A wagon party headed by Arthur A.…
November 1851 CE
The Denny Party had left Cherry Grove, Illinois on April 10, 1851.
The party included his father John Denny, stepmother, two older brothers who settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, his younger brother David Denny, his wife, Mary Ann Boren, Mary's younger sister Louisa, and their brother Carson Boren. Mary Ann is Arthur Denny's wife and his stepsister, and had been pregnant throughout the journey.
Mary's sister Louisa Boren will marry David Denny in 1861.
Arthur Denny was also ill throughout the journey, but had remained the group's leader.
On July 6, 1851, the party had battled Native Americans at American Falls on the Snake River, but escaped unharmed.
The following day they met John Low, and he joined the party.
Late in July they reached the Burnt River in eastern Oregon where they encountered a man named Brock, who suggested to Denny that Puget Sound would be a good place to create a town.
The Denny Party arrived in Portland, Oregon on August 22, 1851.
Arthur Denny was ill and Mary Ann was about to give birth so the party convalesced in Portland.
On September 2, Mary gave birth to a son, Rolland H. Denny.
John Low and David Denny headed north to scout the possibilities. Along the way they were joined by Leander "Lee" Terry.
In newly founded Olympia, Washington, they met Michael Simmons, the wealthy founder of Tumwater.
He guided them to Alki as a possible site for a settlement.
On September 28, 1851, Terry and Low began building a cabin with help from the local Native Americans, and then staked claims to the land. Low returned to Portland to alert the others, Terry looked for a froe to make red cedar shake shingles, and David Denny stayed on in the unfinished cabin.
Like his brother, he was not in good health, and his situation was not improved by staying in an unroofed cabin.
In Portland, Arthur Denny had recruited Illinois farmer William Nathaniel Bell and his wife, and, by coincidence, Charlie Terry, Leander's younger brother.
The Terry brothers, from Waterville, New York, had come west as part of the California Gold Rush, but had not liked the rough and tumble of San Francisco.
On November 5, 1851, the Denny Party left Portland on the schooner Exact, bound for Puget Sound and the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The Exact carried a number of settlers bound for Puget Sound in addition to the Denny Party, including Daniel Bigelow who settled in Olympia.
After a difficult passage, particularly hard on the still-ill Denny, they arrive at Alki on November 13, where David greets them with the words, "I wish you hadn't come."
Denny is bitterly disappointed that Low and Lee Terry have already staked the relevant claims for Alki.
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