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The Bickleton News, Bickleton, WA., October 21, 1910, page 6

RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD-TIMER

Bickleton, Wash., Oct. 17. -- Editor News: The News made a mistake last week about Mr. John Baker's residence in this country antedating the first house in Bickleton. Mr. Baker was an immigrant in 1880, but Mr. C.N. Bickle had a store on the present site of Bickleton some years before that, having hauled his lumber from Goldendale. Mr. Baker found a sawmill on Pine creek when he came. The most terrific windstorm that has been felt since the settlement of the country was that same winter, Jan. 10, 1880, when juniper trees looking to be hundreds of years old were blown up roots and all. The writer was among the first settlers in 1872, and with your permission will mention a few of the most notable changes in the country. In those early days it was thought that livestock would be the only product, and a few patches of creek bottom were all that looked on as agricultural lands.
In those days, from an elevated point on the Simcoe range, with a good glass, you could look south, east, and west and see an unbroken plain covered with waving bunch grass, an occasional section of sage brush, and a few juniper trees, the natural products of the soil. The creek bottoms had rye grass growing as high as nine feet. Over this vast area ranged thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep, feasting and fattening on the luxurious growth, needing no other feed, not even in winter. From the same point you could turn your gaze to the north, east, and west, and you could see the dark line of brush and trees that marked the source of the Status creek and Yakima river. Between you and these lay a plain made dark by the sage brush that grew there, while farther north the Rattlesnake mountains raise to an elevation that exceeds by a few hundred feet the place where you are standing. These mountains at that time were covered with bunch grass and furnished food for the cattle and horses that roamed the area in summer and retreated to the lowlands when winter approached, still finding a supply of natural products on which to exist while winter's blasts whirled the snow about them.
The Rattlesnake mountains are given a place in history as the scene where Perkins and his young wife suffered death at the hands of a marauding band of savages as late as 1879.
In looking from the same point a few days ago we saw a great change. On the north side four cities appear, two railroads with moving trains spanned the valley, while a third shows up on the south side of Snipes mountain, with rails already laid and almost ready for the iron horse. Great orchards and green fields of hay almost cover the valley.
Looking on the other side, we behold Bickleton, the queen of the prairie, while in every direction the stubble fields in evidence proclaim that we look upon an agricultural region, while the number of stock must be limited to those needed for farm use. Another people lives here, with other purposes in view.

With good wishes for their future success, we subscribe,

OLD TIMER.

The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., October 29, 1910, page 2
"__________________"

John Baker and wife, of the Cleveland section, passed through Goldendale a few days ago enroute to their new home near Portland. Mr. Baker has sold his fine ranch, after many years of successful farming. He had a large acquaintance, and was most highly esteemed by his friends. His departure from a Klickitat is to be regretted. He was an old time settler, of the Alder Creek country, but not the oldest resident residence as stated by the News. An "Old Timer" writes that it is a mistake to say that John Baker's residence in that section antedates the first house in Bickleton. Mr. Baker was an immigrant in 1880, but C.N. Bickle had a store on the present site of Bickleton some years before that, having hauled his lumber from Goldendale. Mr. Baker found a sawmill on Pine creek when he came. The most terrific windstorm that has been felt since the settlement of the country was that same winter, Jan. 10, 1880, when juniper trees looking to be hundreds of years old were blown up roots and all. The writer (who had a ranch on Alder creek) was among the first settlers in 1872, and with your permission will mention a few of the most notable changes in the country. In those early days it was thought that live stock would be the only product, and a few patches of creek bottom were all that looked on as agricultural lands. In those days, from an elevated point on the Simcoe range, with a good glass, you could look south, east, and west and see an unbroken plain covered with waving bunch grass, an occasional section of sage brush, and a few juniper trees, the natural products of the soil. The creek bottoms had rye grass growing as high as nine feet. Over this vast area ranged thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep, feasting and fattening on the luxurious growth, needing no other feed, not even in winter. From the same point you could turn your gaze to the north, east, and west, and you could see the dark line of brush and trees that marked the source of the Status creek and Yakima river. Between you and these lay a plain made dark by the sage brush that grew there, while farther north the Rattlesnake mountains raise to an elevation that exceeds by a few hundred feet the place where you are standing. These mountains at that time were covered with bunch grass and furnished food for the cattle and horses that roamed the area in summer and retreated to the lowlands when winter approached, still finding a supply of natural products on which to exist while winter's blasts whirled the snow about them. In looking from the same point a few days ago we saw a great change. On the north side four cities appear, two railroads with moving trains spanned the valley, while a third shows up on the south side of Snipes mountain, with rails already laid and almost ready for the iron horse. Great orchards and green fields of hay almost cover the valley. Looking on the other side, we behold Bickleton, the queen of the prairie, while in every direction the stubble fields in evidence proclaim that we look upon an agricultural region, while the number of stock must be limited to those needed for farm use. Another people lives here, with other purposes in view.