The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 981 ROBERT H. KANDLE. Robert H. Kandle is now living retired in Yakima and among the residents of the city there is perhaps no one who has more intimate knowledge of pioneer life and conditions in this section of the county than he. Mr. Kandle is familiar with every phase of the early development of the region, where he has lived for almost a half century, having come in 1871. He was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1847, a son of Henry and Margaret (Hills) Kandle, who were pioneer people of that state, where the father devoted his life to farming. Both he and his wife have long since passed away. They crossed the plains in the year 1852, making their way to Olympia, Washington, after which they took up their abode on a ranch in Thurston county, where they lived until 1860. In that year they removed to Pierce county, Washington, where both the father and mother passed away. Robert H. Kandle was but live years of age when the family home was established on the Pacific coast and throughout the intervening period he has been an interested witness of the growth and development of the western country. On the 4th of March, 1871, he arrived in Yakima, crossing the Naches river with canoes. He and his party swam their horses across and took their wagons apart, loading them in the canoes and thus reaching the opposite bank. Mr. Kandle herded cattle over the Naches valley long before North Yakima was founded. All supplies were brought in from The Dalles, Oregon, by pack train and every condition of frontier life was here met. With his removal to this section of the state he took up government land in the Wenas valley, where he remained for three years. He then returned to Pierce county, Washington, where he resided until about 1899, when he again cattle to Yakima and purchased a ranch on the Wenas. This he devoted to the raising of hay and grain and continued his farming operations there until about 1908, when he retired from active business life and took up his abode in the city of Yakima, where he now makes his home. On the 5th of June, 1870, Mr. Kandle was married to Miss Talitha Longmire, a daughter of James and Verinda Longmire who crossed the plains in 1853 and settled in Thurston county, Washington, where their remaining days were passed. Mr. and Mrs. Kandle have had a family of nine children: James, who is living on his father's ranch; Walter, a resident of Pierce county. Washington; Maggie, the wife of Henry Anderson, living in Tacoma; Annie, the wife of J. N. Reynolds, formerly a rancher of Thurston county, now located on the Natches; Cora, the wife of William Anderson, who is farming on the Naches in Yakima county; Ella, the wife of Joseph T. Bruner, living in Yakima; Frank, a rancher on the Wenas; George, who is ranching on the Naches; and Flora, who died at the age of sixteen years. There is no phase of the development, settlement and upbuilding of this section of the state with which Robert H. Kandle is not familiar and as a ranchman he contributed to its agricultural progress. He can relate many interesting incidents of the early days and the pioneer conditions that then existed, his story presenting a clear picture of life in the Yakima Valley almost a half century ago. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.