McDonaldj
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
JOHN McDONALD resides about five
miles east from Oroville on an estate of two hundred and forty acres.
He is one of the earliest settlers in the Okanogan region and is well known
throughout the entire section. At the present time, Mr. McDonald
devotes himself to general farming, raising stock, and mining. He
has met with good success in his endeavors and has accumulated a good property.
John McDonald was born, in Glengarry county,
Canada, on August 24, 1843, the son of John and Jennie (McArthur) McDonald,
natives of Scotland and Canada, respectively. The father was a shoemaker
and came to Canada when a child. He died in 1876, aged sixty.
The mother is still living at the old homestead, aged eighty-three.
Mr. McDonald contemplates a trip in the very near future to visit his aged
mother. He was educated in the public schools of Glengarry county,
and there remained until 1871, when he came to Wisconsin. Four years
later he went thence to Nevada and California and mined in different camps.
In 1877, we find Mr. McDonald in the Fraser river region and soon he was
washing the gravel on the north fork of the Thompson river near Kamloops.
He was forced to endure much hardship and trying times in these mining
venures and in 1879, he came down to the Okanogan country. Few white
men were in the country and "Okanogan Smith," Al Thorps, Billy Granger,
and our subject were the full quota for a time. They mined and sought
game for food and packed other supplies from Walla Walla on cayuses.
Those days of canoe ferrys, swimming horses, and so forth were trying times
and a glimpse at them shows some of the hardships of frontier life.
Mr. McDonald came into the country with one horse, but now, owing to his
wisely bestowed labors and thrift, he is possessed of a goodly holding
of property. His farm is well improved and produces abundance of
general crops with much alfalfa and timothy for stock
In 1881, Mr. McDonald married an Indian maiden,
named Jennie, and they have pleasantly threaded the pilgrim way together
since and are now prosperous and substantial citizens.
Mr. McDonald was one of the locators of the
Six Eagles mines and is now one of the stockholders of this promising property.