Introductory Overview of Frontier Walla Walla Collections Cases

The Frontier Justice records contain a snapshot of the local economy during Washington Territory’s frontier days. Civil cases, including promissory note defaults and collections, provide this snapshot of the 1860s economy in Walla Walla County. Initial research at the Washington State Archives-Eastern Branch yielded case numbers 258 (Brown Brothers & Co. vs. Goodwin, White & Brothers) and 262 (Way, Bush & Co. vs. Smith & Crapper and J. R. Scranton) as additional examples of collections cases in addition to Case #268, H. S. Jacobs vs. Mullan Bros. Both involve businesses as the plaintiff and the defendant. This cluster of records is important for acknowledgement today because understanding more about the territorial economy elucidates some of the motivations for prominent and non-prominent citizens of the day.