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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Free Home Page Stories & Photos
The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit
Covers from British Columbia to Puget Sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan, Snohomish & BC. An evolving history dedicated to committing random acts of historical kindness

Noel V. Bourasaw, editor

810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Magazine archives for non-subscribers

Issues 38-45

Back to Issue 1

Menu of Historical Delicacies,
Issue 45, September-October 2008
We appreciate your patience while we recently ill. To make up for the delay in two issues, the next two will be published back-to-back right after the turn of the New Year.

KKK Wedding

KKK in the Northwest, 1920s
Claudia Lowman writes about the Klan in Anacortes, 1926	Gabriel Mayer writes about the Klan in Bellingham in the 1920s
KKK stages a wedding and dedicates a church altar in Sedro-Woolley in 1924-26

Nooksack Tower, 1940

Fire Lookout Towers & Firefighting in the Northwest
Introduction to firewatchers and their towers in the North Cascades	Maxine Meyers wrote about her season on Mount Josephine
Dr. Quentin C. Belles recalls upriver firefighting in the 1940s	William Entwistle wrote about the history of Northwest firefighting

Josie Bradley

Two Claudia Lowman biographies:
R. Lee Bradley, Padilla farmer and Anacortes Mercantile Co. owner	Josie Bradley, Skagit County's Superintendent of Schools, 1884
Morris Schneider, pioneer Woolley businessman and first Jewish business owner, biography by his granddaughter, Muriel Weissman

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 44, May-July 2008

Fairhaven & Southern Railroad, first standard-gauge railroad north of Seattle.

The F&S Depot in old Sedro.

Fairhaven & Southern Railroad, Part One. Includes information on the alphabet soup of railroads of Whatcom and Skagit counties, the background of the F&S principals, including Nelson Bennett, C.X. Larrabee and John J. Donovan.

F&S, Part Two. Sedro prepares 1888-89, Donovan's horseback ride in the nick of time, details of the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern, Seattle & Montana and Great Northern lines, James J. Hill and the decline of the F&S, and the decline of the Sedros.

F&S, Part Three. Ray Jordan stories about the F&S Christmas gift to old Sedro; the line's original route from Bellingham Bay; and Journal research into the naming of Fairhaven/Graves Street in Sedro.

Capsule biographies of F&S principals:

Charles X. Larrabee, the Montana copper magnate, who financed the F&S and bought the Cokedale coal mines. Parts 1 & 2 include:

Childhood in New York & Wisconsin;

Brother Samuel Edward "Ed" Larabie;

Brothers building their fortunes in Montana and Portland;

Larrabee's financing of Fairhaven boom and the Fairhaven Hotel;

marriage to Frances Payne;

their philanthropy.

Part 3: documents & external profiles of family

John J. Donovan>, the civil engineer who determined the F&S route, and became a famous lumberman on his own

Cyrus Gates, Larrabee's assistant who oversaw rail and coal interests, continued Larrabee's philanthropy & also became wealthy

The origins of Lyman, upper Skagit River

Lyman 1889.

Lyman, Part One: earliest settlers and homesteaders, including A.R. Williamson, Valentine Adam and Henry Cooper and town namesake, Lorenzo Lyman. earliest businesses, the Skagit River's effect on the town, the Otto Klement and Birdsey Minkler eras

Lyman, Part Two: Flynn and Meyers families; capsule histories of 24 early families

Lyman pioneers, including news of converting Minkler Mansion to City Hall

Clara Bartlett Cooper.

Lorenzo Lyman, country doctor and namesake of Lyman, updated with research about Dr. Lyman.
Birdsey Minkler, Part One: his early years in Wisconsin and California, homesteading and his mill at Birdsview, and details of his 1911 funeral. Totally updated.	Birdsey Minkler, Part Two: his family moves to Lyman in 1887, death of his wives; mill at Minkler Lake; the Minkler children marry. Totally updated.

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 43,
March-April 2008

Magazine articles that chronicled the time preceding the birth of Sedro-Woolley. All stories extensively annotated for the pleasure of our subscribers.

Articles about booming Sedro, circa 1890

Sedro on the Skagit River, August 1890 Washington Magazine article that introduced readers to the booming town on the Skagit.	Sedro's Improvements, October 1890 Washington Magazine article that listed improvements already made to the two towns of Sedro.
The "Improvements" story above includes a fascinating endnote discovery that ties Sedro with Seattle attorney Elbert F. Blaine and the 1994 suicide of Seattle musician Kurt Cobain.
Sedro and the coal mines near the Skagit River, 1890-91 Fairhaven Illustratedmagazine article that explained why the Fairhaven & Southern Railroad was built between Fairhaven on Bellingham Bay and Sedro on the Skagit, with all its resources.

Articles about booming Woolley, circa 1890-91

Woolley, the hub of Skagit Count, November 1890 Washington Magazine article that introduced readers to the booming town where 3 railroads would soon cross.

Woolley has a leg up, 1891 Graphic Magazine article from Chicago that provided many details and statistics about Woolley's sudden rise and resources of Skagit Valley.

More columns by Frank Wilkeson, New York Times columnist
while living in Hamilton and Fairhaven, circa 1890s

Wilkeson's 1884 Sun River (Montana) Sun column of Sept. 18, 1884, about a frontier trader and his dog.

Wilkeson's 1885 New York Sun story about Poker on the Wenatchee River and the scamp, Butch the Butcher.

Other new Issue 43 features

Updated transcription of an account of Otto Pressentin and his 10 years in outback BC, 1911-21, by Ray Jordan
E.R. Million, Mount Vernon attorney and capitalist from 1889 to 1906, associate of timberman Ed English and friend of the high and mighty.
The Courthouse Fight of 1909, when Burlington tried to wrest the courthouse from Mount Vernon.
George Hopp, editor of Sedro Press, first newspaper, mayor and postmaster, and one of three brothers who published newspapers all over Iowa, Dakota Territory and Washington. In which the reader will learn the history of several Dakota towns; the connection with writer Laura Ingalls Wilder; the history of Marysville, Bridgeport and Camas, Washington, and how a murder led to an important opportunity for George.

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 42,
January-February 2008

Otto Klement, 1873 Skagit Settler, Father of Lyman

Klement Biography updated with genealogy	Hogtied! Good Ole Boys boil a pig, Lyman 1881	New: Otto's early years on the Skagit
New: Farming methods and earthquakes 1870s & '80s	New: winter weather and frozen Skagit River	New: early attempts at Cascade Pass Road

Edward Eldridge, Whatcom Pioneer 1853 & his mysterious name change

Updated biography with new genealogy from descendants and more answers about the secret that almost did him in

Updated profile of his son, Hugh Eldridge, & capsule biographies of other early Whatcom children

Other new Issue 42 features

Walter Washington deLacy, father of the Old Military Road and the Whatcom Trail to Fraser River, and his fascinating life before and after his Whatcom years.
Otto Pressentin, his 10 years in outback BC, 1911-21, by Ray Jordan
Biography of the Northwest writer, June Burn and her book, Living High.

Issue 41 Menu of Historical Delicacies

The Slipper family of Hamilton
R.I.P. Fred Slipper, 1917-2007, son of an early Hamilton businessman and he managed the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times for many years.	The Slipper Brothers and their Sprinkle-sister wives, who influenced the town of Hamilton from 1890 on, and the Slipper Hamilton home, which now serves as a museum.	Read John Slipper's hilarious 1942 letter to the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, with many anecdotes about Hamilton and the Skagit River in the same issue.

The story behind the Hammer Heritage Square family:
Isabel Hammer, Kansas and Skagit pioneer — the Blue Lady.	The Hammer Mansion, home to Emerson and Isabel Hammer

Allen and Roray, town finally explained:
Part One — we explain the mystery of the Allen and Roray dueling names for the town and the mill the two men opened there.	Part Two — Allen's favorite son, Joy Busha, and a 1959 history of the town from the 1880s on.

Ray Jordan: two vanished townships north of Woolley:
Town of Hoogdal and the Swedish families who settled there.	Capt. John Warner and his beautiful Warner's Prairie.

Two pioneer biographies:
Horace Condy, Woolley jeweler, optician, music dealer from 1900, father of the Condy clock.	George and Dwight Brosseau family, Sterling and Sedro pioneers, and Edna Brosseau who sewed Sedro's first 4th of July flag in 1890.

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 40,
August-September 2007

William R. "Blanket Bill" Jarman, the first full study in 50 years about the first Whatcom/Skagit settler and all the myths

A profile of William R. Jarman and the legends of Blanket Bill, researched, discussed and debated, Part One

A profile of William R. Jarman and the legends of Blanket Bill, researched, discussed debated, Part Two.

Ray Jordan's story of Blanket Bill and Jarman Prairie, from his point of view as a young Belfast neighbor.

Percival R. Jeffcott's book of Blanket Bill Jarman and the mysteries and legends, some debunked, and a profile of Jeffcott..

Bessemer, Birdsview and the Elliott Hotel, owned by Bill's daughter, Alice, and her husband, James Elliott.

Kitsap County, Slaughter County and a Jarman myth debunked

Port Townsend, the birth of the town and Bill's first Washington home

The history of the S'Klallam and Chemakum tribes of the Olympic Peninsula. William R. Jarman lived with them and met his wife, Alice, and Chief Sehome there.

Read the full review of this fine book, Samish Island, a History, by Sue and Fred Miller, which all Skagit history-lovers will want to read, along with those who want to learn about the geology of the Puget Sound area and the "pre-history" of the Indians of the archipelago before the white settlers arrived.

We were shocked and saddened just as we went to press, when we learned of the death of Robert Jeffcott, grandson of Percival R. Jeffcott. Our hearts go out to his family, who grieve his passing. A memorial is planned for the afternoon of October 13 at his Lummi Island property.

See Issues 37-39 contents below . . . Where to buy the Miller book

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 39
Spring 2007

The Van Fleet family, first pioneer family to settle in the Skiyou area east of Sedro-Woolley, 1880

Eliza Van Fleet summarized her family bona fides for her application to the DAR in 1928	Ethel Van Fleet Harris's 1968 memories of her family's early days in Skiyou from 1880 on.	The Van Fleet family floats down the Skagit for the their first Christmas here in 1880
Van Fleet family letter back to Pennsylvania, 1890s, from their Skiyou homestead	Eliza Van Fleet's family history from the 1906 Illustrated History. Extensive annotation.	More Van Fleet stories will follow. Can you help with copies or scans of articles, obituaries or photos?

Other Issue 39 features

Skagit City, the 1870s city at the forks of the Skagit River that marked the early days of lower-river settlement

The bell tolls for old Skagit City School, 1998. Update 2007: that was premature, join us for picnic on July 15

Genealogy special: history of old Ireland, by Alice Stopford Green

Remembering Herb Larson, guiding light of the Concrete Heritage Museum, and keeper of the flame

Menu of Historical Delicacies, Issue 38, March-April 2007
Daniel Jefferson Harris, the very colorful founder of Fairhaven. We researched the legends about him, confirm some, debunk others, and we found the Dr. Shorb who relieved Dan of his fortune in Los Angeles just before Dan's death.

Jim Rich as Dan Harris

Introduction to Dan and his timeline Dr. Andrew S. Shorb, Part 1: 18th-century immigration Hohenzollerns Pennsylvania Dutch Dr. Shorb, Part 2: Homeopathy Los Angeles History Criminal record J. DeBarth Shorb & San Gabriel Winery Don Benito Wilson George S. Patton.
Frank Teck's series about Harris in Fairhaven Herald, 1903:
April 4, 1903: Dan's beginnings in Whatcom Fairhaven founded 1883	April 11, 1903: Epochs in Dan history His Fairhaven Hotel Townsite sale to Bennett	April 25, 1903: Dan died 1890 Estate sues Dr. Shorb 1890s Depression in Fairhaven
Schedule for Dirty Dan Days in Fairhaven April 28-29, 2007

An updated Fairhaven Biography series:

Introduction to James Wardner . . .

Wardner's Consolidated Black Cat Co. Ltd . . .

1982 Idaho Miner magazine profile of Wardner . . .

Frank Wilkeson's 1887 New York Times column about the town of Wardner, Idaho.

The Two-Spot Lokey at the entrance to Woolley. Puget Sound & Baker River Railroad's logging legacy welcomes visitors

Bobby Burns, "Mayor of Fairhaven" and general cut-up, the "Bunnies Man," obituary from 1980.

Charles Woodworth, long-lost but now-found namesake for Sedro-Woolley's street. And a Tacoma promoter.

Charles J. Wicker arrives in Sedro in 1884, on the way to becoming county's most powerful real estate agent.

Go West Young Man:
who wrote it? Horace Greeley or John B. Soule?

Story posted on Jan. 4, 2010 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them

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Our newest sponsor: Cygnus Gallery, 109 Commercial St., half-block uphill from Main Street, LaConner. Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 5 p.m., featuring new monthly shows with many artists, many local. Across the street from Maple Hall, 1886 Bank Building and Marcus Anderson's 1969 historic cabin. Their website will be up in early 2010.

Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 88 years.

Peace and quiet at the Alpine RV Park, just north of Marblemount on Hwy 20, day, week or month, perfect for hunting or fishing
Park your RV or pitch a tent by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley

Joy's Sedro-Woolley Bakery-Cafe at 823 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley.

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