Page 324 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ James Biles

1859-1860
1867-1868

James Biles was a native of Virginia, but he had reached
Kentucky by 1853 when he embarked on the Oregon
Trail with his wife Nancy and their seven children. They
were members of the wagon train, called the "Longmire
Party," Biles serving as leader and captain, that blazed a
trail over the Natches Pass in the Cascade Mountains. It
was the first wagon train to come directly into Western
Washington without first going to Oregon.

When the group encountered a seemingly impenetrable
30 foot bluff about 25 miles north of Mount Rainier,
Biles came up with the idea to make ropes from oxen
hides, tie them to the wagons and lower the wagons over
the cliff, thus allowing the party to avoid being stuck in
the late fall snows of the mountains. He settled first on Grand Mound Prairie where he built a
tannery. He moved to Tumwater, and in 1859 built the Biles Tannery on the site of the old Olympia
Brewery.

He filled many places of honor and trust in his county, and represented his district several times in
the Territorial Legislature. Of particular note he was appointed to be part of a commission to
superintend the erection of the Capitol building at Olympia. As a Mason he was always honored
and esteemed by his brethren, and was always a faithful worker in the quarries. He was one of the
few brethren who met in convention on the 7th day of December 1858, and formed the Grand
Lodge of Washington. He was elected its first Senior Grand Warden, and in 1859 the brethren
elected him as the second Grand Master of the Jurisdiction. He would then serve as Grand
Treasurer from 1860 to 1867, when he was again elected Grand Master.

During his second tenure Most Worshipful Brother Biles introduced Freemasonry into the distant
territory of Alaska by his granting of a Dispensation for the establishment of Alaska Lodge at Sitka
on April 14, 1868.

Most Worshipful Brother James Biles was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky, on March 3, 1812,
and passed from the mortal coil on February 5, 1888.