The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 846 

MILTON R. BOWMAN.

Milton R. Bowman, proprietor of the Bartholet Hotel at Yakima, was born in
Somerset county, Maine, on the 22d of June, 1842, a son of Elias and Sarah
Bowman, both of whom passed away in Maine. The son acquired a public school
education in the Pine Tree state while spending his youthful days under the
parental roof. The family numbered seventeen sons and two daughters and Milton
R. Bowman had eleven brothers who served in the Civil war. The father fought
under Washington in the Revolutionary war, as did his father and all of his
brothers. In 1849 five of the brothers of Milton R. Bowman went to California by
way of Cape Born following the discovery of gold upon the Pacific coast. Sixteen
years later, or in 1865, Milton Bowman also made his way to California via Cape
Born, thirteen months being consumed in making the trip, for the ship was
wrecked on an island and it was seven months before they could make their
escape. After Teaching the Pacific coast Mr. Bowman traveled all over
California, Nevada and Idaho engaged in mining and prospecting and is familiar
with every phase of mining life. He came to Washington in 1874 and traveled
throughout the state. He went up and down the Yakima valley in the Indian days
and his memory compasses the period of earliest pioneer development in the
state. At the time of his arrival Seattle had only two stores and lots could be
purchased there for four dollars. Mr. Bowman drove a stage out of Monmouth,
Washington, and his experience as stage driver form a most interesting tale.
Later he was married and began farming near Monmouth, while subsequently he
removed to Waitsburg, Washington, and afterward took up his abode in Spokane,
where he remained for seven years. At a later period he went to Mexico and with
others purchased sixty-eight thousand acres of land. He then removed his family
to that country, where they remained until driven out by the Mexican war. Mr.
Bowman then returned with his wife and children to Spokane and in 1915 removed
to Yakima, where he leased the Bartholet Hotel, which he furnished and has since
conducted, making it a popular hostelry, liberally patronized. His experiences
in the west have been broad and varied. He has fought the Indians and has seen
all of the typical pioneer life, meeting many hardships, privations and dangers
and witnessing the steady development of the country to its present status of
progress and prosperity. It was Mr. Bowman who had charge of the shift of men
at the Comstock mine when the big strike was made. He has known all of the
old-time settlers, and pioneers and events which are to most people merely
matters of history are to him matters of personal experience.

In 1874 Mr. Bowman was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Garrett, of Kansas,
whose people, however, were pioneer settlers of Washington. The children born of
this marriage are seven in number: Elias, a resident farmer of Idaho; Maude, the
wife of Ed Jenkins, also living in Idaho; John, who is in the employ of the
United States government at Portland, Oregon; Tina, the wife of Frank
LaFollette, of Spokane; Bert, a merchant of Seattle; David, living in Portland;
and Delle, a twin sister of David, who is now married and resides in Los
Angeles, California.

In the years of his residence in the west Mr. Bowman has made and lost
fortunes. he is one of the well known and honored pioneers, robust and strong
physically, of genial personality, kindly spirit and thorough reliability. His
reminiscences of the early days are most entertainingly told and his
individuality and personal traits of character are of a quality that endear him
to all with whom he is brought in contact.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.