The Bay Center Story
portions of which appeared in these two Pacific County Historical Society and Museum Sou'westers:
 1970 Fall, Volume V Number 3 and 1971 Spring, Volume VI Number 1
Last modified on September 14th, 2005 / Contact the Museum / Web editing done by Brian Davis at bridavis@gte.net.
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THE BAY CENTER STORY
Written by Hope Clark (1898-1993)
Written in 1955
Note from the web editor:  Many thanks to Christy Horne McCurdy for typing out and provided the text to The Bay Center Story.  She is a former resident of Bay Center, and now resides in Norcross, GA.  Photos were provided by Bruce Weilepp, Museum Director, and are from the 1970 Fall and 1971 Spring Sou'westers.  Those two Sou'westers had portions of The Bay Center Story in them.
This Obituary for Hope Marie Clark was added by J.A. Shotwell on 12-10-2004
     Hope Marie Clark of Bay Center died Tuesday evening, August 3, 1993.  She was born in Wilsonville August 22, 1898 to Howard M Wilson and Mary Rhoades Wilson.  Her grandfather, George W. Wilson was the first settler of Wilsonville and her grandfather Lewis H. Rhoades was one of the original settlers of Bay Center across the Palix River from Wilsonville.  Her family moved to Bay Center in 1907 when her father became manager of the Brown Oyster Co.  He was Pacific County Commissioner when the courthouse was built.
     Hope was an accomplished pianist and as a young girl played for silent movies at the Tokay Theater in South Bend.  She was often a member of local musical groups and at times supported herself by playing current songs at sheet music stores.
     She followed the artistic interests of her mother as a painter.  Her embroidery was prized.  Baseball was her favorite sport and she was an avid fan and seldom missed a game.  The history of the Wilson family, Wilsonville and Bay Center were the subjects of a number of her writings.  Several of these articles were printed in the Sou’wester, published by the Pacific County Historical Society.  Poetry was another interest.  Several of her poems were published in the same journal.  For 26 years, Hope Clark was the librarian of the Bay Center Library, which was operated by the Pacific County Rural Library District.  The library was closed by the organization of the Timberland system.  Books, the library, and history were the major interest of her later life.
     In 1914 she married Norman Bakke.  They had two daughters, Mary Holm of Raymond and Norma (Micheal) Jensen of Seattle who survive.  She married Scott Clark in 1928.  He preceded her in death in 1963.  She is survived by a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Hope Clark will be buried in the Bay Center Pioneer Cemetery.  At her request there will be no services.
View of Bay Center in 1907, showing the Mills home (owned by Merrill Bochau in 1970), the Methodist parsonage, and church.
      There are few spots more picturesque or more representative of the early pioneer settlements than the narrow peninsula that is the site of the village of Bay Center.  The land, dotted with homes, some of which were erected by the original settlers, slopes shoreward on either side of the island-like formation which is joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of sand, marsh grass and driftlogs, and the whole is surmounted by a rolling hill stretching back and upward into the a skyline of dark evergreens.
     Here it was in days gone by, the Redman stood on the clifftop at Goose Point, the peninsula’s tip, and watched the first ships sail over the bar and into the bay.  Until the coming of these ships, the Indians had lived here for many years, alone and unmolested, save for occasional skirmishes with hostile tribesmen of their own race.  Even then, it was a good place to live.  The forest abounded with game, the bay with fish and shellfish.  Wild fruits and berries were plentiful and the ducks and geese filled the skies with their clamorous voices as they make this an ideal camping place and the local natives had everything needed for their subsistence.
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Author Hope Clark (right) beside her childhood home, built in 1873, by her great uncle James Goodpasture.		      The arrival of the first ship caused much wonderment among the people.  To them, this strange craft with its sails billowing wing-like in the breeze, resembled a great bird gliding over the water.  It was in 1851 that the first schooner entered the harbor in search of a cargo of oysters and it brought the first hint of the impending change in the Indian’s way of life.  They had heard from visiting tribesmen of the arrival of the fair skinned strangers on other parts of the bay, so they were not unduly alarmed, and it was not long until they were
Click to see a bigger version of this photo
A note from Museum Director Bruce Weilepp (photo and text added on 12-6-2004):  The photo above (click here to see a bigger version of the photo) shows Hope Clark (1898-1993) playing piano at the Tokay Theater in Raymond about 1917.  The heavy set fellow is George Reizner, theater magnate of Willapa Harbor.  The Tokay was a vaudeville theater, so it is safe to assume the occasion for the photo was some sort of stage performance.  It is understood that Reizner had a very good singing voice.  The Tokay Theater in Raymond was located on the south side of Duryea Street, between Second and Thirds Streets.  Reizner also had Tokay Theaters in South Bend and Pe Ell.  Reizner's wealth came from his family grape vineyards in California, hence the theater name.

paddling their canoes across the waters and engaging in picking oysters in return for the white mans’ trade goods.  As time passed the natives became accustomed to the strangers’ ways, language and also, it is to be regretted, became well acquainted with the exhilaration and false bravery caused by the white man’s “Fire Water”.
     Then in 1853, there came a man with a dream of founding a town that would bear his name.  This man was Joel Brown but his dream of Brownsville was never to be realized.  He arrived with a party of new settlers but his companions located in other parts of the surroundings wilderness.  Mr. Brown built a small cabin on a hill overlooking the Palix River and thus became the first white settler in our locality.  He proved himself a capable and trustworthy person and the settlers on other parts of the Bay chose to nominate him as territorial representative for the district.  This was another plan that was never to be carried out due to Mr. Brown passing away on January 4th, 1854, before the election was held, and he was then buried near the cabin on his claim.
     Meanwhile that same year saw the arrival of another settler, and this man was to take for his claim, all the land this is now the Village of Bay Center.  Dr. James R. Johnson had previously been living at Bruceport, but in 1853, he came across the bay to Goose Point and took up a claim.  It is thought that he must have continued to live part of the time in Bruceport, as James G. Swan because in his book “Three years in Washington Territory”, he frequently speaks of Dr. Johnson being a resident of the Bruceport settlement and states that he was the only Physician in the vicinity.  Dr. Johnson built a house on his new claim, the site for his dwelling being near the tip of Goose Point.  He then brought in a herd of cattle to graze on his new land and this was the first herd of milk cows on this part of the bay.  In all probability, the Johnson family lived alternately on one side of the bay and the other as told to me by my Maternal Grandfather the late L. H. Rhoades.  He told of taking his family to spend two Christmas days in the years 1863 and 1864 at the home of Dr. Johnson in Bruceport.  At any rate, the good doctor fulfilled all requirements for obtaining a clear title to his property.  The date and manner of the Dr’s death is not known by writer, but in 1873, the land for the town of Bay Center was purchased from his widow and all present property owners having an abstract for their lot’s, find the Dr’s name listed thereon as the original owner.
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     It was also in 1853 that my Grandfather George Wilson came to the bay but he settle on the opposite shore of the Palix River, directly across from the future town site of Bay Center.  Thus, we have now place the first three white men to settle in this locality.  Just who came next must be a matter of conjecture rather than a statement of fact.  It does not seem logical to suppose that there were no more arrivals for a twelve-year period, but after checking all available sources of information, I am led to believe that the next permanent settler on the Bay Center side of the river was L. H. Rhoades in 1865.  W. R. “Dick” Marion arrived before that date but he made his home with Grandfather Wilson in Wilsonville.  Grandfather Rhoades wrote in his memoirs that when he settled at Sand Point (near the present Rhodesia Beach), his only and nearest neighbors were Grandfather Wilson’s family, and I have heard the latter told many a times over the years that the Wilson’s lived alone and without neighbors until the arrival of the Rhoades Family.  Therefore I feel entitled to the claim that my two families of Grandparents were the first permanent settlers here, Mr. Brown and Dr. Johnson both having passed away after short sojourns.
     As the years went by, more and more families came to the sheltered shores of out little bay until a small settlement was formed.  These first temporary homes were down near the shore for convenience in landing supplies which was all brought in by boat.  The spring of 1873 saw the settlement on the beach getting crowded and the settlers were looking to the land on the hill with an eye to future development.  It was then that a man named Fred Craft and Great-Uncle L. M. Rhoades decided something should be done about the situation.  The contacted the widow of Dr. Johnson and from her, purchased all the land comprising the original J. R. Johnson claim.  Needing some financial aid, they obtained a loan from L. H. Rhoades and in lieu of paying interest on the loan, gave him his choice of lots in the town to be.  The land was platted out as the individual purchaser wished it rather than following any set pattern as to streets, alleys, etc.  The first plot was sold to William Mills who purchased a three-acre tract.  In 1875, A. S. Bush replatted the town as it stand today.
     The first house constructed on the hill was for L. M. Rhoades and was built by Mr. Rhoades and E. O. Reed from lumber cut in a small mill that Mr. Reed was operating on the north branch of the Palix River.  L. H. Rhoades started this mill in 1863 but he ran out of funds before he had it in running order so he gave it up and went into the oyster business.  After Mr. Reed came to the bay, he and Daniel Wilson completed the mill and Mr. Reed took over its operation.  The oldest houses standing in Bay center today have lumber in them that was out of this little mill.  L. M. Rhoades later sold the first home built to A. S. Bush who remodeled it.  And it stands today, looking much as it did as far back as I can remember and is still thought of by we old timers as the Bush House, although it is now owned my James Church, a local oysterman.
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     The second building to be erected was a one-room schoolhouse down near the beach, but there has been some controversy over which was the next dwelling built.  Whether it was the one owned by Herbert Charawell or the one that was my childhood home and is now used by me to house the Bay Center Branch County Library.  I have been unable to ascertain by who or when the Charawell house was built.  My Great-Uncle James Goodpasture erected the library building in 1873.  On the same lot, he also built a store, one of the first in Bay Center.  I was eight years old when my father purchased this property and at that time the old store was still standing and contained it’s original rough board counters and shelves upon which were many quaintly designed bottles of dried up extracts and patent medicines as well as sundry other articles.  Many were the happy hours spent in this old building, “playing store” and using it as a theater for amateur minstrel shows.  It was a sad day for all the neighborhood children when Father started tearing it down after deciding it was no longer safe to use as a place for play.  Too late, I now realize how many collectors’ items were lost to posterity when the old store was demolished and its contents hauled away or burned.
     Another memorable event in the year of 1873 was the founding of the first Sunday school class.  On August 18th of that year, the Rev. John N. Dennison organized a class at Palix, as our town was then called.  A camp meeting was held at what is not Bush State Park with groups of settlers from all parts of the bay in attendance.  A look at the roster of names of local residents joining the class at that first meeting will give an idea of some of the families then residing here.  The list, taken from an old church record, reads as follows:
PALIX CHAPTER

Formed August 18, 1873
By Rev. J.N. Dennison
George Wilson Mrs. Ann Eliza Mills
Elizabeth Wilson Mrs. E. O. Reed
Orlando Wilson Daniel Wilson
Edwin Wilson Lucius Rhoades
Lloyd Fansher J. C. Luark
Lewis Rhoades P. J. Luark
Catherine Rhoades
     The following summer another camp meeting was held at the same location with a larger crowd assembled.  These meetings became a yearly event for a number of years with tents and cabins set up to house the visitors.  The locals furnished fresh milk and garden produce.  Each year showed an increase of names on the Church Roll but I will not attempt to give all of them.  Here are a few that may sound familiar note; there were the Frys, Turners, Goodpastures, Edwards, Smiths, Amidons and Cox, to name a few.  Meanwhile indoor church service was conducted in the schoolhouse by the beach.  This little building, plainly constructed and crudely furnished, filled a real need for the folks in the community, giving the children a chance for an education and their elders, a place to worship God.  It was built by donations from all the families living here at that time.  The first teacher, as near as I can determine, was a member of the Luark Family.  In 1875, a school district was formed and Martia Fry was the appointed Teacher.  For many years, the term of school was held for a five-month period, starting the first of October and ending on the last day of February.  This little schoolhouse served the town until 1885 when a new and larger building was erected on the hill.  This building still stands and is now used a community Hall.  *(Where the new Methodist Church stands now).  In connection with the early school days here, I now quote from a letter written by a Mrs. Virgil, a native of New York State, who taught at the Bay Center School in 1877.  Her letter is written on January 12th of that year and reads, in part, as follows:  “The town now has fifteen families, a hundred people and is a flourishing little settlement.  Several of the houses are well built, convenient, and comfortable.  Others are of rough boards.  There are no log houses and all have a kitchen, living room and bedrooms.  The schoolhouse accomodates twenty-seven pupils from five to twenty years of age.  Last year the Christmas Program was held within it’s walls but this year we have outgrown that so we asked the men to fix up the large boat shop with they did by hanging sails all around to keep out the wind, and with the school house stove, plank seats and platform with curtains, we decorated with evergreens, set up a Christmas tree and held a combination school exhibition, concert and Christmas program”.
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An aerial view of Bay Center in 1954.
     All this while, the nearest real Post Office was at Oysterville and all mail destined for our little settlement of Palix traveled by boat to Bruceport and there it stayed until one of the villagers sailed or paddled across the bay to get it.  The townspeople decided they needed a post office of their own and a name for the town that would be more representative of the community.  A contest was held with every one submitting names for the new town.  A board of judges read all the entries and chose Bay Center; Mattie Goodpastures Rhoades submitted the name.  I do not know whether Great Aunt Mattie ever received a prize for her ingenuity, but she at least rates a seat in our local hall of fame as The Woman Who Named the Town.  The Post office was established May 16th 1876 with Sidney Smith as acting Postmaster.  The following year, A.S. Bush was appointed Postmaster, a position he held for fourteen years.
     Although there was some farming and stock raising in the community, the town’s chief industry was then the same as it is now, namely, the raising and selling of Oysters.  The first company formed was the Bay Center Oyster Co. and was organized by the following men:  A. S. Bush, Fred Craft, Dick Marion, Leonard and Lewis Rhoades, Capt. West and George and Orlando Wilson.  At first, their headquarters were in the Reed boatshop but they soon prospered enough to erect a new building that housed their office, a store, and the Post Office.  After operating for a number of years, the company was dissolved, the building sold and made into a hotel, and the various stockholders that remained in town, formed or joined other companies.  The Rhoades brothers started the Occidental Oyster Co. Dick Marion and the Wilson’s joined the Morgan Oyster Co. and Mr. Bush and sons formed the Northern Oyster Co.  All these new ventures were successful and the village folk were assured that Bay Center had become an industrious permanent settlement.
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Bay Center School House about 1908, from Merrill Bochau Collection
      In 1886, the first salmon cannery was built and operated by B.A. Seaborg, taking and processing fish from all parts of the bay.  Mr. Seaborg hired Chinese labor and a crew of about one hundred twenty five was employed.  They lived in a combination bunk and mess house that stood inshore from the cannery itself, which was about a quarter of a mile off shore.  The old schoolhouse was also used as quarters for part of the crew.  Charley Shubbe was foreman and kept his crew well in hand.
The cannery operated until 1889 and when it closed, a number of the Orientals decided to stay on and work in the oysters.  They built themselves a row of shacks near the waterfront and for many years these “China Houses”, as we called them, formed Bay Center’s Skidroad.  Numerous and noisy were their festivities and plentiful and varied the stocks of liquors they hand no qualms about dispensing to the Indians.  These celebrations inevitably turned into bloody brawls and wild conflicts that made the nights hideous with their uproar.  While the children in the houses on the hill cowered in their beds in fear, their parents seethed with righteous indignations.  Finally, a Justice of the Peace was appointed, a jail was built, and the worst offenders hustled into a cell to cool off and sober up.  There were plenty of times the little jail was filled to capacity and eventually this led to a somewhat quieter way of living.
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William Andrew, Age 71
Indian Shaker Preacher
Photo taken at Taholah, August 26th, 1938
Printed through the courtesy of Mrs. Grace Hold of Raymond
      At this point in the Bay Center story we find the town had grown and prospered until the 1890 census shows its population as 185.  There were now several oyster companies in operation, two boatshops, a blacksmith shop, four stores, a post office, and a school, but still no suitable place to hold religious services.  The town fathers held a meeting and decided to start a campaign for funds to build a church.  Their first step was to ask for local donations and this met with a heartening response.  Next, the members of the Epworth League under the leadership of Miss Josie Bush, wrote to other Leagues all over the country, asking each organization to get ten signers to donate ten cents each.  The dollars came pouring in from nearly every state in the Union.  Soon there was enough money in the building fund to get the work started.  Plans were drawn and submitted to several contractors.  The firm making the lowest bid ($1,215) was Murdock and Stanley of South Bend.  The contract was dated September 1st. 1890, and called for the building to be completed on or before October 31st of the same year.  The contract was fulfilled and the Rev. C.C. Stratton dedicated the First Methodist Church of Bay Center on November 23, 1890.  James Matthews was appointed Minister and held services here every other Sunday.  On the days of his absence, L.H. Rhoades who was issued his preacher’s license on May 14th, 1875 filled the pulpit here.  The first record of a marriage in Bay Center is that of Joe Chock and Maggie Solux in 1885 and Mr. Rhoades performed that ceremony.  During the next ten or twelve years, three more churches were erected. One for the Free Methodists and two Shaker Churches for the Indians.
  Of the four, only the First Methodist remains and is still in use and in good condition, standing as a memorial to all those sturdy souls who joined together in faith and determination to have a house of worship and a decent place to live and rear their families.
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     This photograph was taken of the Bay Center dock in 1886, when it was so new that the railings had not been constructed.  The tall man standing in the foreground is L. H. Rhoades.  On his shoulder is one-year-old Grace Rhoades, who as Grace Lang served as Bay Center's postmaster for twenty-eight years.  To the left, the girls are Mary Rhoades (Wilson) and June Charawell.  A few steps back we see Catherine, wife of L. H. Rhoades with Maude Rhoades (Seaman), and Emma Rhoades (Moore), with Betsy Charawell on the right.  This pier, for many years, was "main street", the busy center of activity for a busy town.
     Lest the impression be given that our settlers were concerned only with hard work and serious thinking, let us now devote some space to their recreations and diversions.  Living in a spot where water travel was their only means of transportation, it was necessary that each family had at least one, or perhaps several boats.  These were an essential part of the oyster industry and in addition provided the means for necessary journeys and also many forms of pleasure and relaxation.  Sailing to nearby islands for picnics and bonfires and visiting friends on other parts of the bay brought a pleasant change into their lives.  To the womenfolk and children these outings were especially enjoyable as there were long periods of time when they were left at home to attend to farm and household chores while the men were away oystering at the Head of the Bay.
     Some of these crafts were racing sloops and it was an unforgettable sight to see them skimming over the waters, white sails billowing in the breeze.  One of the most beautiful was the White Wings named for a popular song of that period.  She was owned and captained by Roy Mills and brought many prizes to her owner.  There were other boats just as fleet.  For example, in the Astoria Regatta of 1898, Bay Center boats carried off top honors with the Pearl, Columbia, White Wings, and Undine capturing all prizes.  Local natives, Matill and Deaf Geeorge, won even the Indian canoe races.  Matill was very old, (claming to be one hundred thirty five) in spite of which was soon spent on a “Victory Celebration”.
     A favorite summer pastime of the young swains and their sweethearts were the moonlight boat sails that provide a much safe and saner ride than the “hot rods” of today.  I was too young to participate in these outing myself, but I remember at least one such occasion when I was allowed to go along for the ride because my then youthful parents acted as chaperones for the group.  The memory of that warm summer evening is one I shall never forget.  The moonlight reflected in the waters of the bay, the phosphorescent wake following the boat, and the voices of the young folks as the harmonized the hit songs of the day.  The selections most popular being, “Honey Boy, “Hiawatha” and of course the old standby and perennial favorite, “Juanita”.  I like to think how nice it much have sounded to the dwellers on nearby shores as the clear young voices rang out over the moonlit waters.
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     Another favorite summer pastime was the game of croquet.  All of the larger homes had a croquet lawn, on the long summer evenings, you could hear the click of mallet against ball, and excited voices rose in friendly rivalry as the game progressed.  When the contest was ended, the young men would rest on the lawn while the maidens would trip into the house and come back bearing pitchers of cold lemonade and plates of then crisp cookies with were gratefully received.
     Observances were always made of the Holidays.  July Fourth was usually celebrated by holding a picnic at the Camp Grounds.  After lunch, there would be races, ball games, and other sports followed that evening by a huge bonfire down on the beach in front of town.  Everyone donated to the fund for fireworks and soon as darkness fell, they were set off, making a fine pyrotechnical display.
     The most popular holiday custom was the annual Duck Supper, which was held every Thanksgiving night.  It all started just before the turn of the century on a rainy November evening.  A group of gay (happy) bachelors were playing cards in the old cannery messhall and the conversation got around to the approaching holiday.  All agreed that they would have scanty fare for their Thanksgiving dinner, as they hand no wives to cook for them.  One of the group said, “Well, we can always go out and pick us a mess of oysters and fry’em up”.  “Hey”, said another of the crowd, “I’ve got a better idea”.  How about us getting up a community supper and having it right here in the messhall?  We can get the oysters and open them all and I’ll bet there’s enough kind women around here that will do the cooking if we invite their families to come and eat too”.  It sounded pretty good to the little group and the next day when they made the idea public, it sounded good to everyone else also.  On Thanksgiving night, the old messhall was filled to capacity and a good time was had by all.  The next year a larger place was needed and it was held in the schoolhouse on the hill with the red and green running lights from the old steamer “Favorite” hung on either side of the door to welcome the Public.  The following year it was decided to change it to a duck supper and in order to assure a plentiful supply of game, two leaders were chosen and they in turn, chose hunters for their respective aides.  Then the hunt was on to see which team could bring in the most ducks.  The losing side was supposed to furnish the rest of the food for the supper, but the wives of the winning team members did not like to sit back and watch their neighbors out do them in preparing tasty dishes, so it generally endued up by everyone bringing something, and a sumptuous repast was served.  By the time, I can remember, these suppers they were held in Tom Olsen’s hall that was upstairs over his general store.  Naturally, Christmas was an eagerly awaited holiday with its big community three at the Church and the usual yuletide program, but as I look back now, it seem the nicest times of all were those annual Duck Suppers.  You walked down the hill to Olsen’s store through the crisp November air.  Reaching the building, you opened the door leading to the stairway and your nostrils were instantly aware of the mingled aromas of delicious foods and hot coffee.  Each step up the stairs brought more delightful odors, at last you reached the top, turned into the gaily-decorated hall, and there were the four long rows of tables, fairly groaning under their load.  Every kind of cake, pie, salad, crisp pickles, and spicy relish imaginable.  Cranberries, celery, in fact everything for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner except the Turkey and I assure you, he was not missed; and you stood there looking it all over until you spotted the whipped cream cake that you know Aunt Ella had made, and you made a bee-line for that table and seated yourself on the bench, the cake in front of you, and you waited, waited until Mother and the other ladies, faces flushed but merry, emerged from the kitchen bearing bowls of fluffy mashed potatoes and savory brown gravy and huge platters of hot roast ducks.  The captain’s chair at the heard of one of the tables was reserved for Grandfather Rhoades and when the food was all on the tables and the guests assembled, he asked for a Blessing upon the food and up the ones gathered there and gave thanks for the abundance that was ours.  After supper the tables were cleared, moved out and games were played or a program given.  There was no dancing in Bay Center in those days but no one even thought of it as they sang and kept times to the music of such games as “Marching on the Green Grass” and “King William”.  A grand March was the concluding number and at its end, everyone went happily homeward.  I have never known such a spirit of good fellowship, and cooperation that was demonstrated at these gatherings, and it was a pity that like all good things they had to come to an end.
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Lum You


Invitation used with permission of Nina Sowers Wolfenbarger, Raymond (Reproduced by Antilla's Studio, Raymond)
      There are another type of events not so pleasant to recall but the story would not be complete were they to be omitted.  Almost every community has at onetime or another been shocked at the commission of some atrocious crime.  The earliest and most horrible of these cases, the Fredricksen murders, occurred in 1890 and is too well known to warrant a full description.  Although the crime was not committed in this town, the bodies of the victims were brought here for the autopsy which was held in the local boatshop, after which they were buried in the Bay Center cemetery where they rest today, under a stone bearing on its inscription, the word, “Murdered”.  The killers paid dearly for their crimes.  A group of enraged citizens stormed the jail in Oysterville and administered retributive justice in their own way.
     In August 1901, the first murder took place in Bay Center, Lum You, a Chinese laborer, shot and killed a man named Oscar Bloom.  Their quarrel was the aftermath of a prolonged drinking party.  Lum was lodged in the jail in Sough Bend, tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang.  The execution date was set for January 31st, 1902 and Sheriff Roney had a number of invitation cards printed and was about to issue them to persons expressing a desire to witness the hanging.  Then the blow fell.  Lum fled the confines of his cell and departed for points unknown.  How he engineered his escape has never been explained, but the fact remained, he was gone and the manhunt was on in full force.  All places having telegraphs or
telephone service were notified to be on the lookout.  A posse was busily engaged in searching the woods.  The Commissioners offered a reward of two hundred dollars for the capture of the criminal.  Several days later, Lum was found hiding in the woods south of town and returned to jail.  All this excitement fanned interest in the approaching execution and the Sheriff was deluged with requests for invitations.  An extra supply was printed, about five hundred in all, and any one having one of these cards today, has a priceless bit of old Americana in their possession.  The execution took place on the date scheduled and was held in the court room of the old court house in south Bend, the trap being placed under the ventilator opening in the ceiling.  Thus old Lum paid the penalty, went to join his “Illustrious Ancestors”, and Pacific County held it’s first on only execution.
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     The second, and we hope the last, major crime in our town took place about 1910 or ’11.  An Indian wedding was held in the native settlement at Goose Point and after the ceremony, there was a dance and a goodly supply of liquid refreshments.  A Hawaiian fiddler who was then living in the settlement furnished the music for the ball.  As the evening and imbibing progressed, tempers began to flare and a free-for-all fight started.  When the smoke of battle cleared away, many figures were stretched out on the floor.  These unfortunates shortly began to shake their heads, feel their jaws, rise, and stagger away.  There was one exception.  The violinist remained prone and unmoving.  When someone decided to rouse him to provide some more music, it was discovered the old fiddler had played his last tune.  When the Sheriff arrived, no one remembered of having seen any one hit old John or had the least idea who had delivered the fatal blow.  In spite of it being a warm evening, one witty native was heard to remark, “We didn’t think anyone killed him, we just thought he froze to death”.  An arrest was made but nothing was ever proven and the case was finally dropped.


Presided Over Hanging
Sheriff Thomas A. Roney (May 4th, 1854 to February 26th, 1938), born in Ontario, Canada, arrived at Oysterville in an Indian canoe in 1879.  On January 31st, 1902, as he gave the last of three trokes on a gong, the trap to the scaffold dropped, and Lum You, Chinese, was dead.  Roney was later to say this was his lifes' most disagreeable duty.

Scene of the Lum You Hanging
     This is the first courthouse to be built in South Bend.  It was located on a site, donated by the Northern Land & Development Company, in a district known as "Upper Town," near the depot.  This area was being boomed by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
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Crab, crab, crab!
The Dungeness Crab
      For many years, one of the most lucrative local resources was overlook by the villagers who concentrated on raising oysters, fishing salmon, and sturgeon, but overlooked the potential value of all the crabs that were in the bay.  These crustaceans were so plentiful that at low tide a person could walk out in front of the town and gather all they could carry from the pools on the mudflats.  Then about 1905, two enterprising you men of the town, Roy Moore and Arthur Shipley, hit up the idea that there should be some commercial value in this commodity.  They wrote to various firms in Northwestern cities and soon had themselves a market.
The first crab fishing was done in two man dories, which were rowed up and down the channel, using ring nets to trap the wily creatures.  It was not long until the tastiness of the Bay Center product was well known in the city markets and the demand for them increased.  Two men from other cities saw the possibilities, and Mr. Chase and Mr. Reed came to our port.  They bought out the local boys equipment and started the first official crab company.  The industry grew rapidly, soon other buyers entered the field, and an increasing number of fishermen turned to this new line of work.  It was a fortunate step for all as when the oysters in the bay declined, the crabbing industry kept the commercial life of the town going until the advent of the Japanese or Pacific oysters.
     Time and space will permit only a brief mention of some of the interesting occurrences of life in Bay Center in those days.  I remember cold winter evenings when the temperature fell rapidly and from every house along the hill on Main St. you would see men emerging with pails of water which they would pour on the middle of the street.  Married & Single, they fell to and after many trips up the hill as it had such a think coat of ice.  Then the bobsleds carrying six to twelve passengers would be brought out, the women and children joined the group and every one went sliding.  The slide stared at the hilltop in front of our gate and ended up as far out on the wharf as the sleds would go.  There was no danger of going off the steep end as the wharf extended a quarter of a mile out to the channel and the sleds came to halt long before they had traveled that far.
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     Then there were the medicine shows that came to town once or twice a year and played a week’s stand in Olsen’s Hall.  A different play and vaudeville skits were presented each evening and during the intermission between acts, various kinds of elixirs and cure-alls were sold.  Each purchase entitled the buyer to a number of votes for the girl of his choice as “Belle of the Town”.  On the closing night, the votes were counted and the winner presented with a “real” gold watch, which usually turned green after a few week wearing.  Nevertheless, the honor of winning was eagerly sought for and rivalry ran high among the young ladies.
     There were baseball games with the Bay Center Braves the unbeaten champions.  Home talent plays, (one year we even did MacBeth and no doubt disturbed Will Shakespeare’s long rest by our efforts) parties and candy pulls, so many things that were so much fun, and yet to the young folks of today they would no doubt seem very tame.  These happy childhood remembrances are the precious gem in my jewel box of memories.  It was a good way of life and as I write I can see it all so plainly just as it used to be with the thriving little business district down at the foot of the hill.  There was the big Bay View Hotel overlooking the water and dominating the scene.  Along side was Clark and Anderson’s store and behind that the black smith shop.  Across the street there were two more stores owned by Pete Tabell and Tom Olsen and in-between them the tiny little Post Office, and behind that, the jail.  Out from the center of the plank platform that lay between the buildings ran the long wharf with a cluster of fish houses at its end.  That is the way it looked in the year 1911 on a hot summer evening in August.  Mother and I walked out on the wharf to cool off in any stray breeze that might be coming in over the water.  Twilight was falling as we strolled back in and looked at the new paint job on Olsen’s store.  It was real painting weather alright and Mr. Olsen was taking advantage of it.  The town seemed almost deserted.  The citizens, weary from the unaccustomed heat and their day’s work, had gone early to their beds.  By the time darkness fell, the little town was quietly sleeping.
     Is there anything more terrifying than the sound of a firebell in the night?  At half past midnight the clamor of the chruchbell, pealing loud and incessantly brought us springing from our beds.  We could hear shouts and the sound of running footsteps.  Hurriedly throwing on some clothes, we ran out to our gate from where we could see flames shooting from Clark and Anderson’s store.  Then the hotel caught, then Tabell’s store and finally the Post Office.  The plank street between the buildings was a seething inferno of flames.  The mend worked like demons, greatly hampered by the fact that the tide was out and no bay water was available.  Their only means of fire fighting was a bucket brigade and every well in the vicinity was drawn dry in their vain effort to quench the flame, all to no avail.  It seemed that it couldn’t be happening, that it must be a nightmare and we would soon wake up, but it was all too true.  Before our very eyes, the hub of our little town was being destroyed as the flames consumed the tinder dry wooden buildings and there was nothing we could do.  When the fire burned itself out and the smoke cleared away, all that remained were Olsen’s store and the jail.  Mr. Olsen had a ton of salt in his building and by having a crew pour it on his fresh paint job, a think insulating layer was formed and the building saved.  When daylight came, the combination of salt, smoke and water, gave the store a white washed appearance.  No one ever knew how the fire started but our village had received a mortal blow.  True, it rose Phoenix-like from the ashes but it was not ever the same again.  Once the store and a hotel were rebuilt but not of the size or style of the former ones.  A few more years passed and the story was repeated again the same store and hotel burned and this fire was the finish of the little business district.  The next store was built at the top of the hill where it still remains *** (Hell Store was torn down and the store is now directly across the street) and the new highway was rerouted to enter the town at a different point.
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Map showing the location of Bay Center, courtesy of the Willapa Bay Visitor's Guide Web Site
      Bay Center today is thriving again with several canneries and seafood processing plants, a shell grinding mill and other individual industries.  My wish is that it will continue to grow and develop in the years to come, that its growth will eventually lead to new and better business organizations, a new Post Office building and improved educational and recreational facilities.
  Yes, that is my wish for the future and I would not have it otherwise, but I can’t keep from having a few nostalgic yearnings for that other Bay Center, the one that began with Joel Brown and his dream, and ended with the sound of a firebell on that hot summer night so long ago.
Hope Wilson Clark
This Book written by Hope W. Clark
And Presented to Roy and Emma Moore
December 25th, 1955.

* The old Community Building was torn down in the summer of 1964.  Today the Methodist Church sits on the exact same spot.

*** The old Bay Center Market was torn down after a fire in the mid 80’s and a new one was built directly across the street next to the Post Office.
Hell Store really existed, however the true name was Shell.  You see, with Bay Center hoodlums running the town there was no way that "S" was going to stay put, so, for over 50 years it became the Hell Store.
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