A story of early Tahuya

The first settler of record in the Tahuya area was Enoch Willey, who acquired a claim in 1865. Willey sold his claim in 1875 and eventually settled at Oakland. Among the homesteaders who followed him was Rodney White, a Black man who filed a claim on 160 acres in March 1890.

White had a reputation for being a "good worker with a heart of gold," and had soon built a log house, a barn and a root cellar. He fashioned a hauling sled out of maple and used a team of oxen named Duke and Diamond, led by two burros named Baltimore and Babe, to pull it. White built the road from Tahuya to Dewatto using...