The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 596
A portrait of Wilbur C. Hall appears in this publication.

WILBUR C. HALL.

Ranching interests near Yakima have long claimed the attention of Wilbur C.
Hall, who is now numbered among the prosperous residents of that district. He
was born in Mazeppa township, Wabasha county, Minnesota, July 16, 1858, a son of
Moses C. and Julia (Roberts) Hall, the former a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, and
the latter of New Haven, Connecticut. The grandfather of our subject, Moses C.
Hall, was born in Massachusetts and the family is of English descent. He was one
of the early pioneers of Ohio, in which state he passed his remaining days Moses
C. Hall and Julia Roberts were married in Ohio and there resided until they
decided to take advantage of the newer conditions and greater opportunities
presented in the northwest and set out for Minnesota, in which state they took
up their home in the early '50s. They traveled by team from Wabash and arrived
in Wabasha county, Minnesota, in 1856. The father assisted in organizing the
first Masonic lodge there. For his first land he paid a dollar and a quarter per
acre and in Minnesota he continued to engage in farming until his death in
1858. Later in life the mother made her home with our subject in Washington,
where she passed away.

In 1858 Wilbur C. Hall accompanied his mother on her return to Ohio, where he
attended school and remained until nineteen years of age, when he returned to
Minnesota, in which state he took up a homestead, and there he farmed until
October, 1903. During this period he also worked for the Great Northern Railroad
for about twenty years, at the same time owning farm property and looking after
its cultivation. While connected with the railroad he was largely engaged in
railroad construction work. In 1903 Mr. Hall came to Washington and for two
years resided in Stevens county, while connected with the telegraph construction
department of a railroad company. He then removed to Pierce county, this state,
where he bought a ten-acres farm, but in September, 1909, he came to Yakima and
acquired forty acres on the Ahtanum. Subsequently he added ten acres to this
tract, which he named the Skookum-Chuck Ranch, skookum meaning good in Indian,
while chuck is water. The two words, however, skookum-chuck, the Indians applied
to whiskey, thus designating whiskey as good water. After discovering its
meaning, however. Mr. Hall did not change the name of the ranch and it still
goes by the old appellation. He has greatly improved his property, having
erected suitable buildings and a handsome residence and installed modern
facilities and equipment. He raises hay and grain and also gives considerable
attention to live stock and dairying. He keeps poultry, goats and hogs, as well
as sheep, and also devotes some attention to fruit raising. From all these
various lines he receives a gratifying income and is today numbered among the
prosperous agriculturists of his district.

On November 17, 1890, Mr. Hall was united in marriage to Elizabeth A.
Welharticky, a native of Bohemia and a daughter of John and Mary Welharticky,
who came to the United States when Mrs. Hall was a baby. The family remained for
three years in Chicago and then moved westward to Minnesota, where the father is
still engaged in agricultural pursuits upon the old homestead which he took up
many years ago. His wife passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Hall were born four
children: George, who died at the age of nine years; Irene, at home; Walter, who
ably assists his father with the farm work and is now nineteen years of age; and
Marion, aged thirteen. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are highly respected in their
neighborhood and have made many friends since coming to Yakima. They are
Episcopalians in their religious faith and attend that church.

In politics Mr. Hall is a republican but in local affairs votes independently,
giving his support to the candidates whom he deems best fitted for the offices
to which they aspire. He is prominent in the Masonic order, being a member of
the blue lodge as well as the Royal Arch Chapter. Such success as has come to
him is well merited, as it is the result of his own labors. He is a self-made
man in the best sense of the word, having not only attained substantial
prosperity but also contributed by his labors toward the development of his
district.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.