Page 2 - Early Winter 2022 SWHS Newsletter.indd

South Whidbey’s first white settler: Robert Bailey
Finding a life of adventure on South Whidbey

Whidbey Island was still part of acres, and Bailey evidently had sold County Commissioner;
Oregon Territory when 30-year-old some land to John E. Wheelock, but he • serving as appraiser in 1860 on the
Robert S. Bailey, took out a land claim acquired additional adjacent acreage Tulalip Reservation Board;
of 162.50 acres in 1852 at Skagit in 1873 for a total of more than 300 • serving as an Island County juror in
Head, effectively becoming the first acres, including lots 1 and 2 on the spit 1882;
white settler on South Whidbey. side of the bay. • helping to establish Island School in
In fact, all of what is now Washing- Listed by occupation as a farmer Maxwelton at what is now French
ton State as well as Idaho and parts of on several WA Territorial censuses, and Bailey Roads (and which is still
Montana were Oregon Territory. Bailey was involved in other activ- standing).
It wasn’t until 1853 that Washington ities as well such as: Bailey was also among the first
became its own territory, and another • serving very briefly as Thurston white men to climb Mt. Rainer, then
36 years before it became a state in No- County assessor in 1852; called Tacoma or Tahoma.
vember 1889. • signing a petition for and donating Some accounts have him arriving
Bailey didn’t live to see that happen $10 toward the establishment of a on Whidbey Island in 1851, but that is
(he died in March 1889), but his chil- nonpartisan newspaper in Olympia doubtful as he did not file a land claim
dren from two Snohomish Tribe wom- in 1852; until Nov. 1, 1852.
en would live to see rapid social and • running a trading post at Cultus Bay In August 1852 he was living in
technological changes. (which back then came to be known newly created Thurston County, OR
as Bailey’s Bay) likely where Pos-
Roots in Virginia session Shores is today; (created out of Lewis County) which
According to 1918 Snohomish Trib- • serving as an Indian sub-agent for briefly included all lands west of the
al enrollment papers filed by his eldest Skagit Head (for which he was paid Cascades up to Canada.
son, Henry, Robert S. Bailey was born $1,000 a year); First Pioneer Ascent of Mt. Rainier?
in August 1822 in Virginia. • being a witness signator on the Point There is no doubt that indigenous
In a Nov. 10, 1895 Seattle P.I. article Elliott Treaty at Mukilteo in January people were the first to climb Mt. Rain-
about pioneer days by noted chroni- 1855; ier over the 10,000 years they inhabited
cler James G. Swan, Bailey said that • coming under gunfire when trying to the surrounding areas.
his roots extended into Virginia colo- arrest Snoqualmie Indians suspect- As far as written records of white
nial history and was told he had some ed of killing local Snohomish Tribal climbers, Governor Isaac Stevens’
indigenous (likely Powhatan) ancestry members; son, Hazard Stevens, (a Union Civil
as well. • being elected in 1858 as an Island War hero and later a mountaineer) is
Why Bailey set out for the Pacific credited along with two friends and
Northwest, and whether he came over- and help from an indigenous guide
land by wagon train or around South with the first to summit Mt. Rainier
America by ship, is not known. in 1870. The group planted a flag, left
He was likely enticed by the promise a plaque at the summit, and made de-
of free land through the Oregon Dona- tailed records.
tion Land Act of 1850 which gave 320 It may be, however, that Robert Bai-
acres to single men (and 640 acres or ley and two friends beat them to it by
a ‘square mile’ to married couples if some 18 years.
they filed claims by Dec. 1, 1851 and One of the 1852 group of expedition-
lived on and made improvements to ers, John Edgar, was looking for wag-
the land for four years. on routes which would permit easier
Though Bailey arrived in Oregon settler immigration.
Territory Nov. 1, 1851, he didn’t file a The following is an account pub-
claim on property at Skagit Head until lished September 18, 1852 in The
Sept. 1, 1852, when the acreage for a An 1859 survey map shows the Donation Columbian newspaper, published in
single man had dropped to 160 acres. Claim of Robert Bailey at Skagit Head, an Olympia, Oregon titled “Visit to Mt.
The claim that Bailey filed was for area that then encompassed all of today’s Rainier”:
162.5 acres. An 1859 map shows 82.5 Cultus Bay/Posession Point area.
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