Hull, Lindley M., compiler and editor. "A History of Central Washington, Including the Famous Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan and the Columbia Valleys." Spokane: Press of Shaw & Borden Co., 1929. p. 433. MRS. HETTIE BONAR MARTIN is the daughter of J. C. Bonar, the second settler of the Entiat Valley. Mr. Bonar was several years in advance of his wife and daughter, by which arrangement he was enabled to establish the family in comfortable surroundings as such things went in pioneer days. From the first, Mrs. Martin was actively identified with the development of the valley, and testimony comes from many sources to the effect that she was a front rank worker with those engaged in promoting the well being and happiness of all settlers, who by reason of geographical isolation had many inconveniences to contend with. Service to those around her appears to have been an outstanding trait of her pioneer life. One of her friends speaking of her active life has this to say: "Mrs. Martin taught school in our district, and my son Harold was one of her pupils. She was a very fine teacher, and so interested in her scholars, not only to advance them in their studies, but to instill into their minds high ideals and good morals. She was very active in all that we tried to do to make the Valley better for us all to live in, helping with entertainment for the old as well as the young. She was a tireless worker, doing the best she could with what we pioneers had to do with." On July 10, 1898, Miss Hettie Bonar was married to P. M. Martin, a pioneer settler, first of Douglas County, then in 1890, of the Entiat Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have come down through the intervening years, jointly striving for the best interests of the new country. Prosperity has come to them, and it is fitting and proper as they approach the evening of life for them to reap genuine pleasure and happiness in the rewards emenating from a well-ordered community, to which they have contributed so much in the upbuilding. The historical committee would like in a suitable manner to express appreciation of Mrs. Martin's valuable contribution to this volume in preparing the history of the Entiat Valley, but they are conscious of the weakness of words in attempting such a tribute. They feel, however, that the excellence of her work and the fidelity with which she discharged the trust placed in her hands, as well as the pleasure that will be derived from reading her narrative, will endure as a sincere mark of gratitude for her part in making secure a record of pioneer happenings, that might otherwise have drifted into the silent halls of oblivion. This is the contribution by Hettie Bonar Martin to this book. Hull, Lindley M., compiler and editor. "A History of Central Washington, Including the Famous Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan and the Columbia Valleys." Spokane: Press of Shaw & Borden Co., 1929. p. 407. ENTIAT AND ORONDO EARLY HISTORY By Mrs. Hettie B. Martin Very early in the history of gold excitement in California, Chinese after their own methods, became expert in placer mining, and when, in 1865-66, gold was found along the Frazer River in British Columbia, they gathered there in considerable numbers to get what they could of the yellow metal. From the Frazer River, many of them crossed the mountains to the eastward, and from the upper Columbia worked southward down that stream. Other Chinese worked up the river from its mouth, establishing their principal camps at the junction of the streams flowing into the Columbia from the Cascades. Occasionally white miners came along. In 1868, George W. Parrish, father of our well known Tom Parrish, accompanied by a man named Doner, made a trip from what is now Ellensburg to the Entiat country, traveling via Blewitt Pass, Peshastin Creek, down the Wenatchee River to what is now Cashmere, thence up a canyon and over a ridge to the Swaukane Creek, down this stream to the Columbia and so on up to the Entiat. Here they found a very large and very black negro. Big Antoine, washing gold by means of a ditch from the Entiat. The ditch supposed to have been built by Chinese. He told his unexpected visitors that he had quantities of gold dust, and feared someone would kill him to get it. Big Antoine appeared to have been an Islander and educated in England to be the valet of some man of distinction. He could speak English, French, Spanish, and Indian. He had been in the country of the Red River of the North, probably with the Hudson's Bay Company. He had run away coming to the Entiat Valley from San Francisco. He had not been to any outside point in two years and did not know that the Civil War was ended. His only food was a plentiful supply of field peas and cured salmon. Indian Silico, who had been born at Entiat about the year 1800, and claimed all the country, disliked the presence of the negro and complained to the fort Commander at Lake Chelan, which resulted in orders to Big Antoine to leave. This he did, taking with him to Wenatchee half of the peach trees he had planted. According to Mr. Parrish, the negro went from Wenatchee to the Peshastin country and washed gold on Nigger Creek. A little later he went to the Yakima country, thence to Portland, Oregon, where he died. The elder Parrish packed pork and vegetables over the mountain from Kittitas Valley to Chinese camps, and in 1876, he found Indian Silico at Entiat where he continued to live until his death in 1903. He sold land for the Entiat townsite, which is situated a short distance north of the mouth of the Entiat River. Several Indian graves on the Silico place were destroyed to make way for the railroad. During the last years of Silico at Entiat, he used the Chinese mining ditch to irrigate his garden. The peach trees the negro had planted were prolific in bearing, and settlers, steamboat crews and the general public, generously helped themselves to the luscious fruit. Edwin N. Cooke used to drive hogs from Kittitas Valley to supply Chinese camps, feeding them grain carried on pack animals. At the pioneer picnic held at Entiat July 7, 1925, Mr. Cooke mentioned Big Antoine. ******************* Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in June 2009 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.