Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement (Volume 1) online

sued his education, to which he has added since leaving school by rea-
son of his broad reading. He was reared upon a farm and in early
life learned the carpenter's trade. In the latter part of 1876 he left
his home in the middle west and at the age of twenty-one years trav-
eled over the Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco, which was
then in its palmy days. The Comstock and other famous mines were
large producers and stock speculation was a large part of the business,

241



242 i gaul a. ffaulsion

stock speculators being very numerous there. There was great ex-
citement caused by the manipulation of stocks by the large holders
and it was seldom on receiving the morning papers that one did not
see accounts of one or more suicides of men and women who had been
unsuccessful in their investments in mining stock. Mr. Paulson,
however, did not have the mania for stock speculation but began work
at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a few months in San
Francisco. He had previously read much concerning Oregon, how-
ever, and regarded that state as his destination, leaving San Fran-
cisco for Portland in 1877. The city then claimed a population of ten
thousand but had considerably less, and what is now the heart of
Portland was then covered with a dense forest. He became well
acquainted with many prominent old residents who figured in the
history of the northwest.

Early in the spring of 1878 Mr. Paulson with two young com-
panions followed the tide of emigration from the Willamette valley to
what was called "east of the mountains," in Washington Territory.
Some of the Willamette people sold their farms and in prairie schoon-
ers traveled east of the mountains to where there was less rain. In
Portland Mr. Paulson frequently heard mention of Lewiston and
Walla Walla, which were already good-sized towns, and also of Col-
fax and Spokane Falls, which were just springing into being. He
made his way to the district east of the mountains, with a view to
looking over the land, journeying by boat from Portland to the Lower
Cascades, at which time the Oregon Steamboat Navigation Company,
composed of W. S. Ladd, Sim Reed, Captain J. C. Ainsworth and
R. R. Thompson, controlled the boat traffic. This was a good strong
company, very prosperous, and their boats were well built, modern
river steamers. Between the Lower and Upper Cascades a short port-
age railroad had been built which transported passengers and freight
around the Cascades where are now found government locks. At the
Upper Cascades freight and passengers had again to be transferred
by boat to The Dalles. Mr. Paulson ferried across the Columbia at
The Dalles and walked over the hills between the river and the Klicki-
tat valley to the present site of Goldendale, where was located an
Indian camp. He and his companions each bought a pony there and
then rode in a northeasterly direction to Yakima. At that time there
was nothing at the town but the Indian reservation, the agency having
a flouring mill there. There were a few stock- raisers scattered through
the county and on the present site of Bickleton they came across a
stock-raiser named Dodge, who had lived there for several years like a



jjtauj a. gautgon 243

hermit. He was the owner of fifty fine brood mares but there was no
market for horses and cattle, save what could be driven to the Colum-
bia river and transported to Portland or points on the Sound. How-
ever, while at Dodge's place Mr. Paulson met a cattle buyer from
Chicago, named Lang, who was buying up several hundred head of
steers for which he paid twenty dollars per head. His plan was to
drive them to Cheyenne on the Union Pacific and thence transport
them by rail to Chicago. The stockmen of the northwest believed he
would never reach his destination but were glad to sell their steers at
twenty dollars per head. Mr. Lang, however, prospered in his ven-
ture and returned for more cattle, becoming the first cattle shipper
to eastern markets and the pioneer of a great and growing industry.

Mr. Paulson continued on his way to Spokane Falls, looking for
good land. Accustomed to the black prairie soil of the middle west,
the timber, volcanic rock and gravel around Spokane did not appeal
to him from an agricultural standpoint. He could not see how set-
tlers who had taken up land would ever make a living. The people
of Spokane seemed somehow to be dependent upon water power for
the development of the city but there was no railroad and none in
contemplation, and when Mr. Paulson asked what they could do with
their water power, the only answer was that it would drive a sawmill.
He did not like the rolling hills of Palouse county and returned to
Portland but was there only a short time before the Nez Perce Indian
war broke out. On the trip to Spokane Falls he had frequently met
Indians and noticed that they seemed surly and cross, and the few
white settlers whom he encountered said that they feared that the
Indians were going on the warpath. With the outbreak of hostilities
the militia company of Portland was called out and Mr. Paulson re-
lates that many of the young men of the company employed as clerks
or in other positions in Portland were very scared when they found
that they must go out against the red men.

For a time Mr. Paulson was employed in the car shops of the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Kalama. Coal had just been
discovered at Wilkeson and a road was being constructed from that
point to Tacoma. The company built two hundred coal cars, in which
work Mr. Paulson was actively engaged. He then returned to Port-
land and with a partner took contracts for and built several houses.
He was afterward employed in the sash and door factory of J. C. Car-
son, with whom he remained three years. He then engaged in busi-
ness on his own account, forming a partnership with Sylvester Pen-
noyer, afterward governor of Oregon, and who at that time owned a



244 fjagj g. fteutoon

lumber mill in the south part of Portland. After two years Mr. Paul-
son sold his interest to his partner and removed to Tacoma, where was
situated a small town that was, however, growing rapidly. He or-
ganized a company called the Tacoma Lumber & Manufacturing
Company, of which he was the chief owner. This company manu-
factured lumber, sash and doors and other building material and also
wooden ware. They greatly enlarged their plant to meet the rapid
growth of their business and employed as many as two hundred and
fifty men, not including the logging crews in the woods. They were
burned out twice but rebuilt. As fast as Mr. Paulson made money
he invested it in timber lands on the Skagit river and with Henry
Drum, W. J. Thompson and Byron Barlow, bought a large tract of
land in the Skagit valley near the site of Sedro Woolley, and also in
the vicinity of Sterling and Burlington, and in Sterling the company
conducted a large mercantile store. They also built and operated
several steamers on Puget Sound, including the Skagit Chief, Henry
Bailey, the State of Washington, and the Fair Haven, owned by Nel-
son Bennett, and named after the town of Fair Haven, now Belling-
ham, Washington, of which place Mr. Bennett was the parent as its
chief and pioneer promoter. The steamer became a part of their fleet,
and Mr. Bennett one of the shareholders and directors of the com-
pany. The four steamers plied between Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham
and way ports for many years and some are still in operation.

As the years passed by and opportunity offered Mr. Paulson
bought large tracts of timber land in Lewis and Thurston counties
and later in British Columbia, mainly on Vancouver Island. He con-
tinued to figure as one of the most prominent business men of Tacoma
and aided largely in the upbuilding of the city, serving for many years
as one of the directors of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also a
stockholder in the Tacoma Woolen Mills; was one of the chief own-
ers of the Tacoma Box Company ; and was interested in various other
business projects. He acted as chairman of the building committee
at the time the Chamber of Commerce erected its new building and
spent much time in its supervision. The widespread financial panic
of 1893 brought him heavy losses, for nearly all of the Tacoma banks
failed and anyone who had been doing a large commercial business
suffered severely thereby.

About that time many of the Spokane people went into the hills
prospecting and the Rossland camp on Trail creek was started, while
at the same time the Slocan district in British Columbia was opened
up. Mr. Paulson made a trip into British Columbia to look over some



ffiatU a. ffiauteon 245

of the mines and, like most of the others, hecame interested in sev-
eral prospects. He engaged, however, in the lumher business in the
Kootenai country and made' some money. Later he removed with
his family to Spokane and purchased a large amount of timber and
meadow lands from the Canadian Pacific Railroad on its Crow's Xest
Line a short time after the building of that branch and organized the
International Lumber & Mercantile Company, of which he is the
chief owner and of which he was president for several years. The
company has a large mill and owns a vast amount of timber tributary
to the Crow's Nest branch of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, near the
town of Kitchiner.

Immediately after the completion of the road Mr. Paulson learned
of the coal measures in the Rocky mountains along that line at what is
commonly known as the Crow's Nest Pass. He made a trip into the
country, covering tbe eastern part of British Columbia and the west-
ern part of Alberta and purchased from the government the property
which is now owned by the International Coal & Coke Company. Mr.
Paulson organized the company and developed the mine, so that it
became a large shipper. He has in his control much of the stock of
the company which has a capacity of two thousand tons per shift of
eight hours. The company also manufactures coke and in addition
to this Mr. Paulson is also interested in other coal lands and coal
mines in British Columbia. He is likewise numbered among the own-
ers of valuable water-power sites in this state, both in the Inland
Empire and near Puget Sound, and is one of the stockholders of the
Big Bend Transit Company, which owns water power on the Spo-
kane river.

In Tacoma Mr. Paulson was married to Miss Anna K. Anderson,
the daughter of C. Anderson, an old settler of Walla Walla. For a
number of years Mrs. Paulson was a successful school teacher in Ore-
gon. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children:
Clara Arney, who is the wife of Charles W. Mason, chief clerk in the
superintendent's office of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at
Tacoma; and Chester R., who is assisting his father. Mr. and Mrs.
Paulson attend the Unitarian church.

Mr. Paulson gives his political allegiance to the republican party.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, in which connection
he cooperates in public projects tending to promote the welfare of
Spokane and exploit its interests. While not all the days in his career
have been equally bright, his record on the whole has been char-
acterized by continuous progress. At times in his commercial experi-



246



jjagj a. Paulson



ence he has seen the gathering of clouds that have threatened dis-
astrous storms hut his rich inheritance of energy and pluck have
enabled him to turn defeats into victory and promised failures into
brilliant success. His strict integrity, business conservatism and
sound judgment have always been so uniformly recognized that he
has enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree. Because of a
well balanced mind and a sterling character he has been enabled to see
the silver lining to many a cloud that to others would look hopelessly
black, and to overcome obstacles which to many would appear insur-
mountable.





X ^,&M-



$on. Horatio M. JBelt




'MONG the builders and makers of Spokane Horatio
N. Belt was numbered, and that he enjoyed the con-
fidenee, honor and good will of his fellow townsmen
was manifest in his election to the mayoralty of the
city, in which office his administration was extremely
beneficial, holding in check restless and unlawful ele-
ments and promoting many valuable projects along the line of
general improvement.

A native of Illinois, he was born in Jersey county, October 1,
1841, and traced his ancestry back to one of two brothers who came
from England soon after the Revolutionary war. The family has
since been prominent in the new world. The father of Horatio N.
Belt was a soldier of the war of 1812 under General Jackson and
died in 1869, on the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.

Horatio N. Belt had the usual experiences which fall to the lot
of the farm boy who divides his time between the work of the fields
and the acquirement of an education. He afterward engaged in
teaching school for five years but thinking to find greater profit in
commercial enterprises, he then engaged in the conduct of a flour
mill and general mercantile establishment in Jersey county, Illinois,
success attending him in this venture by reason of his well directed
energy and his unfaltering determination. He continued in business
there until 1882, when he removed to Bunker Hill, Illinois, where in
connection with other interests he engaged in the banking business
under the firm style of Belt Brothers & Company. In 1887 he came
to Spokane and invested largely in real estate, purchasing an interest
in the Ross Park addition and building a home there. He was one
of the promoters of the Ross Park Street Railway Company, the
first successful electric line west of the Missouri river. In all busi-
ness affairs he displayed sound judgment that had its root in a close
study of the situation and of its possibilities.

Mr. Belt was also prominent in the public life of the city and in
1891 was chosen as a member of the city council. In 1895 he was
honored with the highest gift that his fellow townsmen could bestow
upon him, election to the mayoralty for a term of one year, and was



-250 %on. %oratto it ffeit

again elected to the same office for two years in 1896. He was Spo-
kane's chief executive during the most trying period in the history
of the city, when the panic, Coxey's army, the American Railway
Union strike and other things conspired against peace and prosper-
ity. His popularity among the working people saved many riots
and prevented bloodshed. In 1896 he was prominently mentioned
for governor at the Ellensburg convention and would have been al-
most the unanimous choice of the degelates had not the question
of location defeated him. Spokane then had the congressman and
attorney general, and the party could not place him on the ticket.
He was very popular with the silver republicans and those making
the fusion party of the state. He was a close and discriminating
student of the questions of the day and gave earnest consideration
to the position and possibilities of bis party relative to the best inter-
ests of the majority.

On the 16th of December, 1869, in Jersey county, Illinois, Mr.
Belt was united in marriage to Miss Martha Tipton and they have
three children: Cora L., who is now the widow of L. S. Roberts and
has two children, Dorothy L. and Marshall A. Roberts; William
L., an expert accountant now residing in San Francisco: and Hora-
tio C, an attorney of Seattle.

Mr. Belt belonged to the Masonic order and held membership in
the First Presbyterian church, to the teachings of which he was ever
loyal, its principles dominating his life in all of its varied phases.
He died in that faith August 22, 1900, and thus passed from life
one who had had an important part to play in the history of Spo-
kane, in molding its destiny and shaping its policy as well as in pro-
moting its business activity. The same spirit of advancement which
actuated him in all his private relations was manifest in his public
life and any movement with which he became connected was benefited
thereby.




*cA/ >




jLOYD S. ROBERTS, prominent in financial circles
in Spokane as a dealer in stocks and bonds and gen-
eral banking business, which be conducted as a mem-
ber of tbe firm of Roberts Brothers up to the time of
bis deatb, was born in Ross county, Ohio, November
24, 1800, bis parents being Albert D. and Rebecca
Roberts, tbe former a prominent farmer of Ross county. In the pub-
lic schools of that county the son pursued his education to the age
of eighteen years, when he put aside his text-books to devote his en-
tire time and attention to general agricultural pursuits, which he
followed for a few years. He then engaged in the milling business
with his brother in Ross county, Ohio, for a few years, after which
he removed to the middle west, settling in Hutchinson, Kansas, where
his business connection was that of representative for the Winfield
Mortgage & Trust Company. He occupied that position for two
years and in 1888 came to Spokane as representative for the same
company, continuing in their employ until 1890.

Mr. Roberts then organized the Washington Abstract & Title
Company, of which he was president for a year, and also became iden-
tified with the Bank of Columbia. Later he became cashier of the
Brown National Bank, with which he was connected for two years,
and on the expiration of that period he became one of the firm of
Roberts Brothers, dealers in stocks and bonds and also conducting
a general banking business. He was thus associated up to the time
of his death. He did not confine his attention entirely to that line,
for he also organized the firm of Powell, Roberts & Finley, of which
he was president for two years. He occupied a commanding posi-
tion in banking circles and his ability was recognized by his colleagues
and contemporaries, who ever expressed admiration for his resource-
fulness, his capable management and his executive force.

On the 25th of August, 1891. Mr. Roberts was united in marriage
to Miss Cora L. Belt, a daughter of the Hon. Horatio N. and Martha
(Tipton) Belt, who are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The
children of this marriage are Dorothy L. and Marshall A., both of
whom are in school.

253



254



ilopb ft. feofatctj



In his political views JNIr. Roberts was a republican but the honors
and emoluments of office had no attraction for him. He held mem-
bership in the Westminster Congregational church and in that faith
passed away October 23, 190,3. He was a home-loving man, devoted
to the welfare of his family and ever loyal in his friendships. There
were no spectacular phases in his life but his record was none the less
useful and none the less significant than that of many a man who
has been more prominently before the public eye. He was ever faith-
full to duty, whether of a public or private nature, and his record
indicates what can be accomplished along the lines of steady progres-
sion when willingness to work, capability and recognition of oppor-
tunity are numbered among the salient traits of the individual.
Desire to succeed that he might provide well for his family prompted
Mr. Roberts in all of his business career and brought him eventually
to a prominent position in financial circles in Spokane.





^vn^^-tT"^ ,



Robert Jofjn ©ansion

[OBERT JOHN DAN SON, senior partner of the

R£ 2 ' aw tii' m °f Danson, Williams & Danson and a prac-
£ 2 titioner at the Spokane bar since 1890, was born in
C^ Pewaukee, Wisconsin, February 2, 1857. His fa-
[£§§£3§§t I t * ier ' R° Dert W« Hanson, became an early settler of
the Badger state, establishing his home in Pewaukee
in 1840. There he died in 1867, while his wife, who bore the maiden
name of Michal Giles, survived him until 1898.

After attending the graded and high schools of Pewaukee, Rob-
ert J. Danson entered the State Normal at Whitewater, Wisconsin,
and when his course there was completed he went to Waukesha, Wis-
consin, where he read law in an attorney's office. His last year's
reading was pursued at Davenport, Iowa, where he was admitted
to the bar in December, 1881. He then practiced in that city until
1883, when he removed to Algona, Iowa, where he followed his pro-
fession until 1890. In that year he came to Spokane and formed a
partnership with Judge Prather under the firm name of Prather &
Danson, which association was maintained for four and a half years.
During the succeeding year and a half Mr. Danson practiced alone
and was then joined by Mr. Huneke under the firm style of Danson
& Huneke, which was continued until January 1, 1905, when the firm
name was changed to Danson & Williams. On the 1st of Septem-
ber, 1911, they were joined by Mr. Danson's son, Robert W., at
which time they adopted the firm name of Danson, Williams & Dan-
son. Their clientage is extensive and of an important character and
in the work of the courts Robert J. Danson is proving himself the
peer of the ablest members of the Spokane bar.

Aside from his professional activity Mr. Danson is known in busi-
ness circles as one of the organizers and stockholders of the Pasco
Reclamation Company and has done much to upbuild and improve
that district through his efforts in connection with the company. He
is also a trustee of the Washington Trust Company and of the
Union Park Bank.

On the 17th of March, 1881, Mr. Danson was married to Miss
Ella J. Lilly, a daughter of John Lilly, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.



258 ftofaert gTohn Bangon

They have five children: Ella E., now the wife of Clyde Higgins;
Robert W., a member of the law firm of Danson, Williams & Dan-
son; Michal L. and May, both at home; and Ethel, who is attending
Monticello Seminary at Godfrey, Illinois.

Mr. Danson is well known in Masonic circles, having attained the
thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and also crossed the sands
of the desert with the nobles of El Katif Temple of the Mystic
Shrine. He is likewise a member of the Spokane Club and the Spo-
kane Country Club. In a profession where advancement depends
entirely upon individual merit and ability he has worked his way
constantly upward and at the same time has proven his resourceful-
ness in his capable management of other business interests and
investments.



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