The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 622

WILLIAM F. McNATT.

William F. McNatt, owner of the Yakima Trout Farm and an expert in the science
of raising fish, has the largest private hatchery in the state and his place is
fast becoming famous. Mr. McNatt is one of the native sons of Washington who
throughout his life has been familiar with the state, its opportunities,
advantages and possibilities. He was born in King county, August 8, 1862, a son
of Francis and Ann (Burns) McNatt, the former a native of Knox county,
Tennessee, while the latter was born in Ireland. The father's birth occurred in
1820 and he was of Scotch parentage. In 1851 he crossed the plains to Oregon and
in 1852 made his way to the Puget Sound country, settling on the present site of
Seattle. He was employed in timber woods for a few years and afterward took up
government land, which he cleared and improved, his property being now included
within the corporation limits of Seattle, and of the old home property William
F. McNatt and his brother still own forty acres in the suburbs of that city,
where the father continued to make his home until his death, which occurred in
1903. His wife had passed away the previous year. She had made her way to the
Puget Sound country with a brother in 1860, traveling around Cape Horn from New
York. Not long after her arrival in the northwest Francis McNatt sought and won
her hand in marriage and they became the parents of three children: :Mary Ann,
who died at the age of twenty-two years; William F.: and Robert N., now living
in Calgary. Canada.

William F. McNatt can remember when there were only three or four families in
Seattle and in fact he has witnessed the greater part of the settlement, growth
and development of the state, being among the oldest of its native sons. He
acquired a public school education, supplemented by two years' study in the
University of Washington. In young manhood he followed farming in connection
with his father and afterward devoted a few years to the sawmill and lumber
business. Subsequently he became manager of the Meadow Brook ranch, east of
Seattle, being in charge there for three years, and in 1903 he removed to Yakima
county, where he cultivated six hundred and forty acres of land on the Yakima
Indian reservation for nine years. On the expiration of that period he retired
from business life, but indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to his nature
and after four years, or in 1914, he bought twelve acres in the Lower Naches and
developed the Yakima Trout Farm, which produces about four million trout for
distribution in the streams of Yakima, King and Lincoln counties. He planted one
million two hundred and fifty thousand trout for Yakima county in 1918. He also
raises four hundred thousand trout for table use for the leading hotels and
residents in Seattle and other cities. He is developing and enlarging this
business constantly. He uses spring water for the fish which he keeps at an
average temperature of fifty-four degrees. He has built large cement tanks and
is conducting the business along the most modern scientific methods, having made
a careful study of everything connected with fish hatching and raising. There
are only three private fish hatcheries in Washington and that of Mr. McNatt is
the largest. Because of the high standards which he maintains in connection with
every phase of the business he produces fish of the highest grade and the place
is fast becoming known throughout the country. Mr. McNatt has built a beautiful
home upon his ranch and has planted a five-acre orchard to English walnuts. He
first visited the Yakima valley in 1882, before a railroad had been built to the
district, helping to drive cattle across the country at that time. His present
ranch was first taken up as a tract of government land in the '50s by John
Nelson because of the fine springs upon the place. It is Mr. McNatt's plan to
develop a fine park and amusement grounds, with public fishing grounds, a charge
being made for the fishing privilege. In the execution of his plans he will
develop one of the finest places of the kind in the world.

On the 12th of July, 1890, Mr. McNatt was united in marriage to Miss Ida M.
Dewey, a native of Indiana, who came to Washington in 1889, settling in Seattle,
where their marriage was celebrated. In politics Mr. McNatt is an independent
republican, for while he usually supports the principles of the party, he does
not hesitate to cast an independent ballot if his judgment so dictates. He is a
splendid type of the western pioneer-the man of courageous spirit who recognizes
the opportunities of the west and does not hesitate to take a forward step when
the way is open. There is no phase of Washington's development and upbuilding
with which he is not familiar. He has witnessed its growth from early pioneer
times and yet when one sees the great and growing cities of Washington, it seems
hardly possible that all this has occurred within the memory of any man who is
now living. In Mr. McNatt's early boyhood, however, Seattle was but a tiny
hamlet of a few homes, while the surrounding forests stood in their primeval
Strength. His fortunes have increased with the growth and development of the
country and the utilization of his opportunities has placed hire in the front
rank among the honored and typically representative men of the west.

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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.