Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget SoundDenny, Emily Inez
History
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
Denny, Emily Inez
Indians of North America -- Northwestern States; Oregon Territory -- History; Washington (State) -- History
The great journey ended, at Portland her third child, Rolland H., was
born. If motherhood be a trial under the most favorable circumstances,
what must it have been on the long march?
On the stormy and dangerous trip from Portland on the schooner Exact,
out over the bar and around Cape Flattery to the landing at Alki Point,
went the little band with this brave mother and her babe.
On a drizzly day in November, the 13th, 1851, she climbed the bank at
Alki Point to the rude cabin, bare of everything now considered
necessary to begin housekeeping. They were imperfectly protected from
the elements and the eldest child, Catharine, or Kate as she was called,
yet remembers how the rain dropped on her face the first night they
slept in the unfinished cabin, giving her a decided prejudice against
camping out.
The mother's health was poor and it became necessary to provide
nourishment for the infant; as there were no cows within reach, or
tinned substitutes, the experiment of feeding him on clam juice was made
with good effect.
Louisa Boren Denny, her sister, then unmarried, relates the following
incident:
"At Alki Point one day, I stood just within the door of the cabin
and Mary stood just inside; both of us saw an Indian bob up from
behind the bank and point his gun directly at my sister Mary and
almost immediately lower it without firing."
Mary A. Denny, when asked recently what she thought might have been his
reason for doing so replied, "Well, I don't know, unless it was just to
show what he could do; it was Indian Jim; I suppose he did it to show
that he could shoot me if he wanted to."
Probably he thought to frighten her at least, but with the customary
nerve of the pioneer woman, she exhibited no sign of fear and he went
his way.
They afterward learned that on the same evening there had been some
trouble with the Indians at the Maple Place and it was thought that this
Indian was one of the disaffected or a sympathizer.
Mrs. Mary A. Denny moved about from place to place, living first in the
cabin at Alki Point, then a cabin on Elliott Bay, on the north end of
their claim, then another cabin near the great laurel tree, on the site
of the Stevens Hotel, Seattle. After a time the family went to Olympia.
Her husband was in the Land Office, was a member of the Territorial
Legislature and Delegate to Congress; all the while she toiled on in her
home with her growing family.
They returned to Seattle and built what was for those times a very good
residence on the corner of Pike Street and First Avenue, where they had
a fine orchard, and there they lived many years.
After having struggled through long years of poverty, not extreme, to be
sure, but requiring much patient toil and endurance, their property
became immensely valuable and they enjoyed well deserved affluence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account