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Skagit River JournalSubscribers Edition 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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This undated drawing of the LaConner waterfront from the Skagit County Historical Society Museum in LaConner shows a view looking east-northeast across the Swinomish flats, the first area on the future mainland Skagit county to be settled. We who research the history of Skagit county and the Pacific Northwest are most fortunate to have the 1906 Illustrated History book, as a source book. It was published by the Interstate Company of Chicago, which produced similar books for counties all over the country. The back half included biographies which were paid for by pioneer families, which underwrote the costs of production. The front half, however, was written by journalists who were familiar with the area and went into the field to interview living pioneers and research the surviving copies of frontier newspapers. In this case, one of the writers was the young Harry Averill, who wrote for local papers and, after a stint in California, came home to edit the Mount Vernon Herald. We have surveyed subscribers to determine what they most want to read and many requested transcripts from this book, which is very rare and difficult to access outside of libraries and collections. |
We are grateful to the Skagit Valley Genealogical Society, a fine organization that incurred great expense to reproduce this book in a limited edition, a copy of which is available for reading in almost every library in the county. This is the first of several chapters that we have transcribed by hand and share first with our subscribers in gratitude for your support. Part one includes: Memories of early settlers; Earliest Fidalgo Island settlers; Ship Harbor attracts Governor Stevens and family; Anna Curtis Bowman buys future-Anacortes site; Guemes Island and copper discovery; early exploration of Skagit mainland, 1855; First permanent settlers on mainland of future Skagit county; The Swinomish Indians and reservation; Michael Sullivan and Sam Calhoun; Swinomish/LaConner settlement. Part two includes: Birdsview: von Pressentin, Minkler and Kemmerich, and early upriver settlers; Future Sedro and other early upriver settlers; Courts of Whatcom county (pre-Skagit county); Northern Pacific relinquishes government land; Sternwheelers and early landings. |
Before the road was widened, paved, and named Marine Drive, it was called Fidalgo Bay Rd. Here you can see the close proximity of the road to the water. Chris Anderson writes, "At times when the road would wash out, drivers would have to go around, out through Lake Campbell to Sharpe's Corner to get in and out of town. When the new highway went in about 1960, it was built about 100 feet above this road. The Anacortes High School band played at the highway dedication, first at Sharpe's Corner and then bused back into town to play there." Photo courtesy of Claudia Lowman. |
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John G. Kamb Jr. found this terrific photo of unknown vintage that shows how loggers in the earliest days of settlement of the river valleys used the splash method to float logs down canals to the river. |
Major J.J. Van Bokkelen, who called upon us Wednesday, informs us that the day before he left Port Townsend, A.S. Buffington, J.K. Tukey and others, old settlers of this territory, returned from the valley of Skagit river. They stated that in the first twelve miles of the river they met with obstructions consisting of three rafts, after passing which they prospected the bars, and invariably found gold. When the party reached the forks of the river they went up the northern branch to Mount Baker and fell in with several Indian camps. Mr. Hastie says he remembers this party. While they found gold widely distributed, it was not in paying quantities.
Perhaps few pioneers in the history of our country ever attempted to build homes in a more uninviting region. The people of the older settlements of the sound knew of this stretch of marsh and many of them had seen it, but they thought it absurd to try to reclaim such a desolate tide-swept waste. At high tide, the Indians paddled their canoes wherever they wished over what are now tile finest farms in Washington. The marsh was ramified by countless sloughs, big and little, many of them long since filled and cultivated over. In the summer, tule, cattail and coarse salt grass flourished and it was the home of many thousands of wild fowls amid muskrats, an ideal hunting ground for Indians. Before anyone located here, the settlers of Fidalgo island used to visit the Swinomish in summer and cut the wild grass for hay. The first settlers were the objects of much ridicule from their friends in the neighboring settlements. When we consider the great dikes that must be built around their claims we can understand why it seemed an almost impossible task.For the first few years, Messrs. Sullivan and Calhoun were the only white settlers in their neighborhood. The next permanent settlers, Mrs. Calhoun says, were John Cornelius, Robert White and James Harrison.
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Hole in the wall at LaConner. Mike Aiken, descendant of the upriver Minklers, found this postcard with a view looking north from Skagit Bay through the narrow passage leading north through the Swinomish Slough. It was a tricky bottleneck for schooners to sail through but shallow-draft sternwheelers navigated it well. The little fishing cabin to the right is probably the one owned by a Mr. Bryn, who fished there for a couple of decades. The little island by the Hole was the home of John P. McGlinn, who arrived in 1872 as Indian Agent at Lummi with jurisdiction over Swinomish Reservation. When President Grover Cleveland was inaugurated, McGlinn lost his political patronage and in 1877, he moved to LaConner and owned the McGlinn/Maryland House hotel. He moved his family to the Hole-in-the-Wall island for three years. |
William Munks and his first wife, Arminda |
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This lovely photo of western Fidalgo Island shows part of the undisturbed park land donated by Sharpe descendants. You can read about Sharpe Park & Montgomery-Duban Headlands and see many more photos and a slideshow. The property was donated by Kathleen Sharpe on July 26,1977. As she explained, it is "Dedicated to the memory of my beloved husband, Wallace J. Sharpe, and his father, Thomas J. Sharpe, who were the settlers on this property. It is my desire that for all time this property shall provide a respite for mankind's body and soul to reflect upon the beauty of God's creation." |
An old friend who was admiring the orchard so free from stumps and other undesirable growth saw a huge stump right in the center and said to Shame, 'Sharpe, I shouldn't think an energetic man like yourself would allow an unsightly stump like that to remain on his place.' Sharpe's quiet reply, 'If I took out the last big stump, people from the city might think my orchard was originally prairie land.'[Return]
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Would you like information about how to join them? 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. 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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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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