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. 429.

JAMES W. BONAR

     or Bert, as he is known in the Entiat Country, came from Minnesota in 1890.
He traveled by rail to Coulee City and from that place made his way on foot to
his father's place at the mouth of the Entiat, where he spent much of his time
during the next two years. The Bonar house was much like a postoffice for years.
Settlers deposited outgoing mail in a box behind the door, and the first person
compelled to go to Orondo for tobacco, or other supplies would take the letters
with him, and bring back mail for everybody, which would be taken up the valley
by the first person going that way. This practice was followed until 1896, when
the much desired postoffice was established at Entiat. Bert Bonar took a
preemption claim just above the Mead bridge, where D. C. Wolf now lives. Bert
helped to build bridges, and probably no man in the valley did more donation
road work than he. Being skillful with a rowboat, he was a tearless log driver.
Living for two years on the Columbia River, he was often called upon to put
friends or strangers across that stream. During the extreme high water of 1894,
the raging waters of the Columbia River pushed their way up the Entiat. The
Bonar house was well nigh surrounded. There was a hand-ferry tied to one corner
of the house, and a row-boat to another.   Both the cellar and stable were
flooded. In 1894 Bert bargained for the Ansel Howe claim, trading horses for the
improvements on the place. He engaged in stockraising. He was married to Miss
Lizzie McKinzie in 1901. In 1904 he bought the P. M. Martin homestead on Mad
River.   He immediately settled there and built a good bridge across the Entiat
River as a part of the highway to his new home. His wife died in 1915, leaving
four boys.
     Bert is a sociable being, and like Henry Ford believes in old fashioned
dances rather than Tango and Jazz, and encourages his neighbors to think
likewise.
     
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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.