Blinn, Marshall, 1827-1885.

The Superintendent of Indian Affairs was an official position that was established to regulate contacts between Native Americans and settlers. The Superintendents had a general responsibility to handle affairs in the Territory, negotiate treaties and clear titles to land. Indian agents were appointed by the President of the United States with the approval of the United States Senate. The Oregon Superintendence established in 1848, when the Oregon Territory was organized. It had jurisdiction over the entire area west of the Rocky Mountains. When Washington Territory was established in 1853, a separate superintendence was established with jurisdiction over the area north of the Columbia River and the 46th parallel. From 1857 to 1861, the Oregon and Washington Office were combined. The Oregon office was abolished in 1873. Those agents reported directly to Washington, D.C. Robert H. Milroy was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Washington Territory from 1873 through 1875. He continued on as an agent for the following ten years. Since his term was from 1873 to 1875, it is presumed that Marshall Blinn was the Acting Superintendent for Robert H. Milroy.

Marshall Blinn was born in Maine on 19 March 1827. By 1856, Blinn had gone to California and established a lumber marketing firm with several partners in San Francisco. Later in the year Blinn sailed to Washington Territory looking for a location to build a mill to supply lumber to the firm. On board he had equipment worth $20,000 and saw mill workers to establish the business. They sailed into the harbor of what is now known as Seabeck, WA. They off loaded all their equipment and began building a saw mill. About July 1857, the Washington Mill Company was ready for business. In a short time, the mill was producing 15,000 board feet a day. With the success of the mill, a company town grew up around it. Because Blinn was a prohibitionist, he had hoped to keep the town from the fate of other boom towns by not allowing the sale of liquor. It did not take very long for his hotel to begin serving some liquor because no one would stay at the hotel. By 1864 and 1865, the Mill had a whole fleet of ships for delivery and the most modern shipyard in Washington Territory. After losing a hard fought local election in 1869, he sold his interest in the Mill to his brother. In 1871, he ran against Selius Garfielde for the U.S. Congress and was unsuccessful. He established two ice houses in Seattle and Olympia, WA that were not very successful. It took over 2 years to sell the initial shipment of ice. It is unclear when Blinn moved to Olympia, WA but he was quite involved in the community. He served in the Territorial Legislature in 1867 and 1869 representing Kitsap and King Counties and in 1875 he represented Thurston County. He served on the Olympia City Council on more than one occasion. During 1873 through 1874 he was the Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Washington Territory. Olympia, WA tried for years to entice the Northern Pacific Railroad to Olympia, WA. Blinn was instrumental in forming the Olympia Railroad Union and was an elected trustee. The Olympia Railroad Union negotiated with Northern Pacific for almost 20 years before the railroad came to town. Blinn and his wife, Julia, lived at the corner of Union and Washington Street when their house burned to the ground in May 1884 because of a ruling that fire trucks were not allowed out of the downtown business district. This ruling was changed in June 1884. The Blinns had one daughter and in 1885 he had traveled to San Francisco to attend her graduation. While there, he passed away on 19 May 1885. In 1886 a spark from a ship ignited a fire which consumed the two mills and other buildings. Seabeck became a virtual ghost town for approximately 30 years before it eventually became the home of the Seabeck Christian Conference Center.