GEORGE ALFRED
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BIOGRAPHY
BORN: 17 September 1846 near Montreal, Quebec
MARRIED: 13 November 1869 at Brush Point, Illinois
DIED: 16 October 1928
BURIED: Kendall Cemetary, Kendall, Washington
SPOUSE: Caroline Hennigar
ACHIEVEMENTS
AFTER George's marriage to Caroline, they moved to Bradford, Iowa with their family group of Kings, Hennigars, Congers, and Van Blaricoms. While there, George and Caroline had eight children of which the first five died of diptheria and whooping cough in their youth.
IN 1889, George left for Washington Territory in search of new opportunities that would take his family away from the conditions that killed his children. Without his family with him, he had to make a trail through the woods and brush from Kendall to establish a homestead on the north fork of the Nooksack River and the Austin Pass trail (the Mount Baker Highway). He built a one-room 16'x24' cabin, with a loft, of logs and shakes and roofed it with cedar bark. The site of his new home was a mile east of a post office location named for the first postmaster, John W. Hardan.
IN 1890, he sent for his family and hired John Hardan to haul them in during his mail run. George and Caroline's last child, Maud, was the first child born in Hardan. After Maud married Charles Knight, she made headline news when she gave birth to Whatcom County's first triplets - Dorothy, Deloris, and Della (pictured above, second from left is first cousin Wanda Hatton).
IN 1895, George became the fourth Hardan postmaster. Up until 1971, the political party that held the executive power of the presidency appointed postmasters. So little mail passed through the office in those days that sometimes he "had to write a letter to someone whether he knew him or not," in order to keep the mail sacks moving, which, in turn, justified the retention of the post office. He held that position under the Cleveland, McKinley, and Roosevelt administration for eight years.
ON March 5th, 1895, George filed an intent to apply for a homestead claim for a quarter section (160) acres. On October 4th, 1897, he published a final proof notice in the Nooksack Reporter. The notice read: "Land Office at Seattle, Wash., October 4th, 1897. Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intention to make final proof in support of his claim and that said proof will be made before R. L. Kline, U. S. Com'r at Welcome, Washington on Wednesday, November 17, 1897, viz: GEORGE A. KING, Hd. App. No. 16,290 for the n1/2 of se1/4 and ne1/4 of sw1/4 and se quarter of nw quarter section 30 twp. 40 north range 6 east. He names the following witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land, viz: Edgar R. Baldwin, Ben Owen, Henry H. Robertson, and Lewis Darrow, all of Hollingsworth, Wn. WM. D. O'TOOLE, Reg."
ON the day of his homestead proof affidavit, 17th November 1897, George swore before R. L. Kline that he had resided on the land since the 15th of December 1889 and that he had cultivated 14 and 1/4 acres in the past eight years. He also stated that he made the following improvements with a two story frame house, barn, chicken house, two out buildings, fruit trees, small fruit, fencing, clearing land, ditching, road work, and a water sawmill for a total value of $662. Georges's application was approved and he was issued a patent on December 12th, 1898, which is recorded on Volume 126, page 439.
DURING his term as Hardan's postmaster, George made a conditional purchase of one sawmill and attachments from Z. F. Brighton.
The terms of that sale was that George "paid $25 for the use of that mill as rent and $10 a month commencing on the 19th of June 1898. He was to pay that amount until the total amount of the payments equaled $175 at which time the rent payments ceased and the mill became his absolute property." He used a series of waterfalls on Maple Creek to power his mill. The power that was used was drawn from a trough that extended to the falls. The Blade reported in the summer of 1898 "a water-powered mill has been erected by Mr. King on a clear running creek just three miles above Keese (Kendall)." The mill produced its first lumber in April 1899 which was rough lumber used on buildings of that time. A planing mill arrived on July 16th, 1901 for those who wanted that type of lumber.
GEORGE filed a land patent application on December 12, 1898. He was issued a Homestead Certificate No. 6248 for the North half of the Southeast quarter, the Northeast quarter of the Southwest quarter, and the Southeast quarter of the Northwest quarter of Section Thirty-six, Township Forty, and North of Range Six East of Willamette Meridan in Washington containing one hundred and sixty acres.
THIS land patent allowed him to harvest timber for his sawmill. In 1900, George deeded a right of way to the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad for a track extension from Sumas. This benefit brought rail transportation to Hardan so timber and milled lumber could be shipped out to various buyers. In addition, passenger service came to the area, which helped spur growth in Hardan.
IN 1899 and 1900, George filed two location-mining claims, which he named Lizard Lake. There is no indication of what came of the claims. But since the gold rush was still going strong during that period, he probably wanted to try his hand in finding wealth in "them thar hills." He probably didn't have much luck finding any minerals of value. Besides, he had a sawmill to operate.
WHEN the railroad was built, George had ten acres of his homestead surveyed and platted for a town site by the engineers E. C. Lyle and H. L. Tarbet. It was filed with the county on July 10, 1901. The name of the post office was changed from Hardan to Maple Falls on June 18th, 1901. For a few years, the main street (Lake Street) followed the original trail to Silver Lake winding in and out among the stumps. A few of the business houses were built on Maple Avenue but the majority of the businesses faced Lake Street, now called Silver Lake Road. As each business completed their building, a wooden sidewalk and hitching trail was added to the front. A picket fence surrounded each owner's residential lot. An outhouse was always found to the rear of the lots, with a well-trodden path to its door.
WATER was supplied from the creek for the town site. George and his son-in-law, James Finley Hatton, worked together to supply this need. A water tower was erected on the west bank of Maple Creek on the bluff above the falls. Dorothy Baisden, granddaughter of George, told of a recollection made by Darrell Gossage, "As a boy, he remembered my grandfather when he owned the water rights to Maple Falls. Grampa had some kind of hydraulic contraption that he had built to pump water out of Maple Creek to supply water to the town. Every once in a while, it would get plugged up with rocks, etc...... and Grampa would go down there and throw rocks at it until whatever was plugging the line would break loose. Darrell said that the contraption worked much like the pistons in a motor." If the water became low during the day, the pumping station refilled the 1200 gallon tank during the night.
GEORGE leased some land to C. L. Miller in 1901 and Harvey McRea in 1902 for a shingle mill. With George's lumber mill, the two shingle mills, and the Lake Whatcom Logging camp #3, there was sufficient employment to support his new township. There were also two hotels in town - Maple Falls and the Silver Lake Hotels. Within the next ten years, the little town bustled with increasing activity. Seven mills were in operation within a two-mile radius. A doctor, dentist, and a lawyer practiced their professions and the Maple Falls Leader was published in the town.
WITH the discovery of gold at the Lone Jack mine in 1897, prospectors on their way to the mountains added color and activity to the town. Until 1906, the railroad ended at Maple Falls and the wagon road extended only a short distance east of the town. All mining machinery and supplies had to be packed into the prospecting areas from the town. A recording office for documenting mining claims was set up in 1902.
GEORGE made an income with the sale of lots in the new township. His first sale was on July 19, 1901 to James McDonald, of McDonald's Grocery in Whatcom (Bellingham), who opened a general merchandise store in the town.
His next sale was to his son-in-law, James Hatton, who operated Hatton's Stable and Packhorses for hire in the timber and mining industry. In 1902, George sold some timber on his quarter section to William McCush for $2,000.
MAPLE FALLS built a one-room schoolhouse in 1901. Dorothy Baisden recalled, "that the school was located beside her grandfathers mill along the banks of Maple Creek. When the mill needed to expand, the school was moved across the road and her grandfather continued to supply water to the school from the creek. The school had free water until Grampa sold the water rights to Mr. Haggard." The new school was a two-room building and became School District #54 of which he deeded Block 8 to them on the 27th of February 1902.
GEORGE built a theater in 1903, when the mills and logging camps made that part of the country boom. It was burned down a year or so later. In that same year on October 22nd, he deeded two lots for the construction of the Maple Falls Presbyterian Church. The Reverend W. A. Sample was placed in charge of the congregation and carried on the work for three years. Mrs. Sample recalls that at the time she came to Maple Falls, there were several big logging camps in operation close by and that there were seven saloons in the town. At one time, the population almost reached a thousand people.
IN 1904, George became the Constable in the township through 1905. On August 7th, 1905, during his tenure as the Constable, he sold a 33x50 foot tract to Whatcom County for $75. The purpose of this sale was to erect and maintain a county prison in Maple Falls. Not only did George enforce the law, he also got the county to provide a facility with which to incarcerate the offenders. In 1906, George became the Justice of the Peace in the township through 1910.
GEORGE was very active in the township's politics. After his term as Justice of the Peace had expired, he served as the Treasurer during the 1911 and 1912 terms where he had to post a bond of $1,000. Considering the times, the bond required was a substantial amount that would support a family for a minimum of five years. In 1913, he was elected as Overseer of Highway.
GEORGE was also an inventor. In his lifetime, he filed many patents for his inventions. On November 16, 1915, he filed an application to the United States Patent Office and on April 3, 1917, he was granted a patent for a driving mechanism. The first part of the patent's specification states: Be it known that I, George A. King of the United States, residing at Maple Falls, in the county of Whatcom and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driving Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.
MY invention relates to new and useful improvements in propelling and guiding means for vehicles and primarily for use in connection with a vehicle adapted to carry breaking or other forms of plows, and my prime object is to provide means for turning the vehicle in a very small radius. A further object is to provide means for applying the power in such manner as to propel the vehicle forwardly or rearwardly. A further object is to provide means for rotating the forward axle to guide the vehicle. And a further object is to provide means for applying power to both axles of the vehicle simultaneously or to the forward axle singly.
OTHER objects and advantages will be hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the accompanying specifications. In the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this application............
DURING 1920, George was elected Assessor at the annual election. Also, from the minutes of that meeting held on March 2nd, "A motion was made and carried whereby G. A. King was given complete control of the township grader to keep said grader in repair and ready for use at any and all times. Also, that said grader was not to be used at any time unless G. A. King went with it. And that a charge of ($5.00) Five dollars per day be made when the grader was used in other than township work. Also, the regular wage scale paid to the man operating said grader." This motion was a result of some citizens who took the grader from the storage shed for some work on their property. The problem laid in the fact that the grader either needed repairs after the work was done or it was not returned to the storage shed. There were times when no one knew where the grader was and an effort had to be made to find out where it was, which was usually parked on the previous user's property.
ANOTHER interesting incident occurred at a 1920 regular township meeting. The minutes of that meeting reads, "Regular meeting falling on legal holiday, meeting was held Sat. July 3. Mr. King holding key to town hall, meeting was held in Coop Store. Mr. King being away from home." Apparently, George was not aware that the meeting date had been changed.
IN sum, George was willing to undertake any position in the goverance of the township in order to keep it functioning successfully. After 1920, there was no mention of him in the township minutes. The reason for this may be reflected in his obituary that was published in the Deming Prospector on Friday, October 26, 1928. "OLD TIME MAPLE FALLS RESIDENT DIES. George A. King, aged 82 years, a resident of Maple Falls for forty-two years, died at a hospital in Bellingham a week ago last Tuesday after an illness of several years. Mr. King homesteaded the land where the town of Maple Falls is now located.
The surviving relatives are one son, Roy King, of Maple Falls; one daughter, Mrs. Charles Knight; sixteen grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Funeral services were held Friday with Rev. Leo Totten of the First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham, officiating. Interment was made in the family plot in Kendall Cemetery." His death certificate states that he had been a U. S. citizen for eighty years (1848). It also states that the primary cause of his death was Cerebral Hemmorrage, which started on the 1st of August, and the secondary cause was general Arteriacleroris that occurred during the previous ten years.
IN the end, George outlived seven of his nine children with the youngest two surviving him. His son Oren died on 8 August 1910 from a logging accident when a cut tree fell on him. For the longest time, Oren's monument was the only one on the family plot. George, his wife Caroline, and daughter Georgie did not have markers on their sites. It was not until recently that descendents had headstones placed on their direct family member's site. To date, George and Caroline do not have markers on their site.
GEORGE was born with and married into an interesting heritage. He lived a full and productive life. He contributed to the well being of his fellow man. And he left a legacy that is still with us today. It is this legacy that will always be remembered by history and his present day decendents.
BIBILOGRAPHY
1) Lottie Roeder Roth, Supervising Editor. History of Whatcom County, Volumn I. Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, Seattle, WA. 1926.
2) Frances B. Todd. The Trail Through the Woods. Gateway Press, Baltimore MD. 1982.
Moments to Remember
