The Associated Press
SPOKANE — A collection of items related to Isaac Stevens, the first territorial governor of Washington, failed to sell at an auction in San Francisco.
But negotiations are still under way to sell the collection, said Doug Johns, president of auction house PBA Galleries. A minimum bid of $60,000 had been set for the auction Thursday.
"It’s going to come back to Washington," Johns predicted. "We are working with some people to try and get funding so it can be bought and (given) to an institution."
He declined to mention any potential buyers. Anyone willing to put up money to help buy the collection should contact the gallery, Johns said.
The nationwide economic slump that followed the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 has hurt the sales of historic documents and artifacts, Johns said, particularly those like the Stevens collection that have a fairly narrow interest base.
Stevens was appointed territorial governor in 1853. He is remembered today for signing landmark treaties with Indian tribes and for leading a railroad survey across the nation’s northern tier, both acts opening up the region for white settlement. Stevens County is named for him.
The collection of historic documents includes numerous papers signed by presidents and was estimated to be worth $60,000 to $100,000.
It was purchased 30 years ago by Jerome Peltier, 90, of Spokane. Peltier lives in a nursing home and wants to liquidate his assets.
Johns predicted the collection would be sold in 30 to 90 days if financing can be secured.
If the collection had been broken up, individual items would have been quick to sell, Johns said. The items include documents signed by presidents Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.
But part of the collection’s value is the fact that it has been together so long, he said.
"It’s astonishing to find an important archive that is still very much together, as this one is," Johns said.
The items to be auctioned are formally known as the Isaac Ingalls and Hazard Stevens Archive, and are a mix of documents and artifacts. Hazard was Stevens’ son.
According to the auction catalog, the items include signed military commissions, manuscript letters, official appointments and commendations, Indian artifacts and personal copies of books with notes and annotations.
As governor, Stevens organized the territorial government and laid the groundwork for economic development. He pushed for the rapid completion of roads from Puget Sound to Walla Walla, the Columbia River, and up the coast to Bellingham.
Stevens was elected as the lone territorial delegate to Congress in 1857, serving for four years.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Stevens volunteered for military service. He was killed at the Battle of Chantilly on Sept. 1, 1862.
Hazard Stevens, born in 1842, is remembered today primarily as the biographer of his father. But he won the Medal of Honor in the Civil War and rose to become a general before the age of 25.
On the Web: www.pacificbook. com
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