History of the Union River

By Irene Davis
January 31, 1993

The following historical information was collected as preparation for a talk given at the Union River Basin Protection Association meeting Jan. 14, 1993. It is not a complete history, as much more work needs to be done to properly research this river's history.

The first white men known to have visited the head of Hood Canal and the mouth of the Union River were Lieut. Augustus Case and his crew of men from the Wilkes expedition in 1841.

[http://www.washington.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_id=5226,
http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=364,
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/northamerica/twana.html]

There may have been other men of European ancestry to visit the area earlier, but Case's party was the first to survey and map the east arm of Hood Canal and leave a written record. The following is quoted from Case's diary:

"June 12th. At 7.30 continued the survey up the Canal. I this morning engaged a couple of Indians to go to Nasqually with a letter to return with a canoe load of bread. When all ready for a start they were pursuaded by an old man not to go for price agreed on, and I determined not to send them, trusting I should get other willing to go, at Chilanatahus (the Portage).

"At Meridian (noon) had arrived at the head of the Canal and finished its survey - a creek about 60 yards wide empties into the head of it and has formed a flat near two miles down, quite bare at low water. This creek is from 3 to 4 feet deep about a half mile from its mouth - land flat and wooded, with here and there a clear space - The soil is mixed sand & vegetable mould-"

Lieut. Case found Indian encampments all along the Canal in 1841. Archaology experts believe that there is evidence the Indians lived on or near the river at least 500 years to a thousand years ago. A tribe called the Duhlalan, a branch of the Twana, had a permanent settlement at the mouth or Mission Creek, where the Belfair State Park is now. They used Mission Creek and the Union River for food gathering areas. They depended greatly on the salmon and wild berries in season, gathered and dried for winter use. Up the river, at Bear Creek, was the land of black bears, and it was named "Bear Creek" by the Indians. The Union River was called by the Indians, "fresh water stream."

We think the name "Union" was given to the river by John McReavy, who settled near the mouth of the River, and we don't know why that name was chosen. In a U.S. Government survey map of the area, dated 1871, the words "Union Creek" appear.

The Indian trail, called the Portage, mentioned by Lieut. Case, connected Lynch Cove and North Bay. In the 1850s it became the boundary between Kitsap and Mason Counties. In fact, the entire Tahuya Peninsula was once a part of Kitsap County. In 1862 the boundary was moved north six miles, and ever since the Union River has been under two county jurisdictions.

It is believed the first settlers who came after the Indians were evacuated were attracted to the tall timber and the rich farmland that could be used once the timber was removed. An important incentive to settle the land was the Homestead Act that allowed a person to obtain up to 160 acres at $1.25 an acre, provided certain conditions were met, including living on the land and making at least "500.00 worth of improvements.

There are reports that in the late 1850s Moses Kirkland, Franklin Purdy, and possibly others, came to the river and cut timber. However, the first recorded settler was Thomas Griffith, who in 1865 settled on the land west of the river's mouth, identified as SE¼ of SE¼ Sec. 30, Lots 6, 7, & 8, and NW¼ NE¼ Sec. 31, in Township 23, North Range 1 West, containing 148.85 acres. Most of this land was later acquired by the Beard family end descendants still own parts of it.

Land on the east side of Union River and bordering Hood Canal was first settled by Alfred Jones, a Civil War Veteran, in 1866. He and his family developed a farm that included 40 acres of pasture, an acre of fruit trees, 3 barns and a milk house. He was Clifton's first postmaster, in 1880. He sold out to Puget Mill Co. in 1882 and left the community soon afterward. In the 1930s Sam and Mary Theler acquired this land and platted the Sam B. Theler Home and Garden Tracts.

Bordering the Theler Home and Garden Tracts, a 70-acre site consisting of mostly salt water and fresh water wetlands and a few acres of upland, was also Theler property and was deeded to the North Mason School District after his death in 1968. Terms of Theler's will earmarked the property for community use. The Mary E. Theler Community Center was built, using a vacated school building as pert of the structure. An interpretive center for educational purposes is presently being planned with the purpose of teaching students and the general public about the importance of the wetlands in today's environment.

The person who made the biggest impact on the river to this day was John McReavy, who came to the Canal in the 1860s. In his lifetime McReavy was a logger, farmer, merchant, steamboat owner, politician, promoter, and community leader. During his lifetime he served in the Territorial Legislature, the State Legislature, the State Senate, member of the Constitutional Convention in 1889, served on the school board at Union for many years, influenced the location of the insane asylum at Steilacoom, the penitentiary at McNeil Island, and the state college at Pullman.

Before settling on the Canal, John McReavy logged a timber tract at North Bay for Pope and Talbot. In 1868 he formed a partnership with Franklin Purdy for a store at the site of today's Union. Within the year he settled upon a 160-acre tract of forest land about 16 miles east of his store, at the head of Hood Canal. This land was to the north of the Alfred Jones tract and straddled Union River. McReavy recognized the economic potential of the river, with its enormous old growth fir trees. To deliver the logs down the river valley to Lynch Cove he built the first logging railroad in Mason County, incorporated as the Union River Logging Railroad Co. in 1883.

At first the railroad had wide wooden rails and a railroad flatcar pulled by oxen. In 1885, finding himself in a financial bind, McReavy sold most of his Clifton properties to the owners of the Puget Mill Co. At that time his railroad had 4 miles of track, two rail cars and a Blackman engine. The new owners put in new steel rails, a Porter 17-ton locomotive and 5 cars, and extended the line about 8 miles. No map of the line has been found, except that old timber cruise maps of 1909 show parts of it on the west side of the river, discontinued before that date.

McReavy may have persuaded several settlers to file claims up the river from him. These were Robert Irving, Benjamin Cook, Thomas White, and John Doyle, all of whom had started developing their own farms in the river valley by 1880. These pioneers, along with several families on the Canal west of the river, formed the nucleus for the new community of Clifton.

Why the name Clifton was chosen, we do not know. The name appears on legal documents as early as 1879 and the post office was established in 1880. The first Clifton school building was built the summer of 1880 and the landmark of the community, a hotel, was also built at that time. The hotel was located near the river, south of the present Highway 300, near enough to the Canal that freight, passengers, and mail could be delivered to the hotel by water. Boats would come into the river channel at high tide and leave before the tide went out; otherwise they would he stranded until the next tide.

The several farms that developed along the river found a ready market for their meat, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, potatoes, and produce, selling to the various logging camps that operated in the region. Logging and farming was done with the use of horses, mules, and oxen, so hay and grain had to be raised to feed them. At least one stationary baler and a threshing machine were located at Clifton to take care of local needs.

In addition to their homesteads, the several neighbors were the first owners of timber tracts up-river. No doubt this was done to profit from the sale of the timber that could be logged and hauled out on the railroad. It is believed much of the old growth fir timber accessible to the railroad was logged off before 1910; A few small tracts were spared, to be logged in the 1920s and 1930s.

Robert and Anna Irving settled on a tract of land in Sec. 29 on the river north of the McReavy property. They developed a farm, parts of which were still owned by family members in the 1930s. The Crosswhite family leased it and operated it in the 1950s as a dairy farm. They moved off when the barn burned down and was not rebuilt. A part of the original homestead was purchased by Tom and Irene Davis, who occupied the house and land in 1952. They kept it as a farm home as they raised their family. Now known as "Davis Farm," it is still producing berries, vegetables, and hay. A U-fish trout pond has been added in recent years. Several family members earn a part-time income from the farm and hope to keep this land productive for years to come.

Thomas White and Benjamin Cook came to the area together and settled on adjoining tracts. Their wives were sisters and the two families were very close. The Cook land was east of what is now the Old Belfair Highway, from Clifton Lane to Newkirk Road. White took an adjacent tract to the east. They developed farms and worked at logging. A year-round stream running through their properties is a tributary to the Union river. White was killed in a railroad accident near Shelton in 1895, leaving a widow with 6 children. Mary Ann White sold the land to others. A part of the White property was acquired by the McKnight family in the 1930s and a McKnight still owns it.

Some time during prohibition days the White farm was leased to persons who distilled whiskey. Mason County, with the exception of the City of Shelton, became a dry county in 1910, years before the 18th Amendment was put into effect nationally in 1920. The production and sale of illegal alcoholic beverages was a source of income for at least some of the local residents for years. It was said the mash or waste product of a still was often thrown into the river. Sometimes, to avoid detection, it was fed to pigs instead, we are told. When the McKnights first lived there one of their pigs became lost. In looking for it, they heard it squeal as though it was under the ground. "They found it had fallen through the floor of a shed into a large underground room not at all visible above ground. The still was no longer there, but the past use of the room for moonshining was evident.

A 160-acre tract north of Newkirk Road, bordering Union River, was homesteaded by Billy Ryan, who came in 1889. After he had acquired title in 1894 he sold it and purchased a part of John Doyle's tract on the river north of the Irving home. He raised chickens there for many years. The property is now owned by John and Peggy Huson.

Ryan's original tract became the property of Julius and Minnie Jensen, uncle and aunt of Alice Bennetson Pope. They raised livestock and hay, and built some well-constructed buildings, including the big red barn that still stands. In the late 1940s Harold and Pearl Allen purchased the property and farmed it until it was sold to a building contractor from Seattle, Lee Lopriore, and his wife Clare. The Lopriores purchased it with the intention of platting a residential development. After a few years Riverhill became a reality. Riverhill was planned so the houses would be upland, away from the river. An area was set aside along the river bank for a park and picnic spot. At one point they had several loads of sand dumped on the river bank to make a sandy bank and place to wade and swim, but the river washed all the sand downstream.

The 160 acres west of the Jensen farm was first settled upon by John Doyle in 1878. He found some trees cut and an abandoned cabin, so he lived in the cabin until he built his own house and then spent some time clearing the log jams in the river to reduce the flooding of his land. A part of this property was acquired by Joseph and Elizabeth Bulduc in the 1920s. They used it as a farm and home for many years and raised their daughters there. 0ne daughter, Estelle Bulduc Foster, and her husband, Jesse, make this their home.

About 1910, Walter Allison and Oscar Foster came to settle on the river. Allison and his friend, James Hanson, acquired land on the river that had been part of the Company Farm and continued to raise hay and livestock. Hanson had been a sea captain and did not care to farm, so soon left. Allison married and raised a family. A part of his land is now owned by the State Dept. of Wildlife as a game preserve. Walter Allison, the son, still lives nearby. The Senior Walter Allison was gored by his supposedly gentle Jersey bull and the resulting injuries caused his death.

Oscar Foster was born and raised in Sweden. He sailed on merchant vessels as a young man, eventually coming to the United States. In 1897 he became a U.S. Citizen and in 1898 joined the U.S. Navy. In 1910, when he was stationed at Bremerton, he visited the Union River and was attracted to it because it reminded him of his homeland in Sweden. He purchased land between Sand Hill Road and the river, formerly part of the Ole Mickelson tract. After his discharge from the Navy in 1912 he made the river valley his home until his death in 1956. Oscar married his first wife, Anna, in 1912. She died in 1914 and was buried in a corner of his property. This is the oldest grave in what is now Twin Firs Cemetery. Oscar then married Lucy Trigg and she died during the influenza epidemic in 1919. In 1920 he married Lucy Mae Brown, who had three children, and Oscar and Lucy had five more children, two of whom did not live to adulthood. In 1927 Oscar and Lucy acquired land east of the river and built a house, and lived there many years, raising their children in this rural environment. One son, Jesse, still lives on land a short distance up-river from where he grew up.

Courtney Creek, a tributary of Union River flowing in from the west, a short distance north of Newkirk Road, was named for the homesteader Robert Courtney. Courtney obtained title to 160 acres in 1883 and deeded it to the McReavy brothers the same year. We know very little about the history of this part of the river and it is hoped more research will produce results.

Until the 1940s, when there was an influx of newcomers seeking rural homes in the valley, much of the land was in the hands of timber companies. Puget Mill Co. was the biggest timberland owner and still owns thousands of acres in the valley.

Several farms were known to exist north of the county line, in Kitsap County. Minard Road was named for George and Nita Minard, who owned 40 acres there for many years. Mr. William Pagel, who moved to the neighborhood in 1948, remembers he used to buy milk there in gallon jars. The farm has since been cut up into residential lots. Horses can be seen being pastured near Hazel Creek, a tributary of Union River.

Barney White Road, not too far from the Olympic View Sanitary Landfill, was named for a farmer by that name. (He was no relation to the Thomas White of Clifton.) Barney was one of the first farmers to settle in this area. He was a French-Canadian. He was a dairy farmer and built his house and a spring-house close to water. Reports are that the logs of the building foundations can still be seen in a peat bog on the property. He couldn't read or write when he came there and he went to the Pleasant Valley school to study so he could pass the test for citizenship, and two years later he passed. During prohibition a still was found on the edge of his property and he said it must have been put there by transients who used his land. Others in the area said he made the best white lightning around. His wife was an artist who did paintings. She ran a boarding house In Bremerton. They did not live together, she stayed in Bremerton and he remained on the farm. One day he was out chopping wood and he just died.

A large tract of land near Minard Road used to belong to someone named McTurnell, who operated a shingle mill.

Another farm in this vicinity was owned by John Carlson, an old sea captain who passed away in 1965. The Alkire family acquired it after caring for Carlson in his declining years. His ashes are buried on the property, under a small flat headstone. The present owners Mr. and Mrs. Joe Silverthorn of Gardena, Calif., would like to keep the land in a natural, undeveloped state and have asked to have it designated a historic site.

When garbage dumps were established during and after World War II some distance east of Union River, no one dreamed at the time that the river would be affected. Over the years, it is believed lots of toxic and hazardous materials have found their way to these disposal areas and questions are being raised as to what and how much may be seeping into our ground water and the sediments of the river. The Norseland Trailer Court is known to be at least partially on top of an old land fill. Some residents have reported health problems they believe are due to air pollution from underground. An old county landfill has been covered and may be the cause of obnoxious odors drifting down the river valley. A sewage treatment plant is also suspected of producing odors. The present state-of-the-art Olympic View Sanitary Landfill is reported to be seeping chemicals into test wells between the landfill and the river. At this time there is considerable public alarm as to the danger to the river and the Hood Canal and all the people who live near these waters.

At the headwaters of Union River thousands of acres are owned by the City of Bremerton, as this is a source of Bremerton City water. A very good history of the Bremerton Water System is in the hands of Forester Bill McKinney of the Municipal Water Department. Copies are in the possession of both the Mason and Kitsap County Historical Societies. A brief summary is given here.

The possibility of Union River as a source of Bremerton City water was suggested as early as 1912. Nearby Anderson and Gorst creeks were developed as municipal water sources long before the Union was tapped. About 1930, 2200 acres of watershed land of Gorst Creek and Union River were purchased and water rights were filed for 10 million gallons per day from Unlon River.

In 1935, 160 acres where Twin Lakes was located was acquired by the City of Bremerton. In 1940 a small dam was constructed near McKenna Falls and the Twin Lakes were deepened for water storage.

In 1938 a forest fire swept through the watershed. It took many men two weeks to get the fire under control. The watershed then had to be cleaned of dead trees and allowed to grow back to restore the capacity of the watershed to collect and retain water.

World War II vastly increased the population of Bremerton and made an enormous demand on the water supply.

Records kept from 1945 to 1955 showed a yearly average flow of 3,000 million gallons. In 1955 a two million dollar bond issue was authorized to finance major improvements. Clearing the site for Casad Dam and the proposed reservoir was started in 1955 by the Washington Utility Construction Co. of Tacoma, clearing 103 acres, for approximately $47,000.00. Diamond Core drill tests were done by Lynch Bros. of Seattle for $23,500.00. Construction was done by General Construction of Seattle, started in October 1955 and finished February 1957.

Casad Dam is 195 feet high from its base, some 60 feet below the river bed at the bottom of the canyon. Its crest was 640 feet above sea level, upon which was built an 11-foot roadway over the more than 500 feet of its length. More than 47,000 cubic yards of concrete were used in its building and it crested a lake 135 feet deep at the dam and extending between Gold Mountain on one side and the Blue Hills on the other for more than 1¼ miles. More than 1 billion 400 million gallons of water were required to fill it.

The dam was named after C. C. (Cliff) Casad, who had a lot to do with completion of this project. Mr. Casad grew up in Bremerton when it was still a rural community. He studied at the Washington State College at Pullman. In 1921 he became City Engineer. From 1924 to 1943 he filled the positions of city engineer and water superintendent. In 1943 he was appointed water superintendent full time and served in that capacity until his death in 1958.

After the dam was built, periods of flooding were reduced substantially. Residents down-river from the dam remember that one year the floodgates remained open too long and the river went out of its banks. They watched as lawn chairs, empty crates and other trash rushed down with the river.

The old-time farms are gone and the population has increased in the valley. Some pastures have become Christmas tree farms. A number of owners of riding horses maintain what is now called "hobby farms." Some persons are producing landscape plants and flowers to meet a perceived demand from urban newcomers building new homes. Like it or not, the concerns over water quality are forcing the valley's residents to consider what their impacts on the river will be.

Sources:
Kitsap County Historical Society
Mason County Historical Society
Mason County Title Company
National Archives, Wash. D.C.
University of Washington Northwest Collections
Bremerton Municipal Water Department
Mason County Journals
Many oral and written interviews from local citizens

Irene Davis
NE 170 Davis Farm Road
Belfair WA 98528
January 31, 1993

It is requested that if errors are found in the above paper, or if new information can be added, call or write the Mason County Historical Society, PO Box 843, Belfair WA 98528, phone 360-275-2032, or the Museum at Shelton, PO Box 1366, Shelton WA 98584, phone 360-426-1020.

(c) Irene Davis

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