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. 96.
 
ARTHUR GUNN

     deceased. Present day residents of Chelan County, who knew Mr. Gunn, and
their name is legion, will readily appraise him as a man possessing unusual
constructive ability, and one who would have made his impression upon any
community. During a residence in Wenatchee of twenty-five years dating from
1892, he was identified with many of the larger enterprises that have served to
make North Central Washington a household word in all parts of America. To Mr.
Gunn belongs the distinction of having operated the first bank in what is now
Chelan County, which has always been known as the Columbia Valley Bank, opened
in the old town of Wenatchee in the spring 1892, with Mr. Gunn in charge as the
trusted agent of the J. J. Browne interests of Spokane. Mr. Gunn was then a
modest youth of about 25 years. He was a native of Kentucky, having been born in
that state in 1866. A historical background of the Gunns reveals that their
forbears were colonists before the Revolutionary War. Arthur Gunn's father, Rev.
Dr. Thomas M. Gunn, was a veteran of the Civil War, as were also members of his
mother's family. When our subject was five years of carefully looked after, Dr.
Gunn being his principal instructor, until at fifteen years of age he entered
Park College of Kansas City, Missouri, from which he graduated in 1888. Mr. Gunn
furnished proof of good metal by largely working his own way through college by
means of newspaper work, serving two years of the time as city editor of a
Joliet paper. Soon after graduation he came to Walla Walla, Washington
Territory, whither the family had preceded him. From here he went to Kelso,
Washington, and launched the Kelso Courier which he conducted two years, when he
disposed of his interests to enter the banking house of J. J. Browne of Spokane.
His promotion to the management of the Columbia Valley Bank at Wenatchee was a
recognition of merit. Mr. Gunn left this bank in 1894, and gradually built up a
flourishing real estate business. He became the local manager of the Wenatchee
Development Company, and also the local agent of James J. Hill, which
association gave him several opportunities to render service mutually beneficial
to all parties concerned. A case in point was the enlargement and extension of
the Shotwell Ditch, which added several thousand acres to the irrigated belt of
the valley. The particulars of this enterprise are given in the J. A. Shotwell
sketch. Mr. Gunn was an influential member of the Columbia River Bridge
Committee. The construction of this bridge, the first of its kind to span this
great stream, marked an epoch in local history. He organized the Wenatchee Water
Power Company. He boosted manfully and effectively for the Farmers Telephone
Company, and he was a tower of strength to the Commercial Club organization that
carried to completion plans for a Commercial Club Building. During a portion of
1897-98 Mr. Gunn was associate editor of the Wenatchee Advance, which resulted
in a bright sparkling paper at a time when Wenatchee was making a great deal of
noise without moving forward.
     On July 12, 1890, Mr. Gunn married Miss Elizabeth Brown of Walla Walla.
Mrs. Gunn in her own right is a pioneer, her people having located in Washington
Territory in the late eighties. Early in 1905, in a special election, Mr. Gunn
was chosen State Senator to fill a viacancy caused by the death of Mr. J. P.
Sharp of Ellensburg. Here the same quiet but effective work that marked all his
undertakings, won for him an enviable record at Olympia. Also he did much to
bring about the organization of Chelan County. On May 24, 19171 the entire
valley was shocked to learn of the death of Mr. Gunn by an automobile accident.
Thus a highly esteemed and valuable citizen was cut down in the prime of life.
Mrs. Gunn now lives in California. The six children whose names follow, live in
Washington: Arthur, Mary, Thomas, Catherine, Elizabeth and Anabel.
     The following anecdote contributed by R. S. Ludington may be accepted as
testimony that Mr. Gunn was not lacking in a sense of humor.
     "In the days when cayuses were an important means of transportation Mr.
Gunn desired a horse hair lariat, and, as none knew how to make such a lariat
better than the Indians, and as Mr. Gunn had done some favor for Indian Felix,
well known in the Wenatchee Valley, Mr. Gunn asked Felix if he could get him
such a lariat, and paced off on the ground the length that he wanted. Some time
after that the lariat was delivered to Mr. Gunn by Felix, who would accept no
pay for it. Shortly after George Blair, one of the old timers, who had a band of
horses ranging near Felix's home, came raging into town seeking vengeance
against some one who had cut all the hair off the tails and manes of all his
horses on the range. With a twinkle in his eye, Mr. Gunn stated that while he
had a suspicion, he never mentioned that he had a new horse hair lariat."

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in April 2009 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.