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Hiram F. "Okanogan" Smith: Trader, Rancher and Father of Okanogan County

A Maine printer who went west, Smith settled on Osoyoos Lake and became one of the Okanogan country's best-known pioneers.

Who Was Hiram F. "Okanogan" Smith?

Hiram Francis Smith, known across the northern Columbia Plateau as Okanogan Smith, was born in Maine in 1829. His Hall of Great Westerners entry lists him as a printer who went west in the California Gold Rush, tried freighting, trading and banking, and finally settled near Lake Osoyoos, where he ran a trading post and was among the area's first white settlers.

Smith is on this site because he sits in the cattleman category of the Hall of Great Westerners, which inducted him in 1960. The sources I could open describe his trading post, ranch, orchard and public service in detail but say little about the size of any cattle herd, so this profile is marked as thin and sticks to what is documented.

From Printer to Gold Rush to the Okanogan

According to the Borderlands Historical Society page and the Wikipedia article on Smith, he learned the printer's trade, worked on newspapers in Detroit and, in one account, with Horace Greeley in New York. He went to California during the 1849 rush, later moved to The Dalles, Oregon, where he operated a pack train, and prospected the Fraser River without success.

In 1859 or 1860, depending on the source, he claimed land on the east bank of Osoyoos Lake near present-day Oroville, Washington, and opened a trading post. A Washington Historical Quarterly article has him arriving in the summer of 1860 and building a log cabin.

The Osoyoos Lake Ranch, Store and Orchard

The Washington Historical Quarterly account says Smith had one of the finest ranches in the country, planted a large orchard of assorted fruits, and let people come from miles around for fruit free of charge. His dining table seated twenty-four, and the post became a known stop for traders and miners.

The Hall of Great Westerners says he was the first to ship apples from the region to California. A 1910 Wenatchee World article reported that Oroville claimed the oldest and largest apple tree in the state, planted by Smith more than forty years earlier. The Borderlands page credits him as father of Washington's commercial apple industry.

Why Smith Appears Among the Cattlemen

The Hall's entry says Smith's unsurveyed claim became a successful ranch. Beyond that, the pages I read give no head counts, brands or sales. Rather than guess, this profile leaves that part of his story open for a future update from stockman's records or local histories.

For the wider picture of how frontier ranching worked in the Northwest, readers can browse farm.FM, where the farm.FM ranching section covers ranch history and working cattle country.

The Key to Smith's Success

What the record shows is a pioneer who built a durable base and a good reputation in a place where trust mattered. The limits of the record are as important as the strengths, and some of the same decisions that made him successful are tied to Native land and Native families.

  • He chose a lakeside claim on a route used by traders and miners, so his store and ranch had customers close at hand.
  • He diversified: trading post, freighting, ranch, vegetables and a large fruit orchard rather than a single product.
  • He was known for fair dealing with Native peoples and settlers, and Okanogan chief Tonasket reportedly said Smith never lied to them.
  • He married Mary, daughter of a chief (sources differ on whether Okanogan or Similkameen), and the Hall says the marriage helped secure his claim to unsurveyed Native land.
  • He held public roles, as a United States Commissioner and legislator, which kept him central to disputes and decisions in the district.
  • The costs: his land stayed out of a Native reserve, and after his death his estate was disputed between his second wife Nancy and Mary, who held rights to the land.

Public Service and the Title Father of Okanogan County

Smith served in the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1865 and 1866 and later in the state legislature, including the House of Representatives for the 16th district from 1891 to 1893. The Hall credits his diplomacy with the title Father of Okanogan County. In 1891 he reportedly counseled calm at the Ruby and Conconully camps, where residents feared an attack.

Death, the Lost Grave and Legacy

Smith died on September 9, 1893, after a long illness. The Gazette-Tribune account of his burial says he died at Seattle's Diller Hotel, while Wikipedia says Olympia, so sources differ. The Hall of Great Westerners notes that arsenic poisoning was suspected after his 1893 remarriage.

He was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. His remains were moved in 1895 for unknown reasons, and searches in the 1950s and in 1983 failed to find the grave. Researchers later believe they located it under the name Smith Okanogan. For readers who want to follow up, a farm.FM story on Okanogan pioneers is a good companion read.

Timeline

  1. 1829Born in Maine
  2. 1849Goes to California during the Gold Rush
  3. 1859Claims land on east bank of Osoyoos Lake (some sources say 1860)
  4. 1861Marries Mary, daughter of a local chief
  5. 1865Begins term in the Washington Territorial Legislature
  6. 1891Elected to the Washington House of Representatives, 16th district
  7. 1893Dies September 9
  8. 1895Remains moved from original Seattle burial plot
  9. 1960Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners

Frequently asked questions

Who was Okanogan Smith?

Hiram Francis Smith (1829 to 1893) was a trader, rancher and orchardist on Osoyoos Lake in Washington, a territorial and state legislator, and a pioneer of the Okanogan apple industry.

Why is Hiram F. Smith in the Hall of Great Westerners?

He was inducted in 1960 as a Western pioneer who built a trading post and ranch on Osoyoos Lake, shipped early apples to California and served in public office, earning the title Father of Okanogan County.

Where is Okanogan Smith buried?

He was first buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle, moved in 1895, and later reburied in lot 873 under the name Smith Okanogan, according to the Gazette-Tribune.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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