210                                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY


from the University in the class of 1870 he taught school for two years
and, meanwhile, pursued the study of law, was admitted to the bar in his
native county, in 1872, then began the practice of his chosen profession
at Brazil, Clay county. Progress for the first two years was necessarily
slow; but, possessed of good native ability and fine business tact, he soon
acquired a high standing in the practice. In 1880 he was nominated by
the Republican party for the legislature, to represent the joint district
composed of Hendricks, Putnam, and Clay counties, was elected, and at
the opening of the session of i88i, was chosen Speaker of the House.
It was at this session that Benjamin Harrison was elected to the United
States Senate
    In the spring of 1882 he was appointed Indian agent to the Yankton-
Sioux tribes in Dakota. At the expiration of three years he resigned this
position, and was immediately reappointed to the position of agent to the
Quapas, Modocs and others in Indian Territory. In these positions he
acquitted himself with credit, winning the approval and praise of the
Secretary of the Interior and others in high authority. Soon after the
inauguration of the Cleveland administration he was relieved because of
“offensive partisanship,” when he returned home to Clay county, in the
fall of 1885.
    In the early spring of 1888 he left Brazil and went to Washington
Territory, locating at Spokane Falls (now Spokane), where he still lives,
persuaded that the state of his adoption is one of the greatest countries
in the world and Spokane one of the most beautiful cities on the conti-
nent. Here he resumed the practice of the law with diligence and suc-
cess. In 1889 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the counties
of Spokane, Stevens and Okanogan before the territory became a state,
which he held until the admission of Washington as a state. During
Governor Rogers’ administration he was a member of the board of con-
trol, which had under its jurisdiction all the penal institutions of the
state. In the state of Washington nominations to office are made by
primary election. In the primary campaign of 1908 Mr. Ridpath was
one of the four unsuccessful candidates for governor.
    Though the first ten years of Mr. Ridpath’s career in his adopted
state were given closely to the law, he acquired, during the time, both
farming and mining interests, and was one of the promoters of the
famous Le Roi mine in British Columbia, which was sold to an English
syndicate for something more than $3,000,000. Since this transaction
he has retired from the law, devoting his time and attention to mining,
farming and his hotel interests—the “Hotel Ridpath”—which is one of
the principal and popular hostelries of the city of Spokane. But he has
not lost his interest in public affairs. Though strongly partisan in his
political opinions, he takes a broad view of life in all its aspects, espe-
cially so in the desire to promote the greatest good to the greatest number.

    Henry Shideler, native of Holmes county, Ohio, son of Daniel
Shideler, born February 8th, 1845; came to Clay county with the family
when fifteen years of age, locating on the farm in Harrison township, a
mile and a half east of Middlebury, where he continued to reside until
1882, when he went to Cherokee county, Kansas, In March, 1864, he
enlisted in the service of his country, in Company G, Fifty-ninth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged in July, 1865. On the 11th day