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Parkland, Washington has a history similar to many other towns, settled by pioneers hoping to stake their claim. Rugged man with their families plotting lands, in a time when law didn’t exist and it was every man for themselves. Some people tried to stick together to help each other out, but danger was ever present. The fear was so real that in that area they banded together and formed a group called the Vigilantes, dedicated to protecting their way of life.

Back in those days two men especially terrorized the locals, men by the name of McDaniel and Gibson. It was common up in that area for criminals from Canada to make their way down, in hopes of escaping judgement. McDaniel and Gibson came from Canada, along with another friend of theirs, O’Neil. As your Parkland tutor will tell you, it didn’t take long before O’Neil took a property off another settler, story goes it wasn’t a working property at the time and he was able to rustle it off a settler in a dirty handed deal. The three men worked the property, and apparently got it up and working.

The friends of that settler, however, would not be quick to forget the wrong done, and soon ran O’Neil out of town. McDaniel and Gibson stayed behind, and just as those settlers wanted to avenge their friend, McDaniel and Gibson had the same idea. A crime spree ensued, and the duo managed to wreak quite a bit of havoc before being taken down. Eventually, however, they were taken down, thanks to the diligence ad refusal to give up done by the pioneers.

The interesting part of this story is the other version. There are claims made from that era that McDaniels and Gibson along with O’Neil actually had rightful claim to that land. Another story goes that they took a farm that wasn’t producing and turned it into a very profitable claim. Other settlers around them became jealous of their success and wanted that claim for themselves. So, they ran O’Neil out of town in order to take his land. McDaniels and Gibson were actually doing the honorable thing in trying to avenge their friend and take back his land.

Whichever side of the story you might believe, there’s no doubt that times back then were dangerous and unpredictable. A lot of this information can be found in library archives, so if you care to learn more, mention it next time you meet with your Parkland tutor, and the both of you can sit down and pour through the interesting and unknown history of Parkland.