Brooks Memorial State Park History

Brooks Memorial State Park is located in a Simcoe Mountain oasis of ponderosa pine and Oregon white oak forest beside the East Prong of the Little Klickitat River. The area has long been enjoyed as a rest stop for travelers going between the Columbia River Gorge and points in north central Washington.

The Simcoe Mountains

The broad ridge of the Simcoe Mountains is a part of the Yakima Fold Belt, an area of central Washington where tectonic compression of the layered Columbia River Basalt lava flows results in a series of parallel ridges that run perpendicular to the force of the stress—kind of like kicking a rug creates ridges in the fabric.

 The Simcoe Mountains have a unique twist, though. This area is overlaid with hundreds of small volcanic vents and lava flows, many with their source at small conical hills called cinder cones. These features formed during three distinct phases—the first around 3-4 million year ago, the second 2-3 million years ago, and the most recent from 600,000 to one million years ago. Many eruptions occurred in each of the three phases, but each eruption came from a different vent. One vent was a short distance southwest of today’s park along US 97.

Indigenous Lands

Brooks Memorial State Park lies within the traditional territories of Sahaptian Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

Most of the Indigenous people of today’s eastern Washington have a tradition of annual subsistence rounds to harvest and preserve seasonally available foods and resources from a wide variety of locations and environments; many would frequent the same places, building bonds of kinship through shared experiences, trade and marriages.

Today’s Brooks Memorial State Park is situated along one of several travel corridors that were used to move between resource areas, especially by people going to major fishing sites along the Columbia River from winter villages with good horse pastures, including the site of today’s Fort Simcoe Historical State Park. The higher elevations of the Simcoe Mountains along the routes are traditional gathering areas for root plants, as well as hunting grounds.

Representatives of numerous Indigenous people with traditional territories in the region negotiated and signed treaties with Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens at Walla Walla on June 9, 1855. The treaties would not be ratified by the US Senate until 1859, and in the interim, the benefits promised by the treaties were not available to the tribes that had signed. Most Indigenous people initially chose to continue their seasonal rounds, rather than be confined to reservations as stipulated in the treaties. The treaties also reserved Indigenous access to fishing at usual and accustomed sites along the Columbia and other rivers.

The US Army developed the Satus Pass Wagon Road, passing through today’s park to supply Fort Simcoe in the Yakima Valley from The Dalles. Local stockmen used the road to bring meat to mining camps in central Washington. Indigenous people from the Yakama Reservation traveled the route to treaty-guaranteed fishing sites along the Columbia River.

Land Disposal

The US Government Survey of the area including today’s Brooks Memorial State Park was completed in 1869, opening the way for private ownership of the public domain lands that had been acquired under the terms of the Yakima Treaty of Camp Stevens in 1855.

Edmond and Sarah Robertson, emigrants from Kentucky and Ohio, completed required improvements to 160 acres including today’s Brooks Memorial Retreat Center and the Ladyslipper Trail, “proving up” their homestead in 1901.

120 acres were transferred into private ownership as a grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) in two parcels in 1906 and 1916. The US Congress had approved the grant in 1864, which eventually conveyed nearly 40 million acres of public domain lands to subsidize the construction of railroad lines into the western states. The granted lands include today’s park campgrounds and Big Tree Trail.

The expanse of today’s Picnic Meadow and the ponderosa and oak forests surrounding it in the southern section of today’s Brooks Memorial State Park were transferred to three families putting down roots in the region:

• Lillie Wing, a daughter of Francis “Frank” Splawn, who along with his brother Charles, emigrated to the region on the Oregon Trail in the early 1850s, purchased land that is now the southern part of Picnic Meadow as a Cash Entry patent in 1908.
• William and Mary Flanary, who began a successful photography and stationary business in Goldendale in the 1880s, purchased land that is now the central part of Picnic Meadow as a Cash Entry patent in 1908.
• Francis “Frank” and Mabel Ross, early entrepreneurs in Goldendale, “proved up” a homestead that included the eastern edge of Picnic Meadow in 1916.
• Emil Mosier, an immigrant from Switzerland, “proved up” his homestead including the northern edge of Picnic Meadow in 1919.

Judge Brooks

Nelson B. Brooks was born in Michigan in 1858 and moved with his family to Oregon at age 15, where he became a teacher. In 1880, he filed a homestead claim near Goldendale, and three years later married Rosa Olds. The same year, he was elected to represent Klickitat County in the Territorial Legislature. In 1885, he was appointed principal of the Goldendale public schools, and two years later became the Klickitat County School Superintendent, serving for five years. A multitasker, he took law courses and was admitted to the bar in 1892. In 1895 he was elected mayor of Goldendale, and later served as a city attorney and council member. Brooks was appointed by Governor Louis F. Hart to serve as Superior Court Judge for Klickitat and Skamania Counties.

He worked with philanthropist Sam Hill to expand “good roads” and railroads throughout the region, including upgrading the old Satus Pass Wagon Road into today’s US Highway 97. Brooks’ funeral in 1928 was said to be the largest gathering in the history of Klickitat County.

Making a Park

Klickitat County residents sought to create an appropriate memorial to Judge Brooks in recognition of his many contributions to the development of the region. A 10-acre site (part of the NP land grant) along the East Prong of the Little Klickitat River and US Highway 97 was acquired by the City of Goldendale, and a monument placed, stating, “Erected to the memory of Nelson B. Brooks, by his friends and neighbors in appreciation of his untiring efforts for good roads.”

The property was offered to the State Parks Committee to develop for public use, but the Committee asked that the donors first provide an adequate water supply. After that prerequisite was completed, the Committee accepted the donation on June 17, 1944. This parcel is now the main park entrance and day-use area.

Two more parcels of former NP grant lands were added to the park in 1949 and 1951, including today’s walk-in campsites, rental platform tents and the Big Tree Trail.

On October 28, 1957, an acquisition of nearly 600 acres greatly expanded the park, adding the wildflower-filled area of Picnic Meadow and surrounding forests.

Monastery Fire

On September 7, 2011, a wildfire started just outside the boundary of Brooks Memorial State Park, growing within a few days to nearly 5,000 acres, including some of the forest around Picnic Meadow inside the park. 29 residences outside of the park were lost in the blaze, but many others were saved by fire fighters.