By Eula Stout

Mention of the Chillowist Trail has a romantic, pioneer allusion because of the prominence given it in Owen Wister’s novel "The Virginian," one of the "best-sellers" over fifty five years ago.

The significance of the trail is perhaps more often recalled in connection with "The Virginian" than as the pioneer route to the upper Methow Valley.

But to the early settlers of the Methow Valley, the Chillowist Trail was a reality that spelled isolation and caused difficulty in freighting the necessities of life that only the most hardy, most optimistic and ambitious of pioneer would undertake to face in locating a ranch that required a great deal of development.

Such a man, however, was Mason Thurlow, a man prominently identified with the Chillowist Trail.

In 1888, Thurlow, N. Stone and Harve Nickell took the first wagon, mowing machine and rake over the Chillowist Trail to the Methow Valley. They were two and a half days negotiating the distance between the Okanogan River and the Methow.

The first routes into the Methow Valley were up the Chillowist Canyon below Malott, then over trails up the mountain sides known as the Three Devils and the Seven Devils. A wagon trail followed a long hogback up the mountain beyond what is known as the Fulkerson place.

The ascent was on a pitch of 30 to 50 degrees, a hard pull for men and pack horses, and a grueling undertaking with loaded wagons. Four men, Thurlow, Nickell, Stone and G.L. Thompson, had fashioned out a road down Benson Creek beyond the Chillowist summit and many of the first settlers in the Methow arrived there over this road.

Thurlow made his first trip into the Methow in 1887, coming from Ellensburg. He had lived at Ellensburg about a year and at Pendleton four years, coming to the Northwest from Texas.

He came across the Big Bend, crossing the Columbia River at the mouth of Moses Coulee, passing old Douglas City. They followed Foster Creek down to the Columbia traversing the low lands near the old site of Fort Okanogan, fording the Okanogan River near the present location of Monse. With a pack horse outfit, they followed the Chillowist Trail. Their equipment and supplies consisted of a plow, seed grain and foodstuff.

Thurlow took a 160 acre claim at the mouth of Beaver Creek some five miles out of Twisp. The place had been located by J.S. White, who eventually located and developed a ranch on the Chillowist.

The history of the Methow is largely a matter of roads, and future development of the district is somewhat dependent on the same necessity, although the demand for a pioneer pack horse trail has now evoluted into a desire for a steel trail of railroad.

Following the construction of a passable road by Thurlow and associates, down Benson Creek, another route of travel known as the Bald Knob road was built up Texas Creek above Carlton, down Indian Dan Canyon to Central Ferry below Brewster. After a few years an additional road was opened, following the Benson Creek and to Brewster over virtually the same route later used by Gamble’s mill. The first stage into the Methow used this road.

It was some years before the Methow River road was opened, and Thurlow recalled that he and other settlers in the upper valley vigorously opposed opening the river route in the belief that it would be an expensive and useless undertaking on account of anticipated inability to keep it open for travel. In the light of future developments, the opponents were partly vindicated in their stand. The road was expensive, both to construct and maintain but is one of the best and most scenic roads in this part of the country and an important arterial highway for the heavy traffic to and from the upper Methow.

There were many more Indians in the Methow in the pioneer days than now, according to Thurlow. The Indians from Okanogan spent a great deal of time camping and fishing on the Methow and had a race track laid out on the Thurlow’s land. The Indians were friendly and honest. It was a common thing for Thurlow to leave his place unprotected, simply asking the Indians to close the cabin when they left, and nothing was ever stolen. Small loans to the Indians invariably were repaid. To the credit of the Indians, it is said that breaches in honesty have been a development of their mixture with white people.

Year after year, Thurlow developed his ranch until it became one of the best alfalfa placed in the valley. During the same period he acquired a large herd of cattle and has prospered in keeping with his progress.

Mason Thurlow was born in Noble County, Ohio on March 11, 1855. He was married in Texas in 1876 and his wife died in 1877, leaving four children. Mrs. Alice Nickell had been left a widow with two children and a courtship ensued which ripened into a happy marriage in September, 1891.