MEMORIES OF SOOS CREEK PLATEAU PIONEERS

By Barbara Mattoon

Soos Creek Wetland
 Photo courtesy of Scott Smithson

A plateau rises between the valleys of the Green and Cedar Rivers stretching from the Springbrook area of Renton to an area near the salmon hatchery south of Auburn, an area of approximately 70 square miles.    The plateau is drained from Renton in a southeasterly direction toward where it empties into the Green River by Soos Creek and several smaller creeks.

The first white settlers claimed land in the valleys because it was more suitable for farming than the land on the plateau.  Later arrivals had to content themselves with the rockier soil on the plateau which being less suitable for farming, was better suited for dairying, raising poultry and livestock.

Early settlers on the plateau were primarily from Scandinavia.  They were driven to emigrate by severely depressed economic conditions in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century.  The Puget Sound area was attractive to them because of its similarity to their homelands.    Many descendants of these early settlers still live in the Kent area today. One of them is Harry Berryman who is descended from Andrew Johnson Niemela, his wife Elizabeth Tyyska Niemela, and George and Edith Berryman.

Harry’s maternal grandfather, Andrew Johnson, immigrated from Finland in 1891 from Turpava, near Oulu, Finland.  He later took the name of his hometown, Niemela,  to avoid confusion with another Andrew Johnson who was also an early settler on the plateau.   Elizabeth immigrated from Angeslevalla, Olou, Finland in 1893.  Andrew Niemela worked in the mines at Franklin  until he had saved enough money to buy a 40-acre farm for $900 in 1900  in Kent.   Ardis Johnson recalled that “Andrew Niemela, ambitious Finnish immigrant, proved that 12 or thirteen cows could provide a neat and comfortable home on Soos Creek bottom land . . ..”¹ Andrew sold his milk to the creamery in Auburn and was able to put his three daughters through Nursing School on his income.

Harry’s great grandparents, the Berrymans had immigrated from Northern Ireland during the famine arriving in New Brunswick. His grandfather immigrated from Canada to the United States.  He and his wife operated a raspberry farm at the corner of  116nd S.E and S.E. 256th.  Harry recalls the entire family gathering in the fall to cut and burn the raspberry canes.  Their home is still occupied today.

Harry still lives on part of the 80 acres his father purchased in 1941.  It was located west of 132nd Ave S.E  and north of SE 304th Ave. near the farm owned by Andrew Johnson Niemela and his wife Elizabeth and had previously been owned by Charlie Olsen.  Charlie was a bachelor, but he loved children and children loved him.  Charlie contracted cancer and was in great pain, so he sold his livestock, gave his truck to Isaac Evans and his wife and willed the property to Children’s Hospital.  He then committed suicide.  Children’s Hospital could not imagine what they were going to do with property so far out in the country, so they sold 80 acres to Harry’s father for $5000!

Some of the neighbors were the Arthur Jacobsens, Skagens, Lars and Martha Larson, and Reuben and Olga Warner.  Harry remembers that everyone got along very well, but they did not want to be buried together, so the Finns are in one cemetery, the Norwegians in another and the Italians in yet another.  Harry’s grandparents, the Niemelas, are buried in the Suise Creek Cemetery near the corner of 132nd Ave SE and SE 256th Street.
                                     

Photo courtesy of Jeff Duffield Used with permission

In the early days, Kent Kangley was the only paved road on the plateau.  All others were gravel.  Andrew Niemela had  a 1930’s coupe and a sleigh that they used in the winter.  Many of us could have used that sleigh during our recent February snow storm.  The telephone operator in Kent knew the business of all the residents along the 12-party line that served the farm and others along 132nd Ave S.E.

During his high school years, all Harry’s friends wanted to get summer jobs at the creamery because of the availability of free ice cream.  Harry didn’t land a job at the creamery, but he did work stocking the beer cooler at Dahlgren & Massey, a grocery store located at the current site of the Justice Center in Auburn.  The benefit of that job was a beer at the end of a shift.

If you would like to learn more about the history of this area and its pioneers, visit the Soos Creek Botanical Garden at 29308 132nd Ave SE, Auburn.  Morris Skagen has constructed a small Museum and Heritage Center containing photos, historical maps and artifacts of early settlers.

Barbara Mattoon

¹ Ardis Johnson quoted in Skagen, Morris Willard, History of the Soos Creek Plateau 1860 – 1960, Morris W. Skagen [29308 132nd Ave S. E., Auburn, WA 98002], 2015, p. 233.  Used with permission.

Sources:  Berryman, Harry C, Auburn, Washington. Interview by Barbara Boye Mattoon, 21 November 2018. Notes. Privately Held by interviewer, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Kent, Washington. 2018.
Skagen, Morris Willard, HISTORY OF THE SOOS CREEK PLATEAU FROM 1860 TO 1960,  Morris Willard Skagen, Auburn, Washington, 2015.
Merritt, Louise (Melin), EARLY SUISE CREEK IMMIGRANTS.