Wasco County OR Archives Biographies.....Klindt, Walter A. July 2, 1875 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 19, 2008, 2:45 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company WALTER A. KLINDT. Through his fishing operations Walter A. Klindt has contributed toward the success of the great salmon industry of the Pacific northwest. He is a product of Oregon, representing an old and honored family of Wasco county, his birth having occurred July 2, 1875, two miles west of The Dalles, on the homestead on which he now resides. His parents, Henry and Doris (Stoltenberg) Klindt, were natives of the province of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in which his grandparents, Goris and Viebke (Stuhr) Klindt, spent their lives. His maternal grandfather, Hans Stoltenberg, was born in the same province and came to the United States in 1845. He filed on a homestead in Scott county when that part of Iowa was largely a wilderness and died soon afterward. His children later acquired large tracts of land and his numerous descendants still live in the vicinity of Davenport, where he first settled. Henry Klindt received his education in Germany and there learned the stone mason’s trade. He served for a few years in the Danish army and in 1851 yielded to the lure of the new world. Mr. Klindt followed his trade in Pennsylvania and Iowa and invested his savings in a home in Comanche, Iowa. On the property he built a good stone house and it was there that his marriage occurred. Soon afterward he decided to join the gold seekers in the Pikes Peak district of Colorado but changed his plans because of adverse reports and went instead to California, traveling in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. For about two years he engaged in placer mining in the Sacramento valley and on his return to Iowa found that a cyclone had destroyed his home at Comanche, leveling the stone house to the ground. Not caring to rebuild in Iowa, he left the place loading all of his possessions in a prairie schooner. With his wife and two small children he started for Oregon, driving a team of oxen across the plains, and arrived at The Dalles in the fall of 1859. He went to work at his trade and aided in erecting some of the first stone structures in the town. Afterward he entered the field of contracting and was thus engaged for several years, becoming recognized as a master craftsman. He established a large business and many of the buildings which he constructed at The Dalles are still standing. In 1868 he filed on a homestead of fifty-four acres, situated two miles west of The Dalles, and increased his holdings by the purchase of two hundred arid fifty acres of land. Here he built a small frame house and began cultivating a tract of about forty acres consisting of rich river bottom soil, especially adapted to the production of garden truck. Later he erected a larger house farther back from the river, constructing the foundation of stone, which he found on his ranch, and this material he also utilized for other buildings and in terracing the hillside on his property. Mr. Klindt was a firm believer in scientific methods of agriculture and brought his land to a high state of development. He remained on the homestead until his demise in July, 1907, and his wife passed away August 2, 1927, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, retaining all of her faculties until her death. In their family were seven children, two of whom died in infancy. The others are: G. E who lives at Ocean Park, Washington; Mrs. H. C. Nielsen, a resident of the same place; Charles A., of The Dalles; Anna Amalia, who likewise makes her home at Ocean Park; and Walter A. Mrs. Nielson and her oldest brother are natives of Iowa and the other children were born in Wasco county. Walter A. Klindt was a pupil in the public schools of The Dalles and the old Wasco Academy. At Davenport, Iowa, he took a course in the J. C. Duncan Business College and for two years was a law student but abandoned the idea of entering the legal profession. For several years he rode the range in the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon and now devotes his energies to commercial salmon fishing in the Columbia river, supplying the local cannery. The season lasts about six months and at its height he employs from ten to twelve men. His equipment comprises ten boats, four of which are supplied with motors. He is the owner of the homestead and leases the land for gardening purposes. At Belma, Washington, Mr. Klindt married Miss Ethel Eastman, who was born in Miami county, Kansas. She is a daughter of Hiram and Alice (Farnsworth) Eastman, of whom the former was born in the state of Pennsylvania, while the latter is a native of Canada. For a number of years Mr. Eastman was engaged in farming in Kansas and in 1902 migrated to the state of Washington. He purchased land near Grandview in Yakima county, and developed a valuable ranch, on which he has since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have a family of eight children: Ethel; Mrs. Caroline Hartman, who also lives in Yakima county; Ernest, whose home is in Idaho; Robert, a resident of California; Mrs. Theodore Erdman, of Nampa, Idaho; Mrs. Herbert Brooks, who is living in Portland, Oregon; Leon, who is with his parents; and Leonard, of Condon, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Klindt have four children: Doris, who was graduated from The Dalles high school and is a senior at Willamette University in Salem, specializing in the study of languages; Henry, who is attending high school; and Elizabeth and Kathleen, grammar school pupils. Along fraternal lines Mr. Klindt is connected with the Woodmen of the World and his favorite sport is deer hunting. He is an expert marksman and enjoys life in the open. Although he has neither sought nor held public office, he takes a keen interest in matters touching the advancement and prosperity of his city, county and state and is always ready to further measures for the general good, frank, sincere and unassuming, Mr. Klindt cares little for the artificialities of life and his genuine worth is appreciated by his fellow citizens, who speak of him in terms of high regard. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 467-469 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/wasco/bios/klindt465gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 6.7 Kb