Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
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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.

The columns of Frank Wilkeson,
many published in the New York Times, and written
while he lived in Sedro, Hamilton and Fairhaven

Let's read Frank's columns, many about fishing and hunting in the Northwest. We hope that you will share scans of hunting and fishing photos with us, especially if they are from before World War II, since that would add so much to the websites. The late Howard Miller, Bud Meyer and Cecil Jordan would have been in heaven on earth tying flies with Frank and his son and "swapping spit" on overcast fall days. We can just imagine Frank's reaction if he had lived here nearly a century later when Washington state almost chose the Grandy Lake and Minkler Lake area as a site for a nuclear plant. If you like his writing as much as we do, you may find yourself thinking that he and his son, Samuel, are still alive, telling you about the joy they felt. You may hear the swoop of the eagle's wings and see the dolly varden trout gulping as they break the surface of creeks. Bet you can't read just one column.

Read about Patricia N. McAndrew's new book, The Old Soldier Goes Fishing — planned for publication in the 2012-13 period, a collection of his columns and a biography of Frank and his family.

Read a profile of Frank Wilkeson and his famous family.
A hilarious column by Frank about the Two hobos of Sedro, from the Dec. 14, 1890, New York Times.
Read about Frank taking his son and friends for a fishing trip on Grandy Lake. We are moving all our original "stumpranchonline.com" features like this one to our new domain. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Read about fishing for Humpback salmon and trout with his friends and Hamilton pioneer, Ike Morrell and Theo P. Ladue, in 1892. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Frank wrote a series of columns in 1891 about the richness of the Skagit County. "Five Thousand Five Hundred Square Miles of the richest lands in the world: No need for commercial manure here!" Agriculture, silver and coal from Sedro to Hamilton and the foothills of the Cascades.
Frank takes time off with his son and friends for fishing and hunting near Hamilton in the New York Times in 1893. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
In 1891, Frank surveyed the whole valley and the foothills for coal deposits and mines, including the little town northeast of Woolley that would become known as Cokedale. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Frank Wilkeson visits the boomtown mining district named for J.F. Wardner's namesake town in Idaho, which Frank visited in 1887 not long after its birth. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.

Frank Wilkeson writes in the New York Times in 1888 about the joys of hunting and working with a well-trained setter, and about observation and adjusting to your environment.

The tempter ceased to talk seductively. . . he looked at me through brown eyes, looked coaxingly, as though to say: "Come along. Let's take a day off. Let us go into the woods and hunt pheasant, and loiter along trout streams, and shoot ducks at the lake."

Frank Wilkeson 1884 column about what life was really like in boomtowns like Murrayville, Idaho, the story of frontier saloons, gambling and grifts and what "two bits" means. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Frank Wilkeson takes his New York Times readers fishing on 6-Mile Creek in the North Cascades in 1890, after walking 14 miles through the forest to Hamilton. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
On March 2, 1890, Frank Wilkeson, Skagit County's most esteemed early writer, profiled Nelson Bennett in a New York Times column. Bennett was the founder of the Fairhaven & Southern railroad, and boomed old Sedro after a long career as contractor the Northern Pacific railroad as that company built their line across the plains and the Rockies. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Paradise of the Cinnamon Bears, number 13 in the series of Northwest stories by Frank Wilkeson, published in the New York Times, July 10, 1892, about hunting across Skagit Pass near Lake Chelan. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Newest: Frank Wilkeson wrote an article for the New York Times issue of Feb. 27, 1893, about the mines and railroad at Monte Cristo in Snohomish County. This continues our extensive section on frontier mining. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
1900 newspaper article urging readers to desert William Jennings Bryan and vote for William McKinley. Frank Wilkeson and other Sedro-Woolley, Skagit County and Washington state business leaders endorse McKinley. This story will soon be changed to this address. If neither file connects, please email us.
Wilkeson's 1884 Sun River (Montana) Sun column of Sept. 18, 1884, about a frontier trader and his dog, Old Mose of Whoop-up.
Wilkeson's 1885 New York Sun story about Poker on the Wenatchee River and the scamp, Butch the Butcher.
Read the first two chapters of our exclusive Hamilton story. Chapter 1 covers settlement from the days in 1873 when Amasa Everett and others starting prospecting at Coal and Iron mountains. From there you will find chapter 2 about William Hamilton and family coming in 1877 and their effect on the town over the next century. With the help of descendants, we now working on Chapter 3, which will profile the early families who were caught by the many floods but were not intimidated. Are you a descendant who can help us? We hope you will share your family memories and photo scans or copies. See a complete list of upriver photo features.
See a list of links to all of Frank Wilkeson's columns on our site. And read about Patricia N. McAndrew's new book, The Old Soldier Goes Fishing — planned for publication in the 2012-13 period, a collection of his columns and a biography of Frank and his family.
You can read a bio of Wilkeson and 15 more of his columns in various sections of the website.
We want to note here that these columns are among more than 80 that Patricia McAndrew found in newspaper morgues and collections, many which she transcribed by hand.

Story posted on Story posted on Dec. 28, 2004, last updated Sept. 28, 2007, moved to this domain July 13, 2009
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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.

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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.

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Skagit River Journal

The columns of Frank Wilkeson, many published in the New York Times, and written while he lived in Sedro, Hamilton and Fairhaven

The columns of Frank Wilkeson,
many published in the New York Times, and written
while he lived in Sedro, Hamilton and Fairhaven