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Home My WebLink About2024 Issue 5 - Longacres Will Be A War Casualty.pdf10 LATEST RESEARCH UPDATE: THE LOOP HOLIDAY LIGHTS MUSEUM REPORT The United States’ entry into the Second World War changed daily life dramatically for Americans on the home front. Social life and entertainment took a backseat to war work, fundraising, and victory gardening. Everyday items and travel were limited by rationing, and workers were encouraged to spend their disposable incomes on war bonds instead of leisure activities. It’s hardly any wonder that one of Renton’s favorite pastimes, horse racing at Longacres, was affected as well. In this article, we follow the journey of the racing industry throughout the course of World War II. It’s part of an ongoing research project about Longacres that will include an online exhibit coming to web browsers in spring 2025. Longacres first opened its gates to the public in 1933. In the following years, it became a popular spot for spectators to make wagers and socialize and for breeders and trainers throughout the Western racing circuit to live out their Also In This Issue... Continued on page 5 2 2 3 RENTON HISTORICALSOCIETY & MUSEUM Winter December 2024 Volume 55 Number 8QUARTERLY “LONGACRES TRACK WILL BE A WAR CASUALTY”: “LONGACRES TRACK WILL BE A WAR CASUALTY”: RENTON’S RACING INDUSTRRENTON’S RACING INDUSTRYY, , 1942 - 19441942 - 1944 By Stephanie Snyder 2 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM MARIO TONDA (1926 – 2024) Mario and his two brothers, Victor and Ernie, were important keepers of Renton’s Italian history for many years. Their parents, Henry and Carolina Tonda, immigrated from Italy in the 1910s, living first in a series of King County mining towns—Newcastle, Franklin, and Black Diamond—before settling on Renton Hill in 1923. Their three sons graduated from Renton High and stayed on Renton Hill throughout much of their adult lives: Victor working as an auto mechanic, Ernie as a captain in the Renton Fire Department, and Mario as a banker. Mario served in the Navy during WWII, and served twice as commander of Renton’s VFW Post #19. He passed away on October 29, 2024, the last of the Tonda brothers. UPDATE: THE LOOP Volunteer Researcher Don Hunsaker III, Museum Director Elizabeth Stewart, and the Oral History team are continuing to compile the checkered history of the Renton Loop, the city’s midcentury teen cruising circuit in downtown Renton. In October Liz gave a talk at a Renton Rotary meeting that uncovered some new leads, and oral history team leader Eleanor Boba sat down with retired City Attorney Larry Warren to learn about his involvement. After business- owners got fed up with the weekend activity, Warren was asked to find a way to curb the cars. His office studied ordinances from other cities, until, in his words, “we finally got down to having a couple of cops out there with their cars, with a computer screen and taking down license numbers.” Do you have objects or photos relating to the Loop? Have a story to share? Please call 425-430-6640 or email rentonhistorymuseum@ rentonwa.gov to share. HOLIDAY LIGHTS The Museum’s Deodar cedar tree will be lit with holiday lights this year for the first time in the City’s history. Planted by the Fire Department sometime in the 1950s (we think), this tree will now carry on the neighborhood tradition started by Dr. Adolph Bronson, whose brilliantly decorated trees at his home on Main Ave. S. were legendary. You can learn more about the City’s historic trees on this Urban Forestry walking tour: http://bit.ly/3V6knhw. MUSEUM REPORT QUARTERLYWINTER 2024 As we reach the end of a tumultuous year, history both reassures us and points us toward work still to be done. The nation’s 250th anniversary is coming up in 2026, and we’ve been thinking a lot about how national politics and government has shaped our local landscape. In September 2017 we published a story about American-born women who lost their citizenship when marrying non-naturalized immigrant men, thanks to an ill-conceived federal law. We showed how federal expansion of rights to women and people of color created more opportunities for athletes in our city (Sept. 2020). We analyzed a water rights lawsuit between Ignazio Sartori and the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Co. in which the state Superior Court tried to tame the tumultuous Cedar River (Dec. 2021). And most recently, we shared the story of Renton’s role in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right of cities to regulate adult theaters through zoning (Sept. 2024). We hope that these histories, putting Renton in a national context, stand as a reminder that the values our country was founded on—a striving toward equality under the law, voting and civil rights, the right of the people to free speech and to petition the government, and more—have stood the test of almost 250 years. Sometimes change is frustratingly slow and sometimes the decisions of courts or Congress or the President go against our wishes. But we have a role to play in holding ourselves and others to a higher standard, by becoming informed citizens and exercising respectful opposition where it is needed. When Eula Bensinger, Maggie Storey, and Mahala Trimm stood up in front of Renton City Council in 1918 to demand that councilmembers enforce Prohibition restrictions, they were on the wrong side of history, but the right side of the law. That’s how our system works. One of the most important functions your local history museum can serve is to connect Renton history to the larger history of the state, the region, the nation, and the world. What is unique about Renton, and how does it embody national values? What did Rentonites think and what did they do, during WWI, the Depression, WWII, and other major events? Objects and photos help us document life in our community, but without research, understanding, and analysis, they are lifeless. We hope that the stories we share, in our newsletters, on Facebook, on Instagram, and in talks out in the community, are valuable to you. We hope they provide you a new perspective on our community, and help make you better at whatever you do in the world. by Elizabeth P. Stewart, Ph.D. Museum Director RENTON HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Pritchard Design Graphic Design & Layout Karl Hurst City of Renton Print & Mail Services MUSEUM STAFF Elizabeth P. Stewart Museum Director Stephanie Snyder Museum Office Aide RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM 235 MILL AVENUE S RENTON, WA 98057 P (425) 430-6440 F (425) 255-1570 E rentonhistorymuseum @rentonwa.gov HOURS: Tuesday - Saturday 10:00am - 4:00pm ADMISSION: $5 (Adult) $2 (Child) Members always FREE Elizabeth P. Stewart Director Cover photo: Longacres parking lot in the 1940s. The Office of Price Administration set gasoline rations during the war, and most civilians had “A” stickers, which allotted them four gallons per week. According to Robert Mahafay’s report on Opening Day 1944, most of the parked cars had “A” stickers. Cars with “B” and “C” stickers were allowed up to 8 gallons a week for essential travel, but the OPA had the right to revoke them if they were used too much for leisure activities like horse racing. (#41.0304) Longacres Racetrack on the last day of racing, Sept. 25, 1992. Renton’s status as the home of Boeing’s WWII plane production has given the city an outsize role in American history. (#2006.037.11914) WINTER QUARTERLY, 2024 | 3 4 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM throughout Washington that the U.S. Army was considering Longacres as a transport facility for people of Japanese descent who were incarcerated under Executive Order 9066.2 There would be nothing even someone as rich and powerful as Gottstein could do if the Army demanded use of his property. In interviews, Gottstein acquiesced that the war effort would take precedent over his plans for reopening as usual for the summer, but it was clear he had mixed feelings: “I can’t help being disappointed if there is to be no season. I’ve spent quite a little money improving the grounds and getting ready to open. But I don’t think that’s important. Anything they do is fine as far as I’m concerned.”3 Ultimately, another site in Renton was chosen as a transport facility for the detainees. People of Japanese descent were required to report to the Lonely Acres Skating Rink at Renton Junction on May 7, 1942.4 This meant that Longacres was not immediately affected and could continue operations as scheduled. Concerns persisted about the viability of opening the track when gasoline rationing and war work were still ongoing, however. Alex Shults of the Seattle Daily Times commented on the state of transportation, accurately foreseeing some of the challenges the track would run into in the coming years: “Because of the war, the future of all spots is a bit uncertain, but the Black River oval, where the gee-gees go ‘round and ‘round, is the most distant of all Seattle sports arenas—mileage is quite an item these days on constantly wearing tires, and the automobile is the only means of direct transportation to the track—and the community trend is towards evening sports, rather than daytime attractions, because of the rush of war work.” He cited Gottstein’s persistence as the reason the track kept going despite the odds.5 Still, opening day 1942 was just as highly anticipated as usual, if not more so. Virginia Boren, writing for the Seattle Times society section, summed up the mood among racing enthusiasts: “You’ve looked forward to it. You’ve planned for it. You’ve kept your fingers crossed, so fearful that something might happen that would see Longacres idle this summer. Now, you’re right out there with the horses at the starting gate. […] Longacres is ready, with the clubhouse passion for working with thoroughbreds. The proprietor of the track, Joseph Gottstein, was just as passionate. A horse owner and enthusiast since boyhood, the Seattle real estate mogul had been personally involved in lobbying to legalize parimutuel wagering and horse racing in Washington state since 1922. He was also the head of the Washington Jockey Club. Gottstein was known for his thunderous temper as much as his ability to listen and ask for advice; he was a man who “ruled Washington’s racing with an iron fist—and a soft heart.” His reasons for having the track built were personal as much as financial: “I built this track so I would have a place to run my horses,” he once told Seattle Daily Times. “Is there anything wrong with a man eating in his own restaurant?”1 Eight years after Longacres was built, the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 launched the U.S. into war with Japan and its allies. By early 1942, speculation about the future of racing at Longacres was already brewing in Seattle papers. In February, the Seattle Daily Times predicted a positive outlook for a 1942 racing season, but by early April, those predictions had changed. Rumors circulated A July 12, 1945 photo taken at the winner’s circle. Note the “Speed the Victory” sign near the tote board; this picture was taken nearly two months before the war in the Pacific was declared over. (#1979.007.1636) Continued from page 1 WINTER QUARTERLY, 2024 | 5 Continued on page 6 looking spick and span and silvery.”6 Visitors to the track were greeted by perfect weather and enthusiastic crowds in the grandstand. The Gottsteins and their associates held a lunch party in the clubhouse. Golden Nugget, the “longest longshot,” owned by a Mrs. E. S. Barbour, won the tenth annual inaugural handicap that day by a full length.7 Newspapers filled their society columns that weekend with photos of women with their horses, as well as socialites in the clubhouse dressed in their Sunday best. Even before Renton’s young men were called away to battle, women played an active part in Longacres’ culture as horse owners and trainers, and used the track as a place to host gatherings with friends and civic organizations. But the changes brought about by the war meant that they would perform these roles in expanded capacities. Women also quickly got to work on committees organizing charity fundraising events to be held at the track. Boren wrote that “In previous seasons there have been a few women trainers, some women owners, and a lot of women fans. But this season at Longacres, the women will be decidedly in the picture.”8 Three fundraisers in total were held at Longacres in 1942: American Red Cross Day on July 9, Navy Relief Day on July 23, and Army Relief Day on August 20. Gottstein donated all profits on those three days to their respective charities, while workers donated their daily salaries and winning purses were given to the cause. Red Cross Day raised $7,252, and Red Cross fundraising chair Mabel Hall Weidener reported to Seattle Star that “It looked like a beautiful day and a big success.”9 This success was surpassed many times over during the charity days for the armed forces. “Believe me, I was ready to go down in a submarine, polish the brass rail, swab the decks of the biggest battleship, and ‘make way for a sailor,’ […] Every one from the society matrons to the high-stepping horses were out to do their bit and their best for the Navy!” Boren wrote of the Navy Day fundraiser, ever enthusiastic about her causes. According to her report, sailors rode ponies in the first race of the day, Gottstein wore a “million dollar smile,” because the Navy Relief Fund would be getting a “big take,” and a record-breaking 4,000 people showed up for the cause. Navy Day raised $75,000, and Army Day saw even greater success, raising $87,949.10 Perhaps the enthusiasm for these fundraisers can be attributed to the number of families who were waiting for someone in the service to come home. Despite a successful season and the philanthropic efforts of many, the threat of closure still loomed. In August, Washington Governor Art Langlie held a conference in Olympia with track officials and representatives from the U.S. Army. Langlie recommended that Gottstein shut the track down, but Gottstein refused to do so unless it was under official orders: “My legal advisers tell me that if I closed without being so directed by some authority there would be people suing me all over town. If the state wants to close me—then let them do it,” he said.11 Tensions between Gottstein and the Governor seemed to be mounting. “The main question the betting boys are asking each other right now is: Who do you like in this newest match race at Longacres—Joe Gottstein or Art Langlie?” sports columnist Sandy McDonald asked. He polled several colleagues around the state about who they thought was right, with mixed results. Some argued that racing was nonessential, while others thought Gottstein should at least be able to operate the track until he broke even. Walla Walla sports editor John Haigh remarked that while he agreed the track should be allowed to stay open, Gottstein “didn’t do himself any favors by popping off at Governor Langlie.”12 Spectators in front of the grandstand at Longacres, 1944. A few members of armed services can be spotted in the crowd. (# 1981.007.1644) 6 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM The editor of the local paper, Dan McGovern of the Renton Chronicle, was very seldom concerned with racing at all. He was even less interested in racing during wartime, when the Chronicle was mainly dominated by calls for scrap drives and conservation, rationing updates, victory gardening contests, ads for war bonds, and unflattering caricatures of the Axis Powers. But even the usually taciturn McGovern weighed in on the situation: “I am not a race track fan and have no interest whatsoever in the Longacres race track, but I feel that the season should be allowed to go on to its scheduled finish at Labor Day, instead of ending now, as suggested by the governor. […] Several hundred men and women have their economic stake out there at the Longacres plant and I maintain that they’re entitled to be allowed to play out the string.”13 The 1942 season finished as originally planned, but the possibility for a 1943 season was still in question. Rubber shortages and gas rationing resulted in state and county fairs being shut down across the nation, though racing continued in Florida, California, and Kentucky. But in February 1943, when California horse commissioner Edwin J. Brown was asked to weigh in on Longacres’ future season, he reported, “If present restrictions on pleasure driving of automobiles are continued, and there is every prospect that they will be, I see little chance for Longacres to operate.” Though Gottstein had yet to comment, columnist George Varnell took Brown’s prediction to mean that Longacres would be a “war casualty” in 1943.14 On April 14, the Washington Jockey Club formally requested a 50-day racing season for Longacres in 1943 from the Washington State Racing Commission. Gottstein’s pitch included the same charity events and a promise that 10% of the employees’ wages would be paid in war bonds and stamps. The Racing Commission delayed making a decision on what course of action would better support the war effort. On April 28, the Washington Breeders Association met to discuss ways to ask the Racing Commission to take action, as the breeders would lose money the longer the decision was delayed. “We feel sure we are being let down badly,” said Glenn Granger, the Breeders Association president.15 The answer finally came in May. The front page of the Seattle Times declared “NO RACING AT LONGACRES!” on May 8, 1943, reflecting the State Commission’s decision. “The Washington Jockey Club can make its greatest contribution to the war effort by remaining closed,” a letter from the Commission explained. But neither the Washington Jockey Club nor the Breeders Association were willing to simply take “no” for an answer. The Breeders association formed a five-man committee to speak with Gov. Langlie just four days later, pointing out that the Commission was missing a member when the decision was made, and required a breeder to be on the panel. In response, Langlie appointed one W. Wisdom of Camas. Meanwhile, Gottstein worked to formulate an offer to run the season “for free,” turning all profits over to the Veterans of Foreign Longacres proprietor and Washington Jockey Club president Joe Gottstein as he appeared in Seattle Times, 1942. He was born in born in 1891 and joined his father’s real estate business when he came of age. Together with business partner William Edris, he brought a number of other sports to Seattle, including wrestling and hockey. (Seattle Times, 16 Aug. 1942.) After the season opened in 1942, ads like this one for Longacres ran in the Renton Chronicle. Racing was seldom mentioned in the Chronicle otherwise during wartime, with the exception of special events like rodeos. WINTER QUARTERLY, 2024 | 7 Continued on page 8 Wars. A rehearing with the State Racing Commission was scheduled for late in the month, and an open meeting was held with the State Racing Commission in June, where it heard pleas from horse breeders and owners.16 Even after additional consideration, the State Commissioners remained unanimous that Longacres should stay closed because of “the adverse effect it would have on the war effort, namely, by placing a large additional load on transportation and housing facilities which already are over-burdened to meet the requirements of war workers, and because the thousand or more employees the track would require could best serve the war effort in more essential activities.”17 The Commission also stated that the altered proposals for the season still did not adequately address these issues, because the charity output would not be equal to the lost labor needed to create the two essential types of war machines.18 (They were referring to Renton’s major war exports at the time—tanks made by Pacific Car and Foundry and airplanes made by Boeing.) In response to the Commission’s final decision, Gottstein lamented “my only regret is that the Washington Jockey Club is denied the privilege of raising at least one quarter-million dollars to assist, through the Veterans of Foreign Wars, in rehabilitating our state’s returning soldiers, sailors, and mariners.”19 In August, there was one more attempt to overturn the decision. The VFW requested racing dates in September for charity, but the Governor turned them down, once again stating that vehicles such as buses were needed to transport workers to the Boeing plant and should not be used on horse races.20 There may have been other reasons for refusing to hold races at the track that were not then publicly known. From much later reports, we know that Longacres was the site of a military barracks built behind the tote board in 1943 for men who staffed an anti-aircraft battery—a structure Joe Gottstein and his wife Luella would later convert to a summer cottage once the war was over.21 Renton and Seattle’s racing professionals finally gave up the idea of a 1943 season and turned their efforts toward petitioning for a longer season in 1944 instead. In September, Gottstein informed the Breeder’s Association that the Washington Jockey Club would propose a double length racing season, with 45 regular racing days and 30 additional days that would be held as benefits for the VFW. He also announced three new stakes races would be held.22 In February 1944, the State Commission granted Longacres a 51-day meet. This was shorter than the initial ask, but it was still enough days to run a respectable season. “Now many members of the horse-breeding fraternity, some of whom were admittedly ready to ‘throw in the sponge,’ will breed mares. They wouldn’t have otherwise,” Chick Garrett of the Seattle Star reported. Joe Gottstein was similarly pleased at the news. The decision to reopen was reportedly based on the Commission’s discussions with local war industry leadership as well as officials from the armed forces.23 There were still challenges ahead for Longacres. In March, Seattle war plant owners expressed anxiety that the track would cause absenteeism in workers. They joined with the Washington Council of Churches in protesting the reopening. The Council of Churches’ resolution argued that Longacres would attract “gambling, prostitution, and social diseases” and cause an “inexcusable and unjustified waste of valued war materials, such as gasoline.” In April, gas rations were reduced, and “B” and “C” ration sticker holders who planned to use their limited supply to attend races were scrutinized by their neighbors. Just two weeks before the season was set to open, an intoxicated stable manager set fire to a barn, killing the four horses inside. But nothing could stop the trumpets from sounding or the horses from running: Longacres reopened to the public on June 24, 1944.24 The mood on the first racing day of 1944 was reportedly a bit subdued, with no war workers present. Fifty- six Renton residents were given horse-and-buggy rides to the track in a show of conservation, but most still arrived in their automobiles. “After a year of racing abstinence, the spectators This horse and buggy picked up Rentonites and brought them to Longacres during the 1944 season. It was more of a publicity stunt than a viable substitute for travel by automobile. (Seattle Times, 25 June 1944.) 8 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM were slow to get into the customary shrieking mood, although screams came more freely when horses rounded into the home stretch,” Robert Mahaffay reported. Despite the slow start and 10,000 fewer people in attendance overall compared to 1942, the season saw record profits for Longacres and raised $111,130 for the VFW and other charities. It also left 73 racing professionals stranded, without gas rations to move on at the end of the season—it is unclear how they got home.25 By the time Longacres reopened in June 1944, the invasion of Normandy was well underway, turning the tide in the Allies’ favor. But the war would not be officially declared over until September of 1945—Longacres would have to endure another season of war. After the 1944 season ended, there were once again rumors that Longacres might face closure—but it never did.26 The track remained open, season after season, until it closed its gates for good in 1992. A Historic American Buildings Survey photo taken in 1993 of the Gottstein cottage, which was converted from the barracks that were built in 1943. Mrs. Gottstein reported to Seattle Times that her original decision to use white carpeting inside was a mistake. She later had them changed to “mud color.” Courtesy of the National Archives. (Courtesy of Library of Congress HABS Collection.) This photo was published in The Seattle Star as part of the highlights from the 1942 Red Cross fundraiser. During the Second World War, the American Red Cross had 7.5 million volunteers, which included more than 104,000 nurses, and raised $784 million in funds. (Seattle Star, 10 July 1942) WINTER QUARTERLY, 2024 | 9 ENDNOTES 1 Bob Schwarzman, “Joe Gottstein: Even the Rain Wouldn’t Dare Fall,” Seattle Times, 2 January 1971, p. 16. 2 Executive Order 9066 was signed and issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. It authorized the forced removal and relocation of anyone deemed a threat to national security, especially targeting Japanese immigrants and American citizens of Japanese descent. The latter made up over two- thirds of the 125,000 displaced people who gave up their homes and livelihoods, spending the next two years in internment camps. Renton’s local paper, the Renton Chronicle, supported the President’s decision, and throughout 1942 the Chronicle was full of disparaging remarks about the alleged treachery of the Japanese who lived in Washington, even going so far as to publish a poem urging people of Japanese descent to “get back in that kimona [sic]” and go back to Japan on May 24. Despite popular opinion and widespread distrust, no Japanese-American citizen or Japanese national residing in the United States was ever found guilty of sabotage or espionage. Executive Order 9066 was officially reversed by President Jimmy Carter in 1976. The U.S. government issued letters of apology and redress payments to affected Japanese American families in 1988. 3 “Wartime Racing Outlook Good,’ Seattle Daily Times, 20 February 1942, p. 22; “Longacres Track May Be Used as Assembly Center for Japanese,” Bellingham Herald, 2 April 1942; “Army’s Wishes Are O.K., Says Joe Gottstein,” Seattle Daily Times, 2 April 1942, p. 38; “Longacres To House Evacuees,” Seattle Daily Times, 2 April 1942, p. 20. 4 Civilian Exclusion Order No. 39. Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, 5 May 1942. 5 Alex Shults, “From The Scorebook: For Better or for Worse, Longacres Starts Season,” Seattle Daily Times, 27 June 1942, p. 8. “Gee-gees” is British slang for racehorses. 6 Virginia Boren, “Longacres, Morale Lifter, Will Run Out Blues,” Seattle Daily Times, 21 June 1942, p. 27, 29. 7 “Gay Throng Sees Longacres Opener,” Seattle Star, 29 June 1942, p. 8; “Longshots Are Upset Victors,” Columbian, 29 June 1942. 8 Ibid. Boren, “Longacres, Morale Lifter.” 9 “Longacres Red Cross Day A Big Success,” Seattle Star, 10 July 1942 p. 8; Seattle Star, 11 July 1942, p.1; “Red Cross Gets $7,252,” Seattle Daily Times, 19 July 1942. 10 Boren, “Represents Landlubbers at Races; Navy Day at Longacres is ‘Wow’,” Seattle Daily Times, 24 July 1942, p. 11; "Longacres Army Fund is $87,949." Spokane Chronicle, 10 September, p. 11. 11 “Says Longacres Cannot Close Up Except on Orders,” Seattle Star, 8 August 1942. 12 Sandy McDonald, “Sandy’s Slants: Who Will Win the Big Race? New Experts Called,” Seattle Daily Times, 16 August 1942 p. 5. 13 Dan McGovern, “After Thinking It Over,” Renton Chronicle, 6 August 1942, p.1. 14 “Gambling As Usual,” News Tribune, 12 February 1943, p. 16; George Varnell, “George M. Varnell Says,” Seattle Daily Times, 14 February 1943, p. 6. 15 “Longacres Asks 50-Day Race Season,” Kitsap Sun, 14 April 1943 p. 5; “Longacres Racing Action Sought,” Spokane Chronicle, 28 April 1943 p. 15. 16 “No Racing at Longacres,” Seattle Times, 8 May 1943, p.1; “Racing Banned at Longacres,” Spokesman Review, 9 May 1943, p. 23; “Breeders Still Seek Longacres Meeting,” Spokane Chronicle, 12 May 12, p.11; “Race Commission Will Hear Longacres Again,” Spokesman Review, 25 May 1943 p. 13; Jack Fraser, “Horsemen Saddened as Board Says ‘No,’” Seattle Daily Times, 10 June 10, p.29. 17 Jack Fraser, “Racing Would Hurt War Work, Officials Hold,” Seattle Daily Times, 9 June 1943. 18 Ibid. 19 Dan Walton, “Sports Log,” News Tribune, 11 June 1943 p. 24. 20 “Langlie Refuses Longacres Races,” Spokane Chronicle, 25 August 1943 p. 11. 21 “Gottstein Summer Home Ex-Barracks,” Seattle Daily Times, 11 August 31, p. 22. 22 “Double Racing Season Wanted for Longacres,” News Tribune, 14 September 1943 p. 17; “Longacres Will Ask More Time,” Spokesman Review, 13 September 1943, p.10. 23 Chick Garrett, “51-Day Longacres Meet OK’d by Racing Tribunal,” Seattle Star, 24 February 1944 p. 14. 24 “War Plants Fear Longacres Will Keep Workers Off Jobs,” Seattle Daily Times, 17 March 1944 p. 1. “Northwest Sports Brief,” Columbian, 15 March 1944; “Gasoline and Racing,” News Tribune, 3 March 1944, p.8; “Ex-Jockey Held in Longacres Fire,” Seattle Daily Times, 8 June 1944, p.2; Robert Mahaffy, ”Longacres Opens, Bettors Timid,” Seattle Daily Times, 25 June 1944, p.2. 25 Mahaffy, ”Longacres Opens”; “Horse Racing Swells Treasury of State,” Spokesman Review, 15 December 1944, p. 14 “Longacres Raised $111,130 for War Relief,” Seattle Star, 11 December 1944, p.12; “73 Racing Men Refused ‘Gas’ To Move On,” Seattle Daily Times, 29 August 1944, p. 3. 26 “Racing to Bow to Government,” Spokesman Review, 24 December 1944; “Important Dates in Longacres’ History,” Leaflet distributed with Longacres press kit, c. 1987-92, states that 1943 was the only “dark year” in the track’s history; it reopened in 1944 and remained so. It also makes note that the Gottsteins’ cottage was still standing as of the 1980s, over a decade after Joe’s passing. ACKNOWLEDGING GENEROUS DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM FROM… IN MEMORY OF… Renton High School Class of 1957 Renton High School Class of 1964 Laurie McKenna Mario Tonda Bill Collins Ron Clymer Sharon Clymer, Joy Latimer, and Mark Clymer William John "Billy" Belmondo Jim Belmondo 10 | RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM Renton History Museum 235 Mill Avenue South Renton, WA 98057 Phone: 425.430.6440 Fax: 425.255.1570 www.rentonwa.gov/rentonhistorymuseum STAY ON OUR MAILING LIST Name: _________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Phone: _________________________________________________________ When doing research, you never know when a newly uncovered document will break a mystery wide open, even one about one of Renton’s earliest white settlers. In working on another topic, I ran across the 1892 will of Henry H. Tobin, founder of Renton’s first sawmill with partners Obadiah Eaton, Joseph Fanjoy, and R. M. Bigelow. The partners had completed the mill in early 1854, and Tobin died in 1856. The 1892 will made me wonder: Why was his will being probated 36 years after his death?1 Reading further on, I discovered that Tobin’s only asset in the estate was an “Indian Depredation Claim” of $8200. In 1891 Congress passed a special act (26 Stat. 851) authorizing the U.S. Court of Claims to investigate and settle claims by frontier settlers that Native Americans had stolen or destroyed their property. The claim system was Congress’s attempt to encourage peaceful interactions between local tribes and settlers by indemnifying whites against any damage caused by Native Americans. A settler with a grievance would reach out to the local “Indian agent,” who would contact the tribal members identified by the settler and ask for compensation. These claims often involved livestock, so if the stock were returned, all was well. If not, the settler could file a claim with the federal government, which would then reimburse the cost of the loss.2 By 1896, 10,841 claims had been filed, totaling $44 million (or $1.65 billion today).3 Settlers had been filing complaints with the federal government for damages since 1796; the 1891 special act established the process for settling these claims once and for all. Tobin had filed his claim shortly before his death in 1856, “arising out of destruction of sawmill dwelling house &c. of said Henry H. Tobin near Renton King County Washington, same having been burned by Indians.”4 The tribes identified included the Klickitat, Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Puyallup, and White River. On Nov. 30, 1883, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs recommended full payment of Tobin’s claim, yet it still had not been paid out by 1892.5 As time went on, people suspected that the Indian Depredations system was rife with fraud and corruption, and that knowledge may have attracted even more fraudsters. In Tobin’s case, Seattle merchants Charles Plummer and John A. Chase also filed a claim for $8200 in the loss of the sawmill, claiming that they were the victims in the case.6 The merchants attested that Tobin, Eaton, Fanjoy, and Bigelow owed a debt—perhaps for supplies, but that is unclear—that was never paid, and in April 1855 Plummer and Chase did receive a judgment against the mill-owners for $2617.98 from the U.S. District Court.7 In August 1855 Eaton and Fanjoy were reportedly killed on their way to a mine, and Plummer and Chase went so far as to successfully petition to administer their estates in January 1857, perhaps to ensure that they were the first debtors paid.8 In October 1857 Plummer and Chase and King County Sheriff ordered the sale of a portion of the Tobin property to settle the debt.9 But the burning of the mill and Tobin residence on the Black River occurred before the involvement of Plummer and Chase, and an 1889 letter from Diana Tobin Smithers in the files refuted their claim. “Plummer and Chase never run a mill near my husband’s place, so claim[ed],” she wrote. “My husband (H. H. Tobin), and I were living in Seattle because it was not safe to reside elsewhere on account of the Indian Plummer and Chase’s competing Indian Depredation Claim went back and forth between the federal government and the local Indian Agent numerous times between 1880 and 1893. (U.S. National Archives, Record Group 123.) LATEST RESEARCH: Henry H. Tobin and “Indian Depredations” By Elizabeth P. Stewart Ph.D. WINTER QUARTERLY, 2024 | 11 outbreak… Did not see the buildings after leaving the place… The timbers were hewn by my husband, his partners and hired men… They constructed the dam, and bought the machinery in San Francisco. Cost $8000.”10 In other words, Plummer and Chase had no investment in the destroyed property. The cover sheet for Plummer and Chase’s Indian Depredation Claim lists out the number of times the claim was reviewed at the federal level and returned to one Special Indian Agent or another for further investigation, twelve times from 1880 to 1893, stopping suddenly in July 1893. The fact that Tobin’s estate entered probate in November 1892 leads us to believe that Diana Tobin Smithers and her son Charles Tobin ended up as the recipients of Tobin’s original claim of $8200. The Tobins had lost their home and business to the conflict between whites and local tribes, and their land to debtors, but the federal government had at least, after 36 years, acknowledged the destruction of their property. Tragically, Henry Tobin’s son James, conceived with the Duwamish woman Eliza James before his legal wife Diana arrived from Maine, never shared in the Tobin estate.11 Henry H. Tobin’s land claim was one of the earliest in the Renton area; although the location of the mill and Tobin home are not indicated on any maps, they were situated very close to a traditional Duwamish village. (Detail, 1865 Cadastral map.) Diana Tobin Smithers’s son-in-law, Robert L. Thorne, was the attorney who handled the probate of her husband’s estate. (Collection of the Renton Historical Society, #1990.054.3166.) ENDNOTES 1 “Dwamish [sic] Falls Mills,” Pioneer and Democrat (Olympia), 11 February 1854, p.2. The first wagon road in King County was built in 1854 and was known as “Tobin’s Mill Road.” It started at Yesler’s mill in Seattle, ran southeast to the foot of Beacon Hill, and skirted the bottom of the hill to Tobin’s mill at the mouth of the Black River in what would become Renton. Curt Cunningham, “History of the Early Highways Leading into Seattle,” The Historic Pacific Highway; Seattle South 1854-1909, https://www.pacific-hwy.net/duwamish.htm, accessed 27 November 2024. 2 “Indian Depredation Claims, Records of the United States Court of Claims, Record Group 123,” National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/research/native- americans/court-of-claims#:~:text=Survey%E2%80%9D%20section).-,Depredation%20Claims,related%20to%20American%20Indian%20tribes, accessed 22 November 2024. 3 “Indian Depredation Claims,” Report No. 1133, Congressional Record, 84th Congress, 1st Session, 6 June 1896, p.5. Congress ended the program in 1920 after the last Indian depredation claim was processed. 4 “In the Matter of the Estate of Henry H. Tobin, Deceased,” Inventory & Appraisment [sic], Washington Wills and Probate Records, 28 November 1892; R. L. Thorne, Administrator of the Estate of Henry H. Tobin vs. United States and Klickitat, Muckelshoot [sic], Duwamish, Puyallup and White River Indians, Indian Depredation No. 9056, Court of Claims of the United States, 23 Jan 1893. 5 R. L. Thorne vs. U.S., Indian Depredation No. 9056, Court of Claims of the United States, 23 Jan 1893, Records of the United States Court of Claims, Record Group 123, National Archives. 6 Depredation Claim of Plummer & Chase, initiated February 1856, Records of the United States Court of Claims, Record Group 123, National Archives. Tobin’s original paperwork was lost somewhere in the federal system, and the Court’s response to Thorne’s 1892 submittal acknowledged as much. 7 “Sheriff’s Sale,” advertisement, Pioneer and Democrat (Olympia), 23 Oct. 1857, p.3. 8 Charles Plummer Petition for Letters of Administration on Fanjoy Estate, 19 Jan. 1857, Washington Wills and Probate Records; “Administrator’s Notice,” advertisement, Pioneer and Democrat (Olympia), 13 Feb. 1857, p.3. 9 “Sheriff’s Sale,” advertisement, Pioneer and Democrat (Olympia), 23 Oct. 1857, p.3; Abstract of Title to a Tract of Land in the Tobin Donation Claim No. 37 in Township 23 N. R. 5 E., 8 Dec. 1857 (Collection of the Renton Historical Society, #1994.025.002). 10 Diana B. Smithers to S. R. Flynn, Esq., 20 Feb. 1889, Depredation Claim of Plummer & Chase, initiated February 1856, Records of the United States Court of Claims, Record Group 123, U.S. National Archives. Tobin’s widow, Diana, had married Erasmus Smithers five months after Henry’s death. Diana and Erasmus had three other children together, and Diana’s son-in-law, lawyer Robert L. Thorne, handled the 1892 probate of Henry’s will. 11 “Native of State Dies,” The Olympian, 18 December 1927, p.1. RENTON HISTORY MUSEUM 235 Mill Ave. S Renton, WA 98057 Wishing you a warm and festive holiday season! (#2019.031.086)