First published on Sept. 27, 2012, in the Quincy Valley Post
Register - Quincy, WA
Editor’s note: Information for this article was found in Faye Morris’ books
“They Claimed a Desert” and “The Birth of a Town.”
Hartline Standard, Sept. 19, 1903 - “Two
years ago this coming October, Quincy was nothing but a sign board-a-name.”
Joe Clay was the first settler to file a claim in the Quincy valley. His filing in 1901 was not the last. Within the months of September and October of 1901, 63 claims were filed. As settlers poured into the Quincy valley in the early 1900s, there were a few that claimed some important spots in Quincy’s history.
“One of the towns to the west that is certain to be of some importance in the near future is the siding on the (Great Northern) known as Quincy,” reported Wilson Creek’s Big Bend Chief on Dec. 27, 1901. “There has been a large influx of population there in the last two months.”
While Clay claims the title of the first settler to file a claim, it is unclear who the first settler to move to the area actually was. Charles Kildea came to Quincy in January of 1901.
“There was no snow on the ground and no one else here,” wrote Faye Morris regarding Kildea in “The Birth of a Town.” “He purchased some lumber in Ephrata and talked a brakeman into dumping it off at the Quincy siding. He then carried a few pieces at a time to a spot three miles south of the railroad siding.”
Kildea was the manager of the first hotel in town before eventually returning to Spokane. He never filled a claim.
Another early settler was J. A. Wilburn. Wilburn first came to Washington on April 11, 1894 with his family.
When he arrived in Ritzville, “he found the most dejected looking country he had ever seen in all his wanderings,” wrote Morris in “Birth of a Town.”
He eventually settled in Waterville. When he heard about Quincy, he decided to move again. His friends advised him against moving to the worthless area, but Wilburn plowed ahead. His enthusiasm and determination inspired others to settle in the area. He later became a Douglas County Commissioner.
Ashael L. Carlock was the first settler to live in what is considered today to be the town of Quincy. He and his family came in late 1901 or early 1902 – the date is unclear – and filed for 80 acres of land in what is now southeast Quincy. In the spring of 1902, “Quincy,” the seventh Carlock child was born. In 1903, Carlock harvested his wheat and had a well drilled. But that fall, he sold the land for $3,000 to Fidd Cochran, the well driller, and moved back to Missouri. His house once stood at 301 A Street SE.
Richard Coleman, a bachelor, purchased land at the railroad tracks for $7.50 an acre and built the Quincy Hotel on Division Street W near 1st Avenue SW, in 1902. Kildea was the first operator.
“On February 26, 1902, Mr. Coleman filed a plat of Original Quincy,” wrote Morris in “They Claimed a Desert.”“He had already proved up on a homestead near Lind and reported that he made money hand over fist at Quincy. That spring all his remaining holdings (in Quincy) were sold to David Richardson, a grain dealer of the Ritzville area for $1,560. Mr. Coleman then took up residence in a Spokane hotel where he spent much of his time advising newcomers that Quincy was the land of opportunity, according to the Adams County News of Ritzville.”
