December 28, 1881 Emmett Hunt Diary

On December 28, 1881 Emmett Hunt wrote:  Fair day & pleasant.  Came home again to take a rest for New Years fun.  Had a very easy trip. 


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

December 26, 1880, Sunday

On this day Emmett Hunt wrote in his diary "Some more rain but not much.  Went home with F and wife during the day."


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December 25, 1881 Emmett Hunt Diary

On this day in history Emmett Hunt wrote:

Sunday, December 25, 1881, Christmas - a very fine day so journeyed to the Plains after some Christmas.  Arrived at Hillhurst at 2 PM a trifle tired having walked the whole distance from Steilacoom & carrying our accoutrements.  Had a del Irish wake at night with the boys down West.ate

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

December 19, 1880, Sunday

On this day Emmett Hunt wrote in his diary "Day of rest, so went after some ducks and got them alright also a grouse.  ... meat for this week.  Tried to snow and then to rain but failed in both." 

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Maritime Workshops at Harbor History Museum

Maritime Workshop Series...experience history! Have you ever wanted to try your hand at woodworking but needed a "guiding hand"? Wanted to create something special from a piece of wood?  Then we have an excellent opportunity for you to experience history! The Harbor History Museum is hosting a series of maritime-themed workshops led by our shipwright Nate Slater. These hands-on classes provide one-on-one instruction in a variety of woodworking techniques.  Know someone who has everything?  The workshops make great Christmas gifts as well, for older teens and adults, male and female. Participants will learn basic woodworking techniques…plus take home a beautiful half-model of the Shenandoah, or have his/her very own skiff.  We have gift certificates available at the museum for any of the workshops if you want to give a truly unique holiday gift this season. If you would like a certificate, give us a call at 253-858-6722, ext. 5, or stop by the museum at 4121 Harborview Drive! Classes are small to allow one-on-one interaction with Nate. Half Model Shenandoah Construction – create your own beautiful half model of the historic Shenandoah: Dates: Saturdays, Feb. 23, March 2, 9, & 16 Times: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm (possibly to 5 pm) We have 5 work “stations” remaining (each station can have one to two participants) Cost per station: $150 HHM member, $200 non HHM museum member

Build your own Stiitch-and-Glue Skiff Class – build a Sam Devlin 5’x10’ plywood skiff Dates: Weekends, April 6 & 7, 13 & 14, 20 & 21, 27 & 28 Times: 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm We have 3 work stations remaining (each station can have one or two participants) Cost per station: $400 HHM member, $450 non HHM museum member Spring “Planking” Class – learn how to remove and replace a plank on the historic vessel Shenandoah:  Dates: One weekend only, May 18 & 19 Times: 2:00 – 5:00 pm Room for only 5 more participants Cost per participant: $30 HHM member, $40 non HHM museum member Workshop pre-registration is required.  Non-refundable, due to materials and shipwright scheduling.

 

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Thomas W. Malony

For many people interested in local history, Thomas Malony is better known in Tacoma than in Gig Harbor, although he retired to our town in 1922. I found his history interesting and he did leave a legacy in our community -- though not nearly as impressive as his public life in Pierce County.

Thomas held three acres of high-bank waterfront property on Soundview Drive, put together from a property purchased in his wife’s name in 1906 and some tidelands deeded to them in 1907 and 1911.

His reputation as a builder and dealer in real estate was apparent in the home he built on this property. It had a view of the Gig Harbor sandspit, Dalco Passage, and the Cascades beyond. In 1919 when Thomas was appointed to the position as Warden of the Federal Penitentiary on McNeil Island, the newspapers described him as “said to be an owner of considerable property.”

The property, with its splendid morning view was originally purchased as a fishing retreat and was primitive and exclusive. The original dwelling, quite small, was 100 steps up from the water. 

However, the large main residence was built well back from the road and down off the brow of the hill. It was this house that the Malonys moved into shortly before his retirement.

This style was consistent to the wooden two-story houses built in Tacoma during the first years of the 20^th century for something between two and four thousand dollars. The structures were simple, similar to a child’s drawing, tall and box-like. The exteriors are where the owners’ individuality were apparent; the wooden trim, the placement of the windows, and the type of windows. In Malony’s house, he chose to support the broad roof of the main entry with white pillars.

Large but plain, this house had eight to nine rooms and a separate entry hall. Typically, wooden sliding doors allowed entry to the parlor and the dining room. The house was wired for one electric drop cord and the upstairs bathroom was plumbed. The quality of the house was displayed in its furnishings rather than the conveniences of the house itself. The kitchen contained a large comfortable cookstove in the kitchen and the beautiful furniture came from the Malony’s Tacoma homes.

Tom and Delia Malony and their two sons and two daughters arrived in Tacoma from Canada by way of Chicago in 1884. They lived in at least two homes in Tacoma, and one of their houses stood at 516 North J Street; the other eaten up in the Tacoma General Hospital expansion. From notes left behind by various family members it is clear that they greatly enjoyed the nearby Wright Park even in the wintertime during their years living in Tacoma.

Thomas once operated a shingle mill on an Old Tacoma site given to him by Allen C. Mason prior to 1890, his building and real estate activities seem most evident in print only after 1901. One of the houses he built during that period was at 409 N. Yakima. His Gig Harbor house reflects the same style that he used in his construction of houses in Tacoma.

He served as councilman for Sumner when it incorporated in 1891; then in 1905 the newly elected Mayor George F. Wright appointed him Tacoma’s Chief of Police. Although he ran for the office of Pierce County Assessor in 1898, he was not elected. In 1908 when his term as Chief of Police was up, his opponent in the County Sheriff’s election won more than double the votes he received.

A souvenir publication titled History of Tacoma Police Department, 1908 states “When Thomas Malony resigned as chief…there was general regret in the city, for his work had been effective and more criminals had been arrested and mysteries solved than under any other chief.” It continues to state “Under Chief Malony police business was good in Tacoma…” and gives him credit for the change from cramped offices in the Old City Hall to new and larger quarters. Thomas added a women’s ward and secured the appointment of the first police matron in Tacoma’s history, Katherine B. Creighton. He increased the number of officers as well as their pay.

Once he moved to Gig Harbor, he was rarely seen in the community, keeping himself occupied by his home and his property where he planted a large holly grove.

His wife, Delia, remained in Gig Harbor after Thomas’ death in 1929 until she died in 1942. One daughter married and moved to Portland, one son died in 1920. The two remaining unmarried children lived on in the big house in its secluded setting. 

The two, Minnie and Harry, cared for each other in illness and old age, gradually becoming quite reclusive. Minnie died in 1960 and Harry in 1964. The estate was then divided and the house sold.

In 1983 the house was burned in a controlled exercise by the Gig Harbor Fire Department. 

In 1986 the property was developed by Dolphin Reach Associates.

©  2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

December 12, 1880, Sunday

On this day Emmett Hunt wrote in his diary "Clear but very windy.  Another shock of earthquake at 8:15 PM.  Arranged my chamber then went up to Father's and wrote some letters."

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

William R. Lotz

Were you aware that Washington Territory was involved in the Indian War of 1855?  Were you aware that the year 1855 was the beginning of one of the most dreadful and trying times in the history of the Washington Territory? That was the year that Native Americans “ceased diplomatic relations” with non-Indian settlers and declaring a war of extermination against the few and scattered settlers. I have to admit I didn’t know of this part of Washington history, and I suppose I could excuse myself by saying I was not taught Washington history because I went to school in other states, not in the Pacific Northwest. But is that really a good enough excuse?

W. R. Lotz wrote an excellent article on the Indian War of 1855. I found a copy he wrote and published in 1930 in a News Tribune editorial column “Other Viewpoints on Various Subjects." I found the column most interesting and although I won’t quote all of it, I will quote a portion that deals directly with his experiences during this time:

“Here I will detour long enough to say, that, no doubt, I am the only survivor of those who bore arms—carried a musket---in that war.  It is true that the musket I bore was only an imitation which I had whittled out of cedar wood and the soldier who bore it was an imitation too, being then only in my seventh year, having been born at a young and tender age in 1849; but, by the way, this was not the only event to make ’49 memorable in history, for that was the year in which gold was discovered California. This discovery was not only enriching California, but the entire Pacific Coast…

“Just before the outbreak of the war, my father had established his family in a comfortable log house on a donation claim seven miles south of Olympia (now South Union), but was compelled, for safety sake, to move to Olympia. Here he did duty standing guard nights. His beat was Main Street from the fort to the foot of the street at Giddings’ wharf. Several nights, with my imitation gun on my shoulder and with his consent, I marched with him...

“Someone reported seeing a large fleet of Indian canoes rounding Dofflemyer’s point, seven miles below, and rapidly paddling towards Olympia. A telescope was hurriedly gotten and the looker said “Yes, there is a big fleet of them, but the leading canoe bears a white flag.”…Soon the “flag ship” canoe, the first to land, grounded on the beach and Chief Patkanim came out of his canoe and shook hands warmly with the more than relieved little crowd of welcomers…Why has not something been done to perpetuate the memory of this noble “white man’s friend” Chief Patkanim?

“…According to the account by the late venerable Indian fisherman, Dave Squally, of Wollochet, the last battle fought in that war took place on the north shore of Hales Pass.”

William R. Lotz was born in Germany in 1849. He told his daughter, Grace Lotz Woodruff, the story about him as a seven year-old patrolling the streets of Olympia with his father. 

He also told her about training as a “Printer’s Devil” (one learning the trade of a printer) on an Olympia newspaper. He was alone in the newspaper office when a telegraph came in stating that Abraham Lincoln had been shot. All the others had gone fishing, and as he was alone he wrote the article, ran it off the press, and got an “Extra” out on the streets before the others returned.

Lotz left Washington in 1870 and worked on different newspapers – in Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Bell Plain, Texas. He and his future father-in-law established the Callahan County Clarendon in Bell Plain in 1879. He then moved to Baird, Texas, where he married Ada M. Rust in May, 1880. In September, 1889, he returned to Washington where his parents still lived, bringing his wife and three children with him. The rest of his life was spent around Puget Sound in Tacoma, Olympia, and Shelton, where he was editor and proprietor of the Shelton Tribune for several years.

He retired to a spot on Hales Pass near Gig Harbor (in Warren) in 1904 and spent the rest of his life there until March, 1937, when he died at age 88.

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

December 5, 1880, Sunday

On this day Emmett Hunt wrote in his diary "We found 8 inches of snow this morning.  At 10 AM weather suddenly changes and began to thaw.  Rain in PM.  Also a little more duck shooting for Arthur and I.  Had good success but left a good many wounded ones."

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.