For the Iowa politician and lawyer, see Hiram Y. Smith

Hiram Y. Smith

Hiram Ypsilanti Smith was a nineteenth century Republican politician, lawyer and clerk from Iowa. For three months, he represented Iowa's 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, after winning election to serve out the term of John A. Kasson following Kasson's appointment...

.

For persons named Hyrum Smith, see Hyrum Smith (disambiguation)

Hyrum Smith (disambiguation)

Hyrum Smith may refer to:*Hyrum Smith , Latter Day Saint presiding patriarch and brother of movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr.*Hyrum G. Smith , presiding patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

.

Hiram F. "Okanogan" Smith (1829 – September 9, 1893) was one of the first American settlers in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

. Smith was born in Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 and learned the printer's trade, working on papers in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 and with Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...

 in New York. He came to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 during the 1849 Gold Rush, and remained there until the Terry

David S. Terry

David Smith Terry was a California politician, who killed United States Senator David C. Broderick in the Broderick – Terry duel in 1859. He was then killed in 1889 by a bodyguard of United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field.-Biography:Terry was born in Christian County, Kentucky...

-Broderick

David C. Broderick

David Colbreth Broderick was a Democratic U.S. Senator from California. He was a first cousin of Andrew Kennedy and Case Broderick.-Early life and education:...

 duel

Duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

, an affair he lamented deeply as an intimate of both parties. He then went to The Dalles

The Dalles, Oregon

The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...

 in Oregon, where he operated a pack train, and prospected gold in the Fraser River

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

 valley of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Unsuccessful in that venture, he located a claim on the east bank of Osoyoos Lake, near today's Oroville, Washington

Oroville, Washington

Oroville is a town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,686 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Oroville is located at ....

, in 1859, where he opened a trading post.
The post became an oasis in a wilderness for traders and travelling miners, and earned Smith a reputation for hospitality. He introduced vegetable farming and fruit orcharding to the region, and is remembered is a pioneer of Washington's apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

 industry. His fair dealings with the Indians won him their respect, and he was often consulted as an arbiter. According to Tonasket, a chief of the Okanogans

Okanagan people

The Okanagan people, also spelled Okanogan, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the U.S.-Canada boundary in Washington state and British Columbia...

, Smith was a better friend to the Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 than the government:

"the Government was always promising what it would do and never doing it, and the [government] agent was always telling the Indians what they must do, and did not know how to do it himself; and that if Smith promised them a thing, they got it; and if he told them how to do something, he showed them how to do it; also that Smith never lied to them, and the government did."

He married a woman named Mary, the daughter of a Similkameen chief. In 1865 he began a series of terms in the territorial, and later the state legislature

Washington State Legislature

The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bipartisan, bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators.The State Legislature...

s.
He may have averted a massacre in 1891 when the frenzied citizenry at the camps of Ruby and Conconully feared an imminent Indian attack. Before the people could arm themselves, Smith counseled, "The Okanogan Indians are peaceful. They have taken little stock in the Messiah craze, nor is it likely that they will join with the Canadian Indians."
He died in Olympia, Washington

Olympia, Washington

Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...

at the age of 62 of a cold and dysentery.

Source

• Briley, "Hiram F. Smith, First Settler of the Okanoogan," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 43:1952 http://www.ghosttownsusa.com/bttales11.htm