Historiography – The following is a sampling of statements made at the time of the fighting or by later historians (even a novelist). You make the call.
1. Governor Stevens, following his return from east of the mountains, stated:
Fellow citizens! War has existed for three months, and still exists. A war entered into by these Indians, [...]

(Rainier and later Yelm, WA)
In 1917 Martin J. Gruber (1877-1956) and Benjamin J. Docherty (1885-1926) built a lumber mill just south of the present (1999) town of Rainier WA.
Gruber, born in Oshkosh, WI had come west with his family in 1890. His father had built a store in Winlock WA and after some college, Gruber [...]

Three times disastrous fires have taken a toll of Yelm’s commercial center.
In March 1908, fire started in the hotel kept by Will Waddell, now of Rainier. The hotel was situated where the bakery now stands. Many will remember that this fire was started when some clothes drying upstairs fell onto an over-heated stove pipe. It [...]

Thriving Little City Is Set in heart of Rich Dairy Industry
Stock Raisers Profit
Lumber Production Also Aids to Activity of Established Community in Good Hunting Region
The Daily Ledger July 17, 1910
Yelm, July 16 – Freight cars today hide a part of Yelm from the view of passengers of trains on the Northern Pacific tracks, which run [...]

 
At Long Last, Yelm Gets Its Ditch – Each Property Owner Did His Bit
By Prescott, Edgar. Nisqually Valley News, Janaury 26, 1989
After fumbling through a drawer in his desk, James Mosman handed me a sheaf of papers. “I have written a report of the construction of the irrigation canal,” he said. “I’m the only remaining [...]

The remoteness of a town like Yelm caused a need for the women to socialize with each other. The harsh lifestyle that they had to endure was too much without some kind of diversion from their work. Clubs provided the women in Yelm with a channel through which they could accomplish both these things.

Women desired [...]

By Edgar Prescott (The Sunday Olympian February 10, 1980)
The night of Dec. 29, 1979, the former Yelm Community Church was destroyed by fire. The Yelm Fire Department received the first call, the Nisqually Valley News reported, at 10:55 p.m. when flames broke through the roof of the ancient wooden structure which was constructed early in [...]

The Daily Olympian January 12, 1949
This is the final article of a series about Yelm and its residents which was prepared by a Daily Olympian reporter. The articles are designed to acquaint residents of Southwest Washington with the activities of a progressive community.
By Bill Fox
This is the story about a self-styled “one-legged cop.” His name [...]

*Estimated

Year
Area in Berries Acres
Production in Pounds
Price per Lb. Cents
Returns

1927
280
300,000
8.5
$25,500

1928
339
500,000
7
$35,000

1929
458
800,000
8
$64,000

1930
650
700,000
8.5 (5)
$59,500
($35,000)

1931
870
1,000,000*
7* (3)
$70,000*
($30,000)

This is the first of a series of entertaining and informative articles about the prosperous and progressive city of Yelm, located on a fertile prairie 22 miles from Olympia. The stories were written by an Olympian reporter who visited Yelm several times to obtain pertinent information about the steadily growing community.
By Bill Fox The Olympian. [...]