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The farmer Samuel Bedient Olmstead (1843-1881) and his family worked the original 160-acre piece of property beginning in 1875. A cottonwood log cabin was built as the first homestead at that time. A second residence on the farm, built in 1908 was erected by Samuel Olmstead's descendants. The Olmstead operated a cattle ranch and dairy on their acreage; over the years the farm contained a dairy barn for housing cows, shelter for milking cows, shelter for wagons and carriages, granary and tool house. The granary and barn predated 1908. The Olmstead Family donated 217 acres to the State of Washington in 1969 for use as a state park, and as a demonstration museum depicting Euro-American pioneer life.

Tel: (509) 925-1943 (2011); a State of Washington Parks and Recreation Commission web site described the Olmstead House and its construction: "The Olmstead cabin, though simple and rugged by today’s standards, was considered large and comfortable in 1875. With newspaper-lined walls for insulation and a wood cooking stove, the cabin was secure from the cold. The family built the cabin from cottonwood logs from the Yakima River Canyon. They squared the logs with a broadax, dovetailed them at the corners and held the logs together with round pegs made from small tree limbs. Lumber was cut at a local sawmill and windows were freighted in from The Dalles Ore." (See "The Olmstead Legacy,"Accessed 06/28/2011.)

PCAD id: 16592