Hello Neighbor. Glad you stopped by.
The little log cabin had been built by S. T. Sterling on his homestead in the early 1800's. By the time that Mr. & Mrs. Terry bought it in 1876, several pioneer families had made their home there. Pioneer homes were built facing the south to get the most benefit from the winter sun that hangs low in the sky. They had no constructed floors, only dirt that was packed hard. Overhead was a shingled roof with no ceiling. the logs used to construct the homes were hewn from trees that grew along the Yakima River and were hauled to the meadows.
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Terry, who once lived in the cabin, were teachers. They both had graduated from a college in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Terry started a small private school in the cabin for the pioneer families that lived in the area.
This little log schoolhouse, which had survived a hundred winters in the Kittitas Valley, was almost destroyed by a bonfire in 1949. Mr. & Mrs. James Seaton moved the cabin to their place where it stood until it was reconstructed in 1980 on the Olmstead place where it now stands as a symbol of our Pioneer Heritage.
Books and supplies were limited on the frontier. They would be donated by one of the families whose children would be attending the school. There were no pencils or paper so the children had to bring their own. Brown wrapper paper was used for a tablet. The little school house still remains at The Olmstead State Park.
Samuel Olmstead was born in New York in 1831. Later his family moved to a farm in Illinois. In 1861, he married Sarah Frances Yale. They arrived in San Francisco sometime during the late 1860's or early 1870's, Later they migrated north to the coastal area of Oregon where their last child was born, then went on to Puget Sound in Washington. Samuel's half-brother, J. D. Olmstead, urged them to come to the Kittitas Valley where he had been living since 1870. They arrived in the Kittitas Valley in September of 1875 and completed their cabin in 1876. By this time Clara was 14, Phil was 10 and Jack was 4.
Samuel used cottonwood logs from the Yakima River area to build the cabin. They were squared with an adze and the interior planks were sawn with a whipsaw at one of the local mills. the logs were dovetailed and put together with pegs made from branches or square nails. The chinking was made of mud and grass. Newspapers covered the interior walls for insulation. The windows were freighted from The Dalles over the Squaw Creek Trail. Their original stove was shipped from Seattle to Portland, up the Columbia River and over the trail from The Dalles to the valley.
In December of 1881, Clara married George W. Smith. One month later, Sam Olmstead died at the age of 51. The burden of running the farm fell to Sarah and her two sons. Clara and George established a home in the valley. A daughter, Leta May, was born in 1883, Clareta in 1886, and Ruby Myrtle in 1891. Clara died at the age of 31. Two months later, 1 year old Ruby died. Leta May 8 and Clareta 5 were raised by Sarah, their grandmother.
During these years, Phil and Jack continued to farm and were knows as the Olmstead Brothers. In 1907-1908 the farmhouse and the red barn were built. The family built a house in town, perhaps because Sarah's health was failing and needed to be closer to a doctor. The granddaughters helped to care for Sarah until she died in 1918.
Sometime in 1920, Phil and his nieces moved back to the farmhouse for good. In 1938, Phil died of a heart attack. His nieces continued to operate the farm. Leta May did the house chores and Clareta ran the farm and the business. They remained on the farm until Leta's death in 1974. Clareta died in 1981 at the age of 95. After her death the farmhouse was closed until a new foundation was poured in 1988.The cabin remained available to the public. In May of 1989, the 1908 farmhouse was opened to the public for the first time. **
**Historical background courtesy of Olmstead State Park.
The Olmstead Place State Park, in Ellensburg, WA is a most interesting and enjoyable experience. If you should ever be in the area, take time to visit it. You will not be disappointed. I discovered, when researching this, there was a teacher in the Elementary School in Moxee, WA who is a descendant of the Olstead's. I had a chance to share my visit to The Olmstead Place and my interest.
This article was published in the Yakima book that was put out by the Writer's group I attended.
Stop by again sometime and we'll have another chat.
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