The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Paved Or Unpaved, Area Roads Have Always Been A Joy To Explore

I was going through some old Waitsburg

Times, dated March 13, 1885, in a letter to the editor:

"Last Saturday, it was so delightfully pleasant to "take a drive --- We, accompanied by Mrs. Times, made a brief visit to the beautiful little city of Prescott. We found the roads in apple pie order, and the town of Prescott showing abundant evidence of animation, owing to the excellent farming weather, but 'few tillers of the soil were in town; still evidences of thrift were manifest in all directions and we

. heard but little kicking

Messrs Rowan and Fisher are still in the field with a large and selected stock of goods to which they are daily adding.

I read the ad in the Waitsburg Times "Full and complete stock of "Groceries, Provisions, Dry Goods, etc."

I was interested to learn the condition of the roads during that time. They were not paved -dusty -used by horses pulling buggies or other horse-drawn vehicles.

I also read in the Waitsburg Times: In those days, they managed to keep the dust down on the streets around Waitsburg, periodically. Main Street wasn't paved until 1911.

On October 26 of 1922, the paved Highway to the city opened. In 1923, Preston Avenue was paved.

According to Waitsburgs' John White's account in the Waitsburg Times, June 30, 1905: "Mr. F.T. Keiser of the city, who owns a fine farm in Spring Valley and a home here in town, has the honor of owning the first auto in Waitsburg. Mr. Keiser purchased a handsome "Queen Detachable Towncar Auto" from W.A. Hunt of Walla Walla of the Cash Cycle Co." Between 1905 to 1910, about 10 new autos appeared in Waitsburg.

I had to remind myself that the trip to Prescott in 1885 was taken over dirt roads. Waitsburg was Washington Territory then and the Prescott trip was beautiful - and still is at different seasons of the year.