shouting, “that's a lie -- you're a liar.” “You’re another one,” retorted the speaker and went on with his speech.  Well, it did not turn into a “free for all.” We nominated a set of County Officials (such as we then needed) by the good old way of: “All in favor of the nomination say ‘Aye,’ those opposed to say ‘No.’ The Ayes got it or the Nos got it, as the case happened to be.  The last and smallest piece of the nomination pie was handed to me (figuratively speaking) as the nominee for Justice of the Peace for Wind River precinct.
     In true pioneer fashion we all had a drink or two in the nearby saloon after the convention, and everything was peace and harmony, even the two “liars” made a truce.  Next, we, from Wind River, walked back to our boat and after a few hours of hard work pulling the boat against the current, we arrived at our destination and I topped off the day with a 3 mile hike to my home back in the wilderness.
     About 50 years ago the people living East of the Cascade rapids looked longingly toward Cascade Locks and wondered when, if ever, that canal would be finished so that opposition boats could come on the middle Columbia and break the monopoly which the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. then had on all the freight and passengers up and down the Columbia Gorge.  Finally in November, 1897, that canal (after being under course of construction off and on for 20 years) was opened for traffic.  Opposition steamboats came on the middle river, freight and passenger rates were greatly reduced and -- best of all, we settlers of Wind River Valley could from then on depend on the steamboats to make landings at Carson in all kinds of weather, which was not the case before; especially in the eighties the steamboat was very non-accommodating towards us settlers which caused much otherwise wholly unnecessary hardships.
     Such was life in Skamania County in the good (?) old days 50 to 60 years ago.
     Comparing the conveniences and comforts which we all enjoy today, with what the early settlers had (or better, did not have) one would naturally think that now everybody should be happy and content, but -- are we?  Well, I leave it to the readers to answer this question.