The History of Doty
The Riverbend Preserve is located in the small, unincorporated community of Doty in southwestern Washington State.
Doty General Store and post office (the latter established on Nov. 2, 1900)
Doty (pronounced DOE-tee) has around 250 residents. It’s about 18 miles west of Chehalis, and the Doty General Store, which contains the post office, is the only business.
So, what’s the story of this small community? Well, I’m no historian but I did some digging online and found a few interesting facts.
The town’s namesake is Chauncey Albert (C.A.) Doty, who built a sawmill here in the late 1800’s and parceled out the first acres. By title history, the 220 acres of The Riverbend Preserve were first owned by none other than C.A. Doty himself.
Doty was born in Pennsylvania in 1859 to New York native parents, then moved to Iowa as a young man where he was trained in telegraphy. He seems to have spent time in Texas and California, picking up skills in timber inspection, bookkeeping, and railroad operation, before moving to Washington State in 1889 (the same year Washington became the 42nd State, by the way) at the tender age of 30 where he spent the next few years acting as a railroad agent for the Northern Pacific.
His railroad and timber backgrounds seemed to serve him well, as he pushed out into western Lewis County, set up a logging camp and sawmill right on the Northern Pacific train line, and went into business with a fellow named J. T. Stoddard.
Doty Lumber & Shingle Co.
Their sawmill was soon the largest in Lewis County.
According to author Kenneth Erickson is his book Lumber Ghosts: A Travel Guide to the Historic Lumber Towns of the Pacific Northwest, published in 1994, C.A. Doty:
“…founded the Doty Lumber and Shingle Company here in 1896. By 1916, Doty had 1,000 residents, a grade school, high school, dance hall, and large community hall. The company folded in 1929, and today only 20 families are left in Doty.”
An entry in the 1901-1902 edition of the Oregon, Washington and Alaska Gazetteer and Business Directory shows that Doty had recently been established with a post office, and listed just three businesses as active:
· Doty C A, r r, exp and tel agt.
· Doty & Stoddard, Saw Mill.
· Toepelt A H, jeweler.
That last listing caught my attention, as the Toepelt family is still here.
Janet Toepelt now runs the inimitable Evey’s Café in the nearby town of Pe Ell. Stop in for an Evey’s Burger or a Porkies sandwich and a peanut butter milkshake.
You’re welcome.
Interestingly, the unincorporated community of Dryad just a mile or so to the east was also listed in that 1901-1902 directory but with considerably more businesses as it had been founded 10 years earlier. It was given the name Dryad by representatives of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in honor of the wood nymphs from Greek mythology who were thought likely to find themselves right at home in the abundant local fir and cedar trees.
Among the Dryad businesses listed that year were two shingle mills competing with Doty’s just down the road, the Dryad Opera House (there was no indication of a published season…), and Leudinghaus Brothers saw mill.
Leudinghaus Road still runs through Dryad today, and no fewer than three of my friends here live on it.
But back to Doty.
I’ll close this post with excerpts from Washington: West of the Cascades, Vol. 2, published in 1917:
“A history of the development of the lumber industry of Washington would come far short of its purpose should they to fail to make reference to C. A. Doty, who has been identified with various companies that have been active in utilizing the timber resources of the state…”
“…In 1899 Mr. Doty and J. T. Stoddard installed a sawmill on the Willapa Harbor branch of the Northern Pacific Railway about twenty miles west of Chehalis and established a camp where the town of Doty is now located. The firm was known as Doty and Stoddard.”
In 1904:
“…Eleven miles of logging road were built and equipped; and three hundred men were employed in the conduct of the business and in the maintenance of the camps. The mills were operated by steam power, dry kilns were built and the Chehalis river was dammed, thus providing a pond for storing the logs.
“With the growth of the business the town of Doty was developed, and the company built one hundred houses for the men.
“Mr. Doty also built a store and hotel and not only managed his lumber and kindred interests but also acted as postmaster of the town and as manager of the Western Union Telegraph Office, his early experience then coming into good play.”
Workers paid for goods in the camp using these tokens
He left the area around 1910 and continued successfully in business for many more years, raising a family, and firmly establishing himself as a respected member of the Washington State business community.
Chauncey Albert Doty died in Olympia, Washington in 1950 at the age of 91. But his namesake town lives on.
Post office and all