An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 53

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 53
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 53

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Acres.

Bushels.

Acres.

Tons.

1878.

670

37,000

250

650

1819.

810

54,000

260

640

1880.

880

10,200

215

660

1881

:50

37.000

415

1,000

1882

$10

35.000

200

1.450

1883.

660

40,000

825

1,715

In 1880 the yield was largely decreased by freshets, which drowned out the grain, and in studying the table it is well to remember also that twice the stock was kept on the Stillaguamish tide lands that was kept in 1878.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there was no standstill among the Snohomish county pioneer agriculturists during the latter seventies or the carly eighties. These were years of extremely hard times, however, the lumber market being demor- alized so as to force a great curtailment in the log- ging industry, upon which everything else in the sound country was so completely dependent.

William Whitfield, who was then sheriff and as- sessor, says the times were quiet in 1882, but there must have been a considerable revival before the close of that year, for in July the Seattle Daily Herald made the statement: "There is work for fully five hundred men in the various logging camps of the sound and rivers. At present nearly all of the camps are running with short crews, which is

greatly to be regretted, for logs are in great demand at the mills, as high as seven dollars and fifty cents per thousand feet being offered. The mills being short of logs are not running to their full capacity, which makes lumber searee and thus prevents the amount of building that would otherwise be done. In a word, business is cramped in every direction on account of the scarcity of labor."

Conditions throughout the territory were gener- ally very good, as shown by an estimate of the prob- able exports from Washington published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which placed them at over nine hundred cargoes of fifteen hundred tons each. The population of the territory was only about one hundred and twenty thousand. This prosperity, which, of course, included Snohomish, is further indicated by the Eye of March 27, 1883, which says: "The whole of Washington territory is infused with new life, and possessed of an activ- ity, even during the winter, that is largely in excess of anything heretofore witnessed in any country. Its population is being rapidly augmented and its resources developed in a more than corresponding degree. The producer finds a ready and remunera- tive market for all that he can raise. These mar- kets are growing larger every day, so that those who have soil to cultivate need have no fear of a profitable disposition of their crop. A careful read- ing of our exchanges from Washington ter- ritory shows a demand for all kinds of labor at good wages more than equal to the supply."

The healthy growth of Snohomish county in particular is shown by the tax returns, which placed the valuation of taxable property in the county for the year 1882 at $436,126, which was an increase over the previous year of $60,969.

The lumber industry was recovering very rapidly from its weak condition of a short time before. Since 1879 the price of logs had advanced from $3.50 per thousand feet to $1.00, with a much greater demand, and the number of men employed was three times as large. All the mills were run- ning full swing and the ring of the ax and the buzz of the saw were heard throughout the county. There was one mill that cut ?50,000 feet of lumber a day and several that exceeded 100,000 feet. The shipments of humber from the county averaged about twenty million feet a month, while the pro- duction for the home market was about half a million.

There were a number of new enterprises under- taken in connection with the lumbering industry in the year 1883. One of them was the constric- tion of a flood dam at the outlet of Lake Stevens, by which the water could be raised six feet, thus enabling the Pillchuck river to be raised so that logs could be driven during the low water of summer. There were millions of feet of lumber that could be moved in this way. The estimated cost of the dam was $1,500.

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SNOHOMISH COUNTY

The largest lumbering concern in the entire region was that of the Blackman Brothers, on the Snohomish river. This enterprising firm was the originator of many notable improvements. One of the most notable was a logging car truck, the patent for which was secured in March, 1882. Steam was applied to this and vastly more work was done than had been done before on the okl skid roads with mules and oxen. These trucks immed- iately became very popular and were used exten- sively throughout the county and territory. About thirty were in use on the Snohomish and the neigh- boring streams.

Another enterprise, of a different nature but also very useful in the progress of the valley of the Sno- homish, was a ferry built by W. M. Pattison across the Skykomish river not far from its mouth. Between this river and the Snoqualmie just above their junction a beautiful and productive settlement was rapidly springing up. They had had no com- munication with Snohomish except by boat, but after the completion of the ferry the two places were connected by wagon road, which was of great benefit to both.

In the meantime the county was rapidly growing in population. We learn from the Eye of April 11, 1883, that every steamer brought a crowd of strangers from abroad, who came to gain a know- ledge of the resources of the country and to look for homes. A large percentage of these people were so pleased with the country that they remained and helped to develop it. A particularly earnest and progressive class of immigrants was a colony of Scandinavians who had settled some years pre- viously on the Stillaguamish river at and near the town of Stanwood. They were all steady and in- dustrious people and had already made themselves comfortable homes out of the forest. They had churches and schools and were altogether a very desirable class of citizens.

During the summer of 1883 a great deal of work was done on the marsh lands south of Snohomish City on the opposite side of the river. These marshes have already been described at some lengthi. Unimproved they were entirely worthless, being covered with a foot or two of water and producing nothing but hardhack; but with this water drained off they immediately became very productive and very valuable. The settlers combined and ran par- allel ditches across this marsh from the highlands to the river. There were three main ditches, the Stevenson-Larrimer ditch, the William-Dietman ditch, and one from Asa Davis' place on the high- land to James Vance's on the river. These three ditches were of about equal length, aggregating something over six miles, and were about a mile apart. They were from four to eight feet wide and from four to seven feet deep. being large enough in some places to convey produce to market by means of a canoe. A number of smaller ditches

were built intersecting the large ones, by which means the water was effectually drained from the land. By this enterprise considerably over five thousand acres of excellent land were reclaimed and in the course of time put under productive cul- tivation.

There was also under course of construction a wagon road from the southern edge of the marsh south nine miles to Lake Washington through a region of new and rapidly growing settlement. This road was undertaken by private persons, the com- missioners not being sufficiently persuaded of its value to give any assistance. It was also expected that a road would be built across the marsh to a point opposite Snohomish City, where a ferry would be established, and thus Snohomish would be distant from Seattle by land only twenty-three miles.

In October a work of great importance was done by the government under the direction of William F. Hedges, namely, blasting out the snags and obstructions from the Snohomish river. These snags had long been a great menace to shipping and a cause of much loss and misfortune to loggers. One snag alone had cost them several thousand dollars by breaking their booms and sending their logs out to sea. It was therefore cause of great rejoicing to them to see these agents of destruction removed.

On August 23d the town of Stanwood was the scene of a serious shooting affray. It appears that a number of men were engaged in playing poker in James Caldon's saloon, among them Lo Rogers and Tom Devlin. A friend of the latter named Tom McFarlane, who was not playing. asked him to quit, thus angering Rogers, who toll the intruder to mind his own business and clear out. McFarlane replied that he was not talking to him, whereupon Rogers drew a revolver and shot McFarlane through the shoulder. He then flourished his revolver around his head and declared that he was ready for anyone else who wanted some of the same treat- ment. There was no sheriff at Stanwood or anyone who wished to assume that office, so Rogers suc- ceeded in making his escape.

During February of that winter the Snohomish river was frozen up so solidly that navigation was impossible and for a period of nearly two weeks all communication by water with the outside world was cut off. No mail was received and no news except what was brought from the neighboring farms and villages by private conveyance. The first boat to reach Snohomish was the Merwin. with a long list of passengers and freight and a large amount of mail. She ran aground before reaching the city and was unable to get off before the next morning, but no serious mishaps occurred. She was heartily welcomed by the people of Snohomish. who were greatly rejoiced that the blockade had at last been broken.

The spring of 1884 witnessed some difficulties

211

CURRENT EVENTS, 1810-89

between a number of Skykomish Indians and a family named Taylor, who were living on the Sky- komish near the mouth of the Sultan. The cause of the trouble was that the Indians were accustomed to allow their dogs to range freely on the Taylor place, much to the disgust of the latter, who finally shot one of the dogs. The Indians, in a rage, at once put on their fighting costumes and went to seek satisfaction. They drew up at the Taylor place with a great flourish of bowie knives and huge threats of vengeance, but Mr. Taylor was not so scared as they expected. On the contrary, he went after his revolver and advised them to withdraw. This the Indians declined to do. At this juncture the mother of Mr. Taylor, who was a lady of nearly sixty, stepped between him and one of the Indians named Sultan John, who seemed to be a leader among the red skins. Just then a squaw tried to seize Mr. Taylor's revolver and it was discharged, the ball striking Mrs. Taylor on the arm and in- flicting a very painful wound. Shortly after this the Indians withdrew but soon returned and posted themselves in convenient places near the house and commenced to take shots at anyone who might show his head. They kept this up for the rest of the day but fortunately no one was hit, though there were several narrow escapes. The fight was at length terminated when one of the Taylor brothers suc- ceeded in hitting Sultan John, whose hiding place behind a pile of logs was revealed by the smoke from his gun.

The next day Sultan John, who was not seriously hurt, and his comrades went to town, where they represented that they had been cruelly injured and sought protection from their white oppressors. Taylor swore out warrants against the Indians on the charge of assault with deadly weapons, but before anything further was done it was decided that nothing would be gained by prosecuting them and accordingly a pow-wow was held, at which the Indians agreed to pay the costs already incurred, on condition that they be released. They were very glad to get off so casy.

We can hardly blame the Indians for being on unfriendly terms with the whites, who were so rapidly taking possession of their old homes. This region of the Skykomish in particular was rapidly changing from the haunts of the native Americans to the cultivated farms and the pleasant homes of white settlers. Up and down the banks of the river was farm after farm, ' highly cultivated and pro- ducing rich harvests, in some cases as much as four and five tons of hay to the acre and three hundred and more bushels of potatoes to the acre and other things in proportion. Seven miles from Snohomish City was the little town of Park Place on the Skykomish, opposite the rich and rapidly growing Tuaico settlement in the forks of the Sky- komishi and Snoqualmie. With this settlement Park Place was connected by means of William Patti-

son's ferry. From Pattison's place to Fern Bluff a wagon road was built in 1883, which made it possible to traverse in an hour the distance that had previously required an entire day.

Between Snohomish City and Park Place were a number of fine farms, among them being those of J. H. Plaskett, Hiram Thomas, McNaught & Blan- chard. Mrs. Mary Evans, Jacob Boyer, Mr. Holm, Il. Frederickson, J. A. Cedergreen, Charles M. Cedergreen, William Hawkins and G. T. Sorenson. In the near vicinity of Park Place were the premises of Messrs. Taylor, Pierce, MeDougall and Mc- Clurg, and also that of Mrs. George Allen. Between there and the mouth of the Sultan river were several other valuable farms, including those of Messrs. Peterson, Cochran, Richardson, Salem Woods and John Elwell. We see by the number and excellence of these ranches that agriculture was fast becoming one of the foremost industries in the county.

Other industries also were assuming proportions considerably larger than heretofore, notably that of stock raising. We note in the Eye of March 14, 1883, that twenty quarters of beef were shipped to Seattle by George W. Borst, of the Snoqualmie. This may not seem to be an important item until we remember that only a few years previous prac- tically all the beef used in Snohomish county was imported from Seattle. Now there was not only enough for all local consumption, but some to export as well. There were grazing lands in the county, which, when utilized to their fullest capacity, would be capable of maintaining thousands of cattle and sheep.

The year 1884 was a dull one for the logging industry. The price of logs fell so low that as early as the first of June eight logging camps out of eighteen on the Snohomish and its tributaries ceased operations, and several others shortly after did the same. However, the depression in the lumber busi- ness had no such demoralizing effect upon the entire community as it had produced in the latter seventies, for lumbering was no longer the one grand industry upon which all other industries were dependent. While still of course the most exten- sive and important industry of the county, it no longer held absolute sway over the others. Agri- culture had risen with tremendous strides to a position nearly equal to it. Consequently, when this depression came upon the lumber business and eries of "hard times" were issuing from the lips of the lumbermen, the rest of the community sustained itself in a way that was highly gratifying. Building and other activities continued much as usual. It was a sign of great progress and increasing stability that the county was no longer dependent entirely upon one industry.

There was considerable building going on in the city of Snohomish. The finest looking stric- ture was the Cathcart opera house, the lower floor of which was fitted as a bar and billiard hall. There

272

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

were two principal hotels, kept respectively by Isaac Cathcart and J. W. Knapp. The principal business establishments were those of the Snohomish Trad- ing Company, Blackman Brothers, Comegys & Ves- tal, 11. F. Jackson, all with general merchandise, and John T. Stevenson, with dry goods. The finest residence in the city at that time was probably that of Charles Jackson, a wealthy logging man.

In the carly part of June, 1884, the Pillchuck and Stillaguamish wagon road was completed. This had been begun on the 14th of March under the direction of B. C. Schloman. The county commis- sioners had appropriated four hundred dollars for the road, but this sum had covered less than half the cost. The rest was paid by private parties. The road was a very important one, traversing as it did a region of rich agricultural lands and opening up thousands of acres to settlement. Land hunters immediately flocked in and many valuable claims were taken up. The country at either end of this road, that is, the Stillaguamish and Pillchuck valleys, was already beginning to be quite exten- sively settled. While the farms were as yet only partially cleared, the prospects for developing one of the most productive agricultural districts in the Northwest were very bright. The work and pri- vation involved in clearing and cultivating these heavily timbered lands was extreme, but the ener- getic settlers of Snohomish proved themselves equal to it.

Mining operations during the decade of the eighties were not very extensive. The old Silver City mines were practically abandoned. In fact the only mines that were worked to any extent were on the Sultan river. There was a good deal of placer digging on the bars of that stream, especially by Chinamen, who made from one dollar to two dollars a day. In the spring of 1884 considerable excitement was caused by the incorporation of the Sultan River Mining Company, which was com- posed principally of Seattle capitalists, among whom were Dr. Mondy, L. H. Griffith, J. W. George, E. M. Small, Dr. J. A. Beach and others. The hold- ings of this company consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of placer diggings on the Sultan river between five and six miles from the mouth. At this point the river made a sharp horseshoe bend, which had been caused by a large land slide some years before. It was the intention of the company to dig a ditch between the two ends of the horse- shoe, a distance of only ninety rods. thus turning the river and exposing the river bed for a length of a mile and a half. It was thought that this river bed was very rich in gold and it was this that the company expected to work. These mines were not more than thirty miles by the traveled road from Snohomish City and were therefore very easy of access.

railroads. The question of railroads was not such a vital one in Snohomish as in some other counties, several of which were held back many years because of the lack of them. Snohomish, unlike these counties, was provided with navigable rivers, by which commerce could be carried on with other parts of the sound. However, as the county devel- oped, as its more remote sections were settled up and as its trade relations covered a wider terri- tory, the need of better transportation facilities became evident and received carly attention.

On August 5th of that year appeared the pros- pectus of a proposed railroad to be built and operated by a corporation known as the "Snake River, Priest Rapids and Puget Sound Railroad and Navigation Company." The offices of this company were at Snohomish City, and the officers were E. C. Ferguson, president ; J. H. Plaskett, vice-president ; Isaac Cathcart, treasurer ; C. H. Packard, record- ing secretary ; J. L. McDonald, corresponding sec- retary. The proposed route of the road was set forth in the prospectus as follows: "The recent sur- veys of Major Truax and others in the Lo-lo pass demonstrate it as the most available portal into Washington territory, connecting with the crossing of Snake river near its junction with the Clearwater, thence across the prairie to the Columbia river at Priest rapids, up the Kittitas valley via Thorp's cabin, along the Yakima river, skirting Lake Kiche- las, thence along the Snoqualmie river and down the northeast bank of the Snohomish river to the harbor of Tulalip, on Puget sound." The advantages of such a route were depicted in glowing terms and for a time things looked very encouraging, but as is usually the case with any new enterprise, actual developments were slow in coming, and it was several years yet before a railroad was seen in Sno- homish county.

The year 1884 was on the whole a very pros- perous one. Governor Squire, in his annual report to the secretary of the interior, gave the products of the county for the year as follows: Wheat, 2,400 bushels : oats, 62,000; barley, 7,200; potatoes, 150,- 000 ; apples, 15,000; plums and other fruits, 5,000; hay, 8,000 tons ; hops, 15 tons ; live stock : horses and mules, 400; neat cattle, 4,500; swine, 1,500; sheep, 25,000; orchard trees in the county, 17,000; manu- factured products, 2.800,000 feet of lumber ; sash and doors, brick, boots and shoes, blacksmith's work and furniture, total value, $64,500. Assessed value of property in the county, $604,362; county tax levy, 19 mills ; population, estimated, 2,150, number of school districts, 12; school houses. 13; number of school children, 668. As a matter of comparison it may be observed that the assessment valuation of the property had a great deal more than doubled since 1874, being at that time $250.610.

In 1885 the lumber business, which had been under a cloud the year before, began to brighten.

In the summer of 1884 occurred the first move- ments in Snohomish county in the direction of Many mills on the rivers and along the coast re-

273

CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89

sumed operations and by the middle of summer most of the mills in the county were running full blast. While the price of logs was not yet as high as it had been a few years before, expenses were less and profits about the same as they had been. There were several large logging camps near Sno- homish City, the largest of which was that of the Blackman Brothers, who were putting into the water about forty thousand feet of logs per day. This camp was on the Snoqualmie, six miles above Sno- homish. Six miles below the city, on Ebey slough, was the camp of E. D. Smith, who, with a crew of about thirty men, put in from twenty-five to thirty thousand feet per day. Hulburt's and Stinson's camps were also busy, putting in about twenty thousand feet each. These were only a few of the many camps scattered throughout the county, so it is easy to see that the logging industry was reviv- ing quite rapidly.

In August, Blackman Brothers met with a serions disaster. This was no less than the burning out of their entire camp. The fire was started by I. Catheart, on whose land they were working, for clearing purposes, but it got beyond his control and spread so fast that the men had great difficulty in saving themselves and the teams. The camp itself was completely burned with many of their tools ; also the logging railroad, which had been com- pleted only two months before at a cost of nearly six thousand dollars, was all destroyed except about two hundred yards near the landing. Besides these losses a great deal of timber was burned, but in spite of this disaster the energetic and dauntless Blackman Brothers immediately made preparations to open another camp.

About a month later another misfortune of a different kind happened to the loggers. The river rose suddenly and the Pillchuck boom broke, letting over a million and a half feet of logs go down the river. Quite a lot were turned into Ebey slough, but others were gathered in on the way down, in- cluding about a hundred thousand belonging to E. D. Smith, so that altogether about two million feet went out to sea, most of them drifting into Port Susan bay. The steamer Lone Fisherman was im- mediately put to work with a large crew of men picking up the logs. About three-fourths of them were finally recovered. The heaviest losers in this misfortune were E. Hagerty and Clark Brothers, both of whom lost several hundred thousand feet. In a short time a new sheer boom was put in oper- ation at Deadwater by Messrs. Tompkins & Pearl, which was a great protection against any more such calamities.

The first sawed shingle ever made in the county was produced by Blackman Brothers' mill October 26th. This was the beginning of an industry which later became one of the largest in the entire section. Blackman Brothers and Mortimer Cook, of Sedro, Skagit county, were the men who introduced the red

cedar shingle of Puget sound in the markets of the cast.

In the meantime agriculture was taking bigger strides than ever. While not strictly a grain country, such things as hay, hops and vegetables could be raised very successfully. The Tualco settlement in the forks of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie was rapidly developing and assuming the appearance of a rich agricultural community. Farms were being cleared or partially cleared at the rate of about ten acres a year for each farm. Considerable cattle were raised. Among the largest and best farms were those of Messrs. Johnson, Harriman, Foye, Spurrell, Phelps, Fitzmaurice, Taylor, Tester, Detering and Austin.

The marsh south of Snohomish was also pro- gressing well. As an example of the fertility of the soil there the Eye gives a description of a piece of ground thirty-three yards long and thirty wide belonging to Peter Hovardson, who raised upon it, in 1885, 331 bushels of potatoes, a ton of turnips, 4 bushels of beets, 11/2 bushels of parsnips, 4 bushels of corn, and about half a ton of squash, and besides all this, 18 bushels of apples and pears on the trees in that piece of land, less than half an acre. Most of the farmers on the marsh had from fifteen to fifty acres of improved land, which they were grad- ually increasing. There was about five hundred acres in cultivation that year, but it was expected that that amount would be doubled the following vear. Most of the marsh trade went to Lowell, there, being no direct communication with Snoho- mish. There were about fifteen miles of ditches, including side ditches, which very effectually drained the water from the land. The cost of the ditches had been about ten thousand dollars.

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 53

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172