Bartholet, Suzanne Erwin, 1884-1973.

Suzanne Erwin was the daughter of J.T. Erwin. Mr. Erwin was an Agent at the Fort Simcoe Indian Agency from 1893 until 1897. Suzanne and her family lived at the Agency while her father was an Agent there. Suzanne heard the oral histories that Chief White Swan would tell the Native American children about the history of the Yakama Tribe and the area in and around Fort Simcoe. On Jan. 7, 1913 Suzanne married Joseph Bartholet in Yakima County, Wash. She lived with her family in the area until she passed away in Nov. 1973.

In August 1856, Fort Simcoe was established at the foot of the Simcoe Mountains about 30 miles west of what would become Toppenish, in the future Yakima County, Washington. It was hoped that the post would keep peace by preventing pioneer settlement of Native American lands. The Army abandoned the post in 1859. On May 26, 1859, the 21 buildings of the Fort were turned over to the Yakama Indian Agency, part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. J. T. Erwin, Suzanne's father, was the Agent from 1893 to the fall of 1897. In 1922 the Agency was moved to Toppenish on the Yakama Reservation. The school was abandoned and Native American children attended public school. In 1956, Fort Simcoe became a state park, and in 1974 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.