Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
600 of 700 total Free Home Page Stories & Photos
(Also see our Subscribers Magazine Sample)
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
Site founded Sept. 1, 2000. We passed 5 million page views on June 6, 2011 The home pages remain free of any charge. We need donations or subscriptions to continue. Please pass on this website link to your family, relatives, friends and clients.

Forests, loggers, logging and methods

Donkey crew early 1900s
Click on photo for the Dolbeer steam donkey and Shay Locomotive story.

The story of early ox-team logging, from the Dec. 25, 1890, issue of the The Aberdeen Herald, and photos of logging equipment from before the turn of the 20th century. Shared from Subscribers Edition, Issue 3.
John Muir writes about the Douglas fir in Washington Forests, written in 1889 after hiking through Washington.
Harry Osborne of Sedro-Woolley, our most famous forester and a descendant of the pioneer Dreyer family of Sterling and the Osbornes, very early transplants from North Carolina. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Harry's research into the full story of the cross-section of the tree that is exhibited at Osborne park at the entry to Sedro-Woolley on Ferry street. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.

Fire Watch Towers of the Cascades. Betty and Cecil Hittson supplied scans of photos taken by her father Harry Osborne. And Maxine Meyers and Quentin Belles and others describe firewatching and firefighting experiences.

Any time, any amount, please help build our travel and research fund for what promises to be a very busy 2011, traveling to mine resources from California to Washington and maybe beyond. Depth of research determined by the level of aid from readers. Because of our recent illness, our research fund is completely bare. See many examples of how you can aid our project and help us continue for another ten years. And subscriptions to our optional Subscribers Online Magazine (launched 2000) by donation too. Thank you.

We recently visited our newest sponsor, Plumeria Bay, which is based in Birdsview, just a short walk away from the Royal family's famous Stumpranch, and is your source for the finest down comforters, pillows, featherbeds & duvet covers and bed linens. Order directly from their website and learn more about this intriguing local business.

Silas Butler, pioneer logger and dairyman north of Burlington. Mill and family photos, in four parts. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
John Suiter's book, Poets on the Peaks, which rapidly ascended to the highest tier of our reference library. He wrote a beautiful narrative of the fire lookout towers and the Dharma beat poets who manned them from 1952-56: Gary Snyder and the late Philip Whelan and Jack Kerouac. Part one of our exclusive section about Poets on the Peaks by John Suiter, the book about Beat writers Gary Snyder, Philip Whelan and Jack Kerouac and their years as firewatchers in the North Cascades from 1952-56. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Also see our original story of The Firewatchers of the North Cascades, which is timely reading as the high country warms up. [Shared from optional Subscribers Edition]
Read many details about some of the earliest logging camps and mills, countywide, in the transcriptions of April 1884 Skagit News in Mount Vernon. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Woolley vigilantes tar and feather a Wobbly woods organizer in 1918 and the aftermath across Washington state through the massacres of 1919. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.

Updated logging/mills features

Instead of converting the other old photo features, as they were originally configured, we are reorganizing them by subject and area. The Goodyear-Nelson story is an example.
Articles profiling the history of the Goodyear-Nelson mill of Sedro-Woolley, and Journal research about this company, which became the town's first "modern" mill in 1928.
Inventions that changed logging, starting in the 1880s. John Dolbeer's steam donkey and Ephraim Shay's railroad locomotive.
Early logging history and methods by W.E. Crosby, Editor, West Coast Lumberman; from oxen to steam donkey to steam railroad, in two chapters.
William Entwistle, who began logging in Washington at age 12 in 1876, tells about early logging methods, plus rare old logging photos.
Chapter 5: Otto Klement came to Washington territory in 1873 and this excerpt from his 1926 diary details the logging methods that he encountered on the Olympic Peninsula that year before paddling across Puget sound to the Skagit valley. And the Klement Portal Introduction with links to nine stories. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.

Firewatching towers features completely updated from our original domain
Shared from the archives of our Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine

Our original story of The Firewatchers of the North Cascades and the towers they manned (and womaned).
Personal memories of firewatching on Mount Josephine by Maxine Meyers.
Personal memories of firefighting by Dr. Quentin Belles.
Read about the beginnings of firefighting in the state of Washington, outlined by William Entwistle, who started logging in the nineteenth century at age 12 as a member of Cascades pioneer family.
Do you have any photos you can scan for us or documents that we can copy? We especially seek copies of any old Skagit County newspapers dated before 1900, most of which have burned in various fires. Click on the email slot and please let us know. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.

Story posted on Story posted on April 20, 2003, last updated Oct. 26, 2011
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Getting lost trying to navigate or find stories on our site? Read how to sort through our 700-plus stories.		*See this Journal* Timeline website of local, state, national, international events for years of the pioneer period.**
Return to the new-domain home page	Links for portals to subjects and towns	Newest photo features	Search entire site
Our monthly column, Puget Sound Mail (but don't call it a blog) debuted on Aug. 9, 2009. Check it out.

Remember; we welcome correction & criticism.

Please report any broken links or files that do not open and we will send you the correct link. With more than 700 features, we depend on your report. Thank you. And do not give up if you find a link that seems to be closed. Just put the subject in the search box below. The story may have been moved to our new domain. Or just ask us and we will guide you to it.

Did you enjoy this story? Remember, as with all our features, this story is a draft and will evolve as we discover more information and photos. This process continues until we eventually compile a book about Northwest history. Can you help with copies or scans of documents or photos? We never ask for your originals.

Read about how you can order CDs that include our photo features from the first ten years of our Subscribers-paid online magazine. Perfect for gifts. Although it was delayed by our illness, it is due for completion in 2012.

You can click the donation button to contribute to the rising costs of this site. See many examples of how you can aid our project and help us continue for another ten years. You can also subscribe to our optional Subscribers-Paid Journal magazine online, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2010, with exclusive stories, in-depth research and photos that are shared with our subscribers first. You can go here to read the preview edition to see examples of our in-depth research or read how and why to subscribe.

You can read the history websites about our prime sponsors
Would you like information about how to join them in advertising?

Our newest sponsor, Plumeria Bay, is based in Birdsview, just a short walk away from the Royal family's famous Stumpranch, and is your source for the finest down comforters, pillows, featherbeds andduvet covers and bed linens. Order directly from their website and learn more about this intriguing local business.

Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 90 years continually in business.

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 — for as little as $5 per night — by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley. Alpine is doubling in capacity for RVs and camping in 2011.

Check out Sedro-Woolley First section for links to all stories and reasons to shop here first
or make this your destination on your visit or vacation.

Are you looking to buy or sell a historic property, business or residence?
We may be able to assist. Email us for details.

Did you find what you were seeking? We have helped many people find individual names or places, so email if you have any difficulty.

Tip: Put quotation marks around a specific name or item of two words or more, and then experiment with different combinations of the words without quote marks. We are currently researching some of the names most recently searched for — check the list here. Maybe you have searched for one of them?

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