Book Description

Excerpt from Early History of Thurston County, Washington: Together With Biographies and Reminiscences of Those Identified With Pioneer Days Upon presenting this modest volume to the public the author desires to present a few facts regarding the aims and purposes of its publication. As I am not myself a pioneer or, in the proper conception of the term, an early settler, it may be necessary to explain why I should intrude in a field more properly the work of others. As one who crossed the plains three times in an ox wagon, and whose parents were inured to the hardships of frontier life, I myself took a deep interest in this subject. Upon coming to Puget Sound I found the ranks of the pioneers decreasing rapidly. With the, modesty characteristic of this race of hardy empire builders, they had not appreciated the value of their work and its import to their posterity. They did not appreciate the fact that those who were to reap where they had sown would be eager to learn of the vicissitudes and hardships endured by their antecedents in this new empire for which they had laid the foundation - so vast that Atlas must needs square his shoulders to bear the burdens of another world - and without leaving proper records of their heroie and self-denying lives, they have one by one gone to a well-deserved rest, leaving but few today to detail the reminiscences here related. The compiler, then, encouraged in the work, by many who desire to see a task accomplished, which they themselves had no inclination to undertake, offers this volume, with a sincere hope that it may to some extent endure as a record of the lives of many who made history in Thurston County in the early days. This publication makes no claim to literary merit, but aims to relate the simple annals of the pioneers' lives and vicissitudes in the language of the actors of that time. The work has been at once interesting and educating. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.