Editor's note: This column was first published Nov. 30, 2022.
Yakima County shrunk considerably 141 years ago.
Washington鈥檚 Territorial Legislature voted on Nov. 24, 1883, to make the northern portion of the county into today鈥檚 Kittitas County. It was a split driven by tensions between the residents in the two ends of the county over where the county seat should be, as well as where to spend tax dollars.
It was the third time the Legislature had to deal with creating a county in the area.
Yakima and Kittitas County were once part of Ferguson County, which lawmakers created Jan. 23, 1863, nestled between the Cascades, the Wenatchee River, the Simcoe Mountains, Stevens and Walla Walla counties.
It lasted barely two years, due in part to the fact that few non-Native people lived in the area, and those who did were not thrilled about being subjected to taxation to support a state government.
鈥淲hat money they got from time to time they very much needed for their own support,鈥� Andrew Jackson Splawn, one of the Valley鈥檚 early settlers, wrote in his book 鈥淜a-mi-akin: The Last Hero of the Yakimas.鈥�
Ferguson County was voted off the map on Jan. 18, 1865, only to be reconstituted as Yakima County three days later. The new county had its eastern border placed at the Columbia River.
Over time, the non-Native population increased as settlers moved into the area, taking land that the Yakama Nation was forced to cede under the Treaty of 1855. The two population centers of the county were Yakima City (today鈥檚 Union Gap) and Ellensburgh, as it was known then.
Yakima City became the county seat, which did not sit well with the people living around Ellensburg. Part of the problem was that anyone who had to take care of business with the county had to spend the better part of the day just to get there, as there was no easy road between Ellensburg and Yakima.
Kittitas County was the more populous region at the time, which meant it had more taxable property. That resulted in more resentment as Kittitas Valley residents saw their tax dollars going for improvements in 黑料福利社 instead of improving their economy.
There was talk that the county seat should be moved to Ellensburg, where most of the people were living, and in 1880 that argument was a factor in a legislative race. Democrat George Taylor from Selah was running against Republican John Shoudy, who founded Ellensburg after acquiring Splawn鈥檚 160 acres of land in the Kittitas County and named it for his wife, Mary Ellen.
While the county was predominantly Republican, the people in 黑料福利社 feared that Shoudy would move the county seat north if elected and got Taylor into office instead.
In March 1882, the county courthouse in Yakima City burned down. County commissioners voted to rebuild the courthouse in Yakima City, a move the 黑料福利社 folks saw as strengthening their hold on the county seat, but which angered Kittitas Valley residents who said the matter should have been put to a public vote.
It was also a likely factor in Shoudy defeating Taylor in a rematch later that year.
With a court suit filed by Kittitas Valley resident Samuel T. Packwood blocking spending on the new courthouse, a petition was started to split the county, with Kittitas County becoming its own county, relieving its taxpayers of their share of the courthouse cost.
Shoudy introduced legislation to create the new county, which was approved with little opposition. Packwood, who was named to the Kittitas County Commission by the bill, also settled his lawsuit blocking the courthouse in Yakima County.
Ellensburg would become the new county seat, but Yakima City would soon lose its claim to Yakima County鈥檚 seat after the Northern Pacific Railway established today鈥檚 Yakima and the seat of government was moved there in 1886.