The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 262 A portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard L. Thorp appears in this publication. LEONARD L. THORP. Leonard L. Thorp, now living retired in Yakima, is numbered among those who have contributed in large measure to the development of the agricultural and stock raising interests of the Yakima valley, where for many years he owned and operated a large ranch which he brought under a high state of cultivation and to which he added many attractive modern improvements. Mr. Thorp is a western man by birth, training and preference and has always been imbued with the spirit of enterprise which has been a dominant factor in the rapid and substantial upbuilding of this section of the country. He was born in Polk county, Oregon, October 16, 1845, a son of F. M. and Margaret (Bounds) Thorp, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee, They were married in Missouri and in 1844 crossed the plains, making the long and arduous trip over the stretches of hot sand and through the mountain passes until they reacheu the Pacific coast. Locating in Oregon, the father took up a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres of government land in Polk county, becoming one of the first settlers there. He followed diversified farming and stock raising and in the early days he experienced all of the hardships which form features of pioneer life. There were no white settlers near at the time of his arrival. He had a number of relatives who participated in the Cayuse Indian wars of 1855 and 1856. Mr. Thorp was one of the first permanent white settlers in Polk county and his place was near that of Captain Birch. He afterward removed to what is now Klickitat county in 1858 and assisted in its organization. With the work of development and improvement he was closely connected and at one time served as probate judge of the county. On the 15th of February, 1861, he removed to the Yakima valley, settling on the Moxee, where he secured a stock ranch, becoming one of the first to locate in that district. In 1867 he removed to a farm twelve miles west of Ellensburg and there resided to the time of his death, which occurred in 1898. His wife had previously passed away. Leonard L. Thorp was educated under private instruction, his father hiring a teacher for his children. He says that he was raised upon a horse, for from his earliest childhood he was almost continuously in the saddle. Reared amidst frontier conditions and environment, he learned to speak the Indian tongue and had Indian playmates in his youth. He continued at home with his father until he had attained his majority, but went into Idaho and Montana with cattle when twenty years of age, there selling a drove of cattle for his father at a profit of ten thousand dollars. On the return trip he brought with him his grandfather, who had been in Montana. They came in the winter, found the stage stations burned and the horses stolen by the Indians, but they managed to escape the red men. On the trip, however, Mr. Thorp of this review had his feet so badly frozen that the ends of both feet had to come off, leaving him a cripple for life. He crossed the Columbia river when it was full of ice, making the trip over with Indians. After recovering from the injuries which he had sustained on the trip he took a ranch on the Moxee and later secured a second ranch. Afterward he sold that property and secured a ranch on the Selah whereon he resided for fourteen years and during that period he turned his attention to the live stock business. He took a trip to California but did not like the state and returned to the Yakima valley, settling on the Naches, where he developed a fine ranch. He was the first man to bring full-blooded Holstein cattle to this state, introducing that stock in 1884. He added many splendid improvements to his place, erecting buildings for the shelter of grain and stock and keeping the fences in good condition so that the place was thus divided into fields of convenient size. He devoted much of his land to the production of alfalfa and he also raised cattle on a large scale. Eventually, however, he sold the Naches ranch and afterward took up his abode near Yakima, where he established a fruit ranch, one of the first of the district, and which he well improved with buildings, fences, etc. Thereon he resided until 1899, when he removed to Yakima, where he has since lived retired. For many years he has been a director of the Yakima National Bank and is now vice president. In business affairs he has ever been recognized as a man of sound judgment and progressive spirit and his success has been the direct outcome of persistent labor, intelligently guided. On the 28th of May, 1867, Mr. Thorp was married to Miss Philena Henson, a daughter of Alfred Henson, who removed to Oregon in 1852 and to Klickitat, Washington, in 1858, while in 1861 he settled in Yakima, being one of the early pioneers and upbuilders of the west. The children of this marriage were: Martha, now deceased, who became the wife of W. B. Young, by whom she had two sons: Eva, the wife of Thurston Brown, living in Seattle; Dale, who died on a trip to Alaska; Herbert, who died at the age of seven and one-half years; and Margaret, the wife of W. M. Hawkins, of Yakima. Mr. Thorp belongs to the Pioneer Society. He has resided in the Yakima valley for a longer period than any other white settler and is a most honored pioneer resident. There is no phase of the northwest with which he is not familar. His memory goes back to the days when its great forests were uncut, when its broad plains were unclaimed, its streams unbridged, and when the work of civilization and development seemed scarcely begun. He has lived to witness a remarkable change as the years have passed and he has borne his full share in the work of progress and improvement. Under his direction and through his aid wild land has been transformed into productive fields and he has done much to develop the great herds of cattle found grazing upon the pasture lands of the Yakima valley. He also made a valuable contribution to the prosperity of the district by introducing the Holsteins and thus aiding in the improvement of the grade of stock raised. His stories of the early days are most interesting and his reminiscences claim the attention of all who hear them. Mr. Thorp well deserves the rest which he is now enjoying, for he has passed the seventy-third milestone on life's journey and ease should ever crown a life of intense and well directed activity. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.