Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site History

Steptoe Butte, or Eomoshtoss, rises high above the rolling hills of the Palouse country, an impressive landmark with many stories to tell.

A Geological Definition

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the rocks of today’s Steptoe Butte summit were a sandy beach on the west coast of North America. The sand was buried and compacted into sandstone, then deeply buried by tons of overlying sediments and subjected to high temperatures and pressures, metamorphosing into quartzite. Later, subduction of oceanic tectonic plates beneath the continent caused the uplift of the buried quartzite.

Much more recently (but still a long time ago), the Columbia River basalt lava flows covered all but the highest remaining peaks of the uplifted quartzite.

Geologists who puzzled out the long story behind the butte’s unusual formation picked it as the type locality, or best example, of that type of geology. Now, similar buttes of crystalline rock rising above a lava plain are known as “steptoes” around the world.

In the final stages of the most recent ice age, masses of glacier ice repeatedly blocked meltwater drainage, creating huge bodies of impounded water in northern Washington, Idaho and Montana. When the ice dams melted or were breached by the sheer weight of water behind them, gigantic Ice Age floods swept over the landscape.

As the floodwaters burst out of the confines of restricted passages, the flow quickly slowed and began to deposit the load of sediment it had been carrying. Fine-grained sediments were carried the farthest distance, coming to rest west of Steptoe Butte.

Great Soil

After the floods, predominant westerly winds lifted and carried sand and silt deposited by the water toward the Palouse Hills, where the fine-grained particles, called loess, piled up to 20 feet deep, forming the base of the very rich soils that now make the Palouse country one of the best farming areas in the world.

Before modern agriculture modified the rolling hills of the Palouse, the rich soil hosted a bunchgrass prairie with uniquely adapted species.

A population of the rare Giant Palouse Earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) make their homes in the relatively undisturbed soils surrounding Steptoe Butte. Typical adults grow to about 8 inches and can burrow to a depth of 15 feet in the rich Palouse soil to survive summertime heat and drought.

Indigenous Lands

Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site lies within the traditional territories of Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.

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.

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 chose to continue their seasonal rounds, rather than be confined to reservations as stipulated in the treaties.

The discovery of gold in the Colville area during this period resulted in numerous Euro-American prospectors entering the as-yet-unceded Indigenous land, sometimes coming into conflict with residents. A government agent sent to investigate the incidents, Andrew Bolon, was killed by Indigenous warriors.

In response, the US Army repeatedly sent soldiers into the area to investigate incidents and attempt to apprehend those involved. Such expeditions were met with resistance from Indigenous warriors, and largely didn’t change the status quo.

Battle of Tohotonimme (Pine Creek)

One of those expeditions was led by Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Steptoe in May 1858. Expecting the mission to be of a diplomatic nature, the command was lightly armed. After judging the resistance of allied warriors under the leadership of Chief Kamiakin (Yakama/ Palús), Steptoe decided to return to the unit’s base at Fort Walla Walla.

On May 17, 1858, the Indigenous warriors and soldiers engaged in a 10-hour running battle that ultimately pinned down the soldiers on a small hill above Tohotonimme (today’s Pine Creek Valley). Nighttime brought a cease fire, and Steptoe’s troops retreated from the site under the cover of darkness and a light rainfall, probably being allowed to pass by the warriors, as their retreat was seen as a complete victory by the Indigenous fighters. Steptoe’s decision to withdraw likely saved the lives of many of the officers and enlisted men under his command.

Subsequently, a well-armed force commanded by Colonel George Wright returned to the area and decisively defeated the allied Indigenous warriors, punitively killing their horses, destroying their food stores, and executing several combatants.

Ultimately, the Indigenous lands in the area were relinquished by an executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant on November 8, 1873, which established the Spokane Indian Reservation. Members of the Spokane Tribes who did not relocate to the reservation were forced to move by an agreement on March 18, 1887, whereby “the bands of the Spokane Indians in council deeded to the United States all right, title, and claim which they had, or ever would have, to any and all lands lying outside the reservation.”

What’s in a Name

Many people find it uncomfortable that a geographical focal point honors the memory of an historical figure who is best known for failing to complete a military mission that was part of a larger project to subjugate Indigenous people in the face of United States colonization.

For thousands of years the butte has been called Se-empteeta or E-omoshtoss by its Indigenous neighbors. US Army reports issued during a US Senate investigation of Colonel George Wright’s military action referred to it as Pyramid Butte. In an 1860 survey for the military road between Fort Walla Walla and Fort Benton, which would become known as the “Mullan Road”, surveyors climbed to the top of what they called “Pyramid Peak” to take compass bearings while enjoying “the sunrise, which beyond doubt offers one of the most interesting spectacles.”

By 1872, government surveyors were referring to the peak as Steptoe Butte. Interestingly, the etymological root of the Colonel’s surname is an Old English term for “dweller on a steep ridge of land,” according to the University of Idaho’s Ron McFarland.

Homesteads and Big Dreams

After completion of the government surveys in 1872, the land in today’s Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site was available to be transferred into private ownership under various federal land disposal laws. The area of today’s picnic area was “proved up” as a Homestead Act patent by Mecie and Robert Burns in 1893, five years after their initial claim was filed shortly after their marriage.

The Burns’ chief crop was wheat until a combination of adverse weather conditions and the economic shock of the Panic of 1893 prompted them to diversify. Initially, they planted plum trees to supply fruit to a prune drying operation in the nearby town of Elberton that boasted the world’s largest fruit dryer at the time, capable of drying 66,000 pounds of fruit each day.

The orchard was expanded to include apple and pear trees, but weather stresses continued to kill or damage the fruit and wheat. Their choice of many different early-fall-ripening apple varieties limited their ability to market fruit for export to other regions. The Burns family had mortgaged their farm to develop the orchard. Around 1899 they defaulted on their mortgage payments and moved to a smaller farm near Elberton, joining many families who failed to sustain their homesteads in the arid lands of eastern Washington.

The summit of Steptoe Butte and a section of land to the northwest was granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) in 1895. 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. Most of the land was sold to other private owners, increasing the railroad’s profits.

The west slope of the butte’s summit was claimed by James “Cashup” Davis under terms of the Timber Culture Act, and he received a patent for the land in 1897.

The Timber Culture Act, passed by the US Congress in 1873, provided that:

…any person who shall plant, protect, and keep in a healthy growing condition for ten years forty acres of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way on any quarter-section of any of the public lands of the Unite States shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of said quarter-section at the expiration of said ten years….

The intention of the law’s sponsors was to alter the climate and ecology of the arid regions of the United States, believing, without evidence, that planted forests would cause an increase in rainfall.

Uniquely, Cashup Davis’ tract qualified for a patent under the law by the planting of apple trees, adhering to the letter, if not the intent of the Timber Culture Act. Davis purchased additional lands from the NP, including the summit of Steptoe Butte.

Cashup Davis

James S. Davis emigrated to the United States from England in 1840. Already wealthy, he came not out of economic desperation, but for the adventure. In 1875, he purchased 1,600 acres from the NP at the western base of Steptoe Butte and developed a farm and stagecoach station. He gained the nickname “Cashup” for the fact that he always paid his debts with hard cash. Cash deals were rare at the time; most transactions were conducted with trade or barter.

The station became well-known throughout the region for a dance hall he developed on the upper floor, as well as Cashup’s legendary hospitality. When the NP rail line was completed in 1883, the stagecoach station went bust.

In 1888, Cashup Davis built a multistory hotel on top of Steptoe Butte in an attempt to revive the good times that he had enjoyed as proprietor of the station. He hand-built a switchback road up the western slope of the butte, using a horse-and-scraper and pick-and-shovel for tools.

At its opening on July 4, 1888, the hotel featured a large dining hall, dance floor, stage, and an observatory complete with a telescope capable of viewing Walla Walla and Mount Rainier on clear days. Unfortunately, due to its remote location, there were not enough visitors with the time and money to financially sustain the hotel.

Abandoned shortly after Cashup’s death in 1896, the hotel burned down in 1911 when two teenagers reportedly dropped a cigarette in the building’s ruins.

Making a Park

Local people began discussing the possibility of establishing a state park on Steptoe Butte in 1923, as the Pullman Herald reported that “leaders in the movement to create a state park realize the value of the peak as a lookout point.” The State Parks Committee considered the park at meetings in 1927 but took no further action.

When it became clear that the State Parks Committee did not have the means to acquire the land, local philanthropist Virgil McCroskey began to acquire property on the butte. McCroskey, who had known Cashup Davis, owned a pharmacy in Colfax. When he retired, he sold the farm he had inherited from his parents to buy property for the preservation of Steptoe Butte and McCroskey State Park in Idaho.

The State Parks Committee accepted the donation of two parcels making up Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site in 1945 and 1946 from McCroskey. The Committee awarded a construction contract in 1945 to build the four-mile spiraling auto road, crossing Cashup Davis’ wagon road in several places, to the summit.

Beginning with a lease granted to the Inland Empire Rural Electrification Company in 1947, the summit of Steptoe Butte has become the site of many radio, television and microwave telecommunication towers. The collection of antennas and buildings provide important communication links and revenue for park operations, while also impacting the “panorama not excelled in the world” extolled by park advocates.

The park was dedicated on July 4, 1946, 58 years to the day after the grand opening of Cashup Davis’ hotel. Recognizing the site’s geological significance, Steptoe Butte was dedicated as a National Natural Landmark on October 30, 1966, with a special recognition of the foresight of Virgil McCroskey and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission for establishing the site as a state park.

In 1972, the WSPRC accepted a nearly $10,000 gift of from the McCroskey Trust Fund to improve the day-use area located on the former Burns homestead. The orchard preserved at that location has been found to harbor three heirloom apple varieties that had been long thought to have become lost.

A new chapter in the preservation of Steptoe Butte began on December 7, 2021, when 437 acres of private lands surrounding the park were purchased by the Washington Department of Natural Resources to establish the Steptoe Butte Natural Area, protecting the largest remaining expanse of the native Palouse prairie ecosystem as well as adjoining canyon grasslands and forest land, creating an enduring refuge for rare and threatened plants and the Giant Palouse Earthworm.