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Skagit River JournalSubscribers Edition, where 450 of 700 stories originate 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 |
Home of the Tarheel Stomp Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug |
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Harry Lincoln Devin |
Mark Chatt and family have totally remodeled the Devin house in Sedro-Woolley and in 2011 it is up for sale. See Part Two for the photos of the remodeling. |
He used to send me out to get fresh mint, water etc. He would never give me any hard liquor, but would give me a glass of wine and let me sit in a chair at the other end of the sideboard while he and his cronies discussed everything from business to ethics; from horses to the best ways to age liquors. I gathered that the greatest thing was to always be a gentleman:Harry's mother died in Zanesville in October 1869. A year later, Harry's father sent him with his older sister, Alice, and older brother, David, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they entered college and Harry attended grade school. By then, Harry had established his independence and his bravery. While attending Sunday School, the teacher told a parable of a naughty boy who played hookey on Sunday and went rowing in a boat and was drowned — the fate of all such boys, according to the teacher. Harry doubted the story and slipped away one afternoon to test it. He "walked a couple of miles to a small lake. Finding a boat, I rowed across the lake and back, watching all the time to see something rise out of the water and pull me in, but nothing happened and I walked home satisfied that just because something was printed in a book, it was not necessarily true."
If a man could not carry his liquor like a gentleman, he should leave it alone
That no gentleman would deceive or impose on those weaker than himself
[That a gentleman] must always be courteous to his inferiors as well as his equals
That there was no excuse for a gentleman to lie except to protect a woman's reputation.
When I was about 12, I saw the three-shell game demonstrated, while riding in the smoker of a train going to Happy Hollow one day. Two men were riding in the two seats in front of me; the front seat had been turned so they faced each other, the sharper in the seat in front of me had a board across his knees with three half walnut shells and a pea on it. Facing him was an old man with grey whiskers, roughly dressed. The sharper would bet the old man he could not guess which shell the pea was under. He let the old man win some one and two-dollar bets, then pretending to get mad, he said he would bet him fifty dollars he could not do it again. The old man dug up fifty dollars and placed it on his side of the board. The sharper started to shuffle the shells. [Then], when the old man demanded that he put up his fifty dollars the same as he had, the sharper pretended to be insulted, but came through. Boy, like I was leaning over the back of the seat and watching every move. When the shells and the pea had been shuffled enough, the sharper told him to pick the [correct] shell. The old man's hands came over the board, one holding an eight-inch bowie knife, while the other gathered in both piles of money and shoved them in his pocket. Then, with the knife, he turned over all the shells, one at a time and showed that there was no pea under any of them. The sharper started to make a fuss, but the old man told him to keep his hands on the board, that if he made a crooked move, he would "slit his gizzard."
The conductor was attracted by the rumpus and pulled the bell rope and when the train stopped, he threw the sharper in the brush. Then the old man explained to me that the sharper would get the pea between his fingers and hold it there, so there would be no pea under any shell.
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He met a Sioux Indian named "Horsehead," who proclaimed Harry his brother, following an incident in a restaurant. Harry had made the Indian's acquaintance previously, and the two of them were having lunch when two cowboys entered the place and started cursing because there was an Indian at the counter. They grew surly and abusive and finally Harry drew his gun, saying: "Unless this Indian eats, you eat lead." Tough as they were, lead was not in their diet. Horsehead, deeply grateful, had the occasion to repay Harry for his kindness by steering him away from an Indian massacre.Grandfather David Chambers' example of treating people equally and fairly would influence Harry Devin's relations with various races often in his life. Harry shared details of one such challenge with his own grandson Harry Duncan. Sometime after the turn of the century, he was in Anacortes on business when he encountered some drunken miners who were about to push a Chinaman into the sound. Still packing a firearm in those days, Harry whipped out his pistol and dared them to proceed. They fled instead. For the next 40 years, Harry received a large can of fine Chinese green tea from the man's family every Christmas.
Agnes Devin and one of her paintings |
In April, 1889, Mr. Mosier moved with his family to Washington Territory, where he had many adventures in the deep, wild forests. Soon after his arrival he took his family in Indian canoes, manned by Indians, and ascended the Snohomish river for three days. After disembarking they had to walk on a mountain trail for sixteen miles, making six miles of the trail themselves, and camping without tent. On the second day (fifth day out) they reached a small cabin. They spent the summer in the Cascade mountains, and early in December descended the river to the town of Snohomish on tide water.
This photo of a gold-mining claim near Dawson City is from a great site that will also give you lots of details about a miner who worked there in 1897, the first time that Harry mined there. Go to the second part of the Devin story for his Klondike days and his days in Sedro-Woolley. |
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Would you like information about how to join them in advertising? 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. |
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