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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
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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

Kent Sullivan requests your memories
about the Northern Pacific line that
ran through Sedro-Woolley in 1955

Circa 1918, Frank LaRoche Sr., Sedro-Woolley's resident grand photographer at that time, stood atop the Northern Pacific water tower and photographed the Northern Pacific rail yards. He was looking north. Pinky Robertson's childhood home is at the far left. To the right is a roundtable built for the original Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern locomotives. Click on photo for a larger version.

The NW Washington History Detectives were pleased on June 10 that Kent Sullivan attended our meet-up and told us of his plans for a very realistic, large-scale, model-train layout that will prominently feature the Northern Pacific tracks and the businesses along them in Sedro-Woolley in 1955. He and his guests Dan Cozine and Jack Christensen, along with Allen Miller have supplied much of the historic facts and photos that have helped us piece together our local history. Now they specifically want readers to help them as they nail down the details for the scenery and buildings on the layout.
We took a walkabout all along the tracks that day, from the famous old Woolley triangle — which has now lost its diagonal leg that dates back to 1889 and the Fairhaven & Southern days — past the old Northern Pacific depot where a southbound NP train collided with the smoking car of an eastbound Great Northern train and drove the car through the depot on Jan. 31, 1918; all the way down to the site of the footings of two water towers and the roundhouse that served steam locomotives through the mid-1950s; clear down to where brambles and blackberry bushes now cover the old roadbed, between the former Goodyear-Nelson and Willis, Rogers & Pearson sawmills.
As we walked along and various experts and old-timers pointed out the location of long-gone buildings and former spurs in the once very busy rail yard, Kent expressed disappointment that he still lacks photos of some of the most noted landmarks in both Sedro and Woolley. He intends to make the layout as accurate as is possible. So, we list below the photos (and documents) he hopes that old-timers and their descendants still have in their collections, and he seeks their memories too. If you have answers, please email us or write to us at the mailing address at the top of the page. Scans and copies are sufficient; we do not ask for your originals:

This is a circa-1920s photo of the Northern Pacific depot, which stood on the immediate west side of the north-south tracks in Sedro-Woolley. In 1901, as Great Northern's James J. Hill gained effective control over both transcontinental rail lines, the depot was moved from its original location in the triangle north of Northern Avenue, which was formed where the original three railroads crossed. To the left (west) was the Skagit Commission Co., which evolved into Lentz and Nelson Feed and Seed; and to the right were the Pioneer boarding house on the north side of Ferry Street and the Vendome Hotel on the south side. Click on photo for a larger version.

Requests and questions:

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We want very much to hear from someone who remembers how the NP used the various yard tracks. They had a system for every yard — cars destined for X go on Track 1, Y on Track 2, etc.
What I could really use help coming up with photos of certain buildings in S-W. Ideally it would be 1955 but a few years either way would still be fine, probably, since they didn't change that rapidly. I have listed them roughly in descending order of priority.
Sedro Ice & Cold Storage Co.; 103 State St. I have no photos of this building at all, which is a bummer. And I would absolutely love to know when they stopped providing icing service to the NP. [Journal ed. note: we also hope that someone will remember when the Sedro Ice Co. supplied the ice in the period of the 1890s through the 1940s. We also seek information about the bottling plant and its various ice cream and soft-drink products.]
JW Feed Co., Inc. (prev. Gould Feeds); 101 W State St. Building still exists. I don't have any "then" photos from the 1950s and they would be welcomed, to compare to the "now" photos that I took.
Skagit Logging Co.; Sterling St. This was on the same large lot as W-R-P but was on the east side. It was probably quite a small building, maybe just an office. Do you know anyone who could confirm the location and maybe some photos?
Lentz Farm Supply, Inc.; 100 W Ferry St. I have a few peek-a-boo shots of this, usually with the NP depot in the foreground. What I lack are decent photos of this building as the main subject. I especially have no idea what the north part of the building looked like. We're in better shape here now with the photos you have given me already but more would be nice, especially of other angles. I think you mentioned some former employees you could ask? Or maybe see if the Vern Sims/North Cascades Ford firm has any pre-demolition photos?
Goodyear-Nelson Hardwood Lumber Co.; South of W Jameson St., west of NP Right Of Way. Buildings still exist. Have OK photos of this from back in the day but more would be welcomed.
Willis-Rogers & Pearson Lumber Co. (W-R-P); (Boyd Lumber in 1960s-80s?, then Sedro-Woolley Lumber Co.); South of W Jameson St., east of NP ROW. I have one great photo of this complex — from the S-W Museum, an aerial shot. More would be great to have.
NPRR turntable, roundhouse, water tank, coal dock and bunkers. South of W State St., east of Rita St. I have fairly decent shots of these structures but more would be welcomed. These are last on my list because they were more or less gone by 1955. [Journal ed. note: the one depot for which we do not have a photo is the one built by the original Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, directly west of the high school football field. Like the town of new Sedro, the depot soon faded in importance, in favor of the original union station in the old Woolley triangle. It is now the nucleus of a home on Railroad Street, moved there on log rollers in 1901. See our master story on the history of the Fairhaven & Southern and all the early Northwest railroads: http://www.skagitriverjournal.com/RR/Sk-What/F-S01-Birth.html]
White Fuel & Transfer. [Journal ed. note: Eugene Mohler and Percy "Puss" Stendal owned this business in the '40s through the '60s and bought the former Pacific NW Interurban terminus property, west of the tracks and south of Ferry Street. They also bought the original Interurban depot and used it for their offices; that is the only depot left, moved to Hwy 20 in the 1980s.]

Links, background reading and sources

Check out our Railroads Portal section for stories on many trains of the Northwest plus dozens of links for stories and photos on websites that honor railroads, especially those of the steam kind.
See 6 rare old photos about the 3 trains in the famous 1890s Sedro-Woolley triangle
We continue our new Memoirs collection with memories that Les Palmer has of his childhood in Sedro-Woolley and his connection with the Northern Pacific railroad tracks.

Story posted on June 8, 2010 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them

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Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 89 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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Skagit River Journal

Kent Sullivan requests your memories about the Northern Pacific line that ran through Sedro-Woolley in 1955

Kent Sullivan requests your memories
about the Northern Pacific line that
ran through Sedro-Woolley in 1955