The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 616

WALTER H. JOHNSON.

Walter H. Johnson is the owner of the Council Crest orchard, one of the finest
in the state. In the midst of his ranch he has erected a fine home of the
bungalow type and is most pleasantly and attractively situated there. His life
record is the story of intense and well directed activity, bringing him into
close and prominent connection with business interests and public development
and progress in the various sections in which he has lived. He was born in
Abingdon, Iowa, March 10, 1865, a son of Thomas and Parley (Hyatt) Johnson, the
former a native of New York, while the latter was born in Indiana. Thomas
Johnson was a son of Thomas P, and (Wagner) Johnson, who came from England,
settling in Connecticut about 1815. The Wagner family had been established on
American soil prior to the Revolutionary war and representatives at first
fought with the English, but becoming convinced of the righteousness of the
American cause, left the English army and joined the colonial forces. The
maternal grandfather of Walter H. Johnson was Greenberry Hyatt, who was of
Welsh descent. He was a soldier of the Civil war and one of the pioneer settlers
of Kansas. The wife of Thomas Johnson had three brothers who were soldiers of
the Civil war and all were killed when at the front. Thomas Johnson devoted his
life to the occupation of farming in Iowa, having removed to that state in 1853,
at which time he took up his abode near Osceola in Clarke county, while later he
became a resident of Jefferson county. In 1881 he removed to Colorado and took
up the business of fruit growing near Denver, where he passed away July 20,
1902. His wife had departed this life in Iowa. Their family numbered eight
children, of whom Mr. Johnson of this review is the third in order of birth. His
brother, Frank T. Johnson, has been judge of the district court of Denver for
the past twelve years and is now engaged in the private practice of law- in that
city. He has been very prominent in public affairs there, doing much to improve
civic conditions, and among the notable evidences of his public spirit was his
abolishment of gambling in Denver. Another brother, Samuel W., is now district
attorney of the first judicial district of Colorado and is accounted one of the
distinguished members at the bar of that state.

A youth of sixteen at the time of the removal of the family to Denver, Walter H.
Johnson there continued his education, which had been begun in the schools of
Iowa, and supplemented his public school training by attendance at the
University of Denver. He was afterward graduated from the Central Business
College of Denver with the class of 1903 but in the meantime had made his
initial step in the business world, for upon leaving the University of Denver in
1885 he entered a hardware store in Billings. Montana, where he remained for
four years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Denver, where he
established a grocery and market on his own account, conducting the business
until 1893, when he sold out. From 1894 until 1896 he was at Fort Collins and
then became canal superintendent at Montrose, Colorado, in which position he
continued for four years. Returning to Denver in 1900, he was chief clerk for
the assignee of the Colorado Savings Bank until 1902 and afterward filled the
office of deputy assessor until 1903. In the latter year he became fire
inspector of Denver, serving in that capacity until 1906, when he turned his
attention to the building business, in which line he was active until 1908.

That year witnessed the arrival of Mr. Johnson in Yakima and in 1909 he
purchased land on Naches Heights. He has since bought and sold over two hundred
and forty acres of fruit land on Naches Heights but did not improve the
property. He invested, however, in twenty acres of land for a home and has
planted it to apples and pears. His apple trees are set thirty-two feet apart
and three pear trees have been planted to each apple tree. He also has a cherry
orchard and his trees are in excellent bearing condition. They have never been
touched by frost and his is today one of the finest orchards of the valley,
known as the Council Crest orchard. Much of the time Mr. Johnson has lived in
Yakima but at a recent date has erected a commodious and beautiful bungalow upon
his ranch and is now occupying it. His wife is the owner of the Nob Hill
apartments in Yakima.

It was on the 28th of June, 1893, that Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to
Miss Annie Ellen Jones, who was born in Corwen, North Wales, a daughter of John
Prichard and Ann (Edwards) Jones, both of whom passed away before their
daughter was ten years of age. It was a cousin of Mrs. Johnson who established
the town of Wales, Wisconsin. At the age of fifteen Mrs. Johnson became a
resident of Minnesota, making her way to the home of friends there in 1888. In
1889 she became a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, and in December, 1890, arrived in
Denver, where she met Mr. Johnson, who sought her hand in marriage. They have
become the parents of three children. Manly M., a graduate of the Yakima high
school and the University of Washington at Seattle, is now connected with the
treasury department of the Seattle Hardware Company. Keplar Barth is a senior
student in the University of California at Berkeley, where he is pursuing a
course in architectural engineering. He was graduated from the Yakima high
school with valedictorian honors in 1914, having completed the four years'
course in three years. Martha E., a graduate of the Yakima high school in 1916,
pursued post-graduate work in 1917 and is now a student in the University of
Washington at Seattle.

The parents are members of the Christian Science church. Mr. Johnson gives his
political allegiance to the democratic party and is one of the active workers in
its ranks. Twice he has been the party's candidate for the office of county
assessor. Formerly he was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and with the Knights of Pythias but has not continued his connection with those
organizations. He has written many scientific articles upon engineering and
other questions and his literary work constitutes his recreation. He is a lover
of	the west -- a big, broad-minded man who loves the big opportunities of this
section of the country. Opportunity is ever to him a call to action -- a call to
which he has made ready response.

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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.