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 67

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 67
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 67

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ness was entirely supplying the numerous logging camps.

After the buildings already referred to, the next was one constructed by Mr. Comeford for a hotel in 1883. This he called the Marysville hotel; it is now occupied by William Turner as a saloon. Although not completed until 1883, the floor of this building had been finished by Mr. Comeford and a band of Siwashes on the evening of July 3, 1882, with the special intent that it be ready for use on the glorious Fourth. A great crowd of people, mainly loggers and Indians, gathered at that time to participate in the celebration. The chief features of this were the reading of the Declaration by an eleven year old boy, Ronoldo Packwood, and a performance by Will Morris upon the first bicycle that had ever been seen in that region. These per- formances were followed by a grand feast, which in turn was succeeded by dancing throughout the day and night following. In 1884 Mark Swinner- ton and Henry Myers bought out Mr. Comeford's store business, which they operated until 1900.

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Comeford, while out duck hunting, encountered a party laying out a town on Port Gardner bay, and thinking he might as well follow suit he proceeded to survey and lay out forty acres of his land for a regular town site. There was at first some rivalry between the embryo towns, but the harbor advantages of Everett were of such a nature that Marysville was soon out of the race.

Railroad building became the order of the day in 1889, 1890 and 1891. The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad was built four miles east of Marysville in 1889 and in connection with the new demands on trade thus created the railroad con- tractor purchased and used the old Comeford store, Swinnerton & Myers building a new one on Front street. The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad was subsequently acquired by the Northern Pacific. The attention of the people of Marysville was therefore turned toward the Fairhaven & South- ern railroad as offering their best chance for rail- road connections. A subsidy of a hundred and twen- ty acres of land was raised for that road and the supposition was that it would locate a depot in the eastern part of the town. The road, however, was acquired by the Great Northern, which decided to pass through the heart of Marysville and asked for right of way and depot grounds upon the new site. A tract of thirty-five acres was accordingly donated for that purpose. The railroad was com- pleted through the place and the depot constructed in 1891.

Times were active in Marysville during the time of the completion of the railroad. In 1890 there was a population of about two hundred people. The steamer Nelly was at that time making regular trips in charge of Captain Charles Lowe. In com- mon with the other towns Marysville enjoyed the

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boom of 1890, lots rising as high as a thousand dollars in the business portion of the town, and in common also with the other towns, it suffered a disastrous collapse two years later.

In spite of the business reaction and hard times there had been established at Marysville some per- manent industries which were the forerunners of the large enterprises of the present day. In 1887 the first manufacturing establishment, a small saw- mill, with a capacity of from three thousand to five thousand feet of lumber per day, was inaugu- rated by E. G. Anderson. This building stands on Front street a block east of the Great Northern rail- road and is still in business. In the fall of 1888 Carl Ford built a small shingle mill with an up- right machine, the power of which was an old threshing machine engine. This was located near the reservation line and a half mile back from the water front. In 1889 Cox Brothers erected the second shingle mill in the town on Second street near the reservation line. In 1890 Stevens & Robe put in the third shingle mill in the lower portion of Anderson's saw-mill.

Although prior to the year 1890 there was scarcely enough population in Marysville to entitle it to the name of a town yet the region tributary to it had already attained a considerable degree of cultivation. A correspondent of the Eye of March 13, 1886, preserves for us a pleasing picture of a steamboat ride on the steamer Nelly from Snoho- mish to Marysville. He describes the scenery of the Snohomish as unfolded from the steamer's check as indescribably grand. Giant fir and spruce trees were to be seen "more grand than the historic trees that beckon the weary traveler along the Lebanon. Beautiful farms are to be seen upon every hand. and the lowing of cattle in green meadows and the gathering of sheep and swine upon the banks of the river forcibly reminds one that he is indeed traversing civilization, where only a few years ago was nothing but a wild wilderness, inhabited only by the various tribes of Indians." This correspondent describes his hearty old-time welcome at the Marysville house, kept by Mr. Comeford, and his observations about the town. which he regarded as the future metropolis of Snohomish county. He was especially impressed by the beauty of the natural park two miles from the town which he expected would become the fair ground and race course of the county. Directly across from Ebey slough he viewed some of the finest reclaimed lands in the territory, and he de- clares that there were thousands of acres of equally good land awaiting the hand of industry to make them homes for added thousands of people. Hle also found the logging business in the vicinity ac- tive. Blackman Brothers, two miles from Marys- ville being just at the point of instituting an engine service upon their logging road. The site of Marysville and much land in its vicinity had been 19

logged by that veteran logger, so frequently men- tioned in these annals, E. D. Smith.

A correspondent of the Sun of June 27, 1890. tells us that Marysville at that time contained forty-seven dwellings, fourteen business houses, two shingle mills and one saw-mill. A large sash and door factory was in process of erection. The business houses of the town at that time were the following: Mark Swinnerton, general merchandise and farm implements ; H. B. Myers, general mer- chandise and drugs; Fisher & McDonald, groceries and provisions; S. W. Holland & Company, real estate ; E. L. Ilolt, proprietor of the Johnson hotel ; E. W. Burns, proprietor of the Pacific hotel ; Charles Trousdale, livery stable and telegraph operator ; Edmund Smith, hardware and farm im- plements : Major Smith, meat market ; A. R. Somer- ville, shoemaker ; L. MeCorkindale, blacksmith ; Cox Brothers, shingle mill; Anderson, Plate & Curtis, saw-mill; Stevens & Sparks, saw-mill. Dr. J. S. Mellhaney was the practicing physician of the place, C. H. Schaefer the postmaster. The farmers in the vicinity were enjoying great prosperity, par- ticularly those engaged in raising berries, for which the soil and climate of Marysville is peculiarly adapted. The correspondent states that the town was well provided with schools, churches, debating societies and other social and literary advantages. There was also an excellent band under the instruc- tion of Prof. John Hilton. D. S. Quinn was en- gaged at the time in the construction of a new wharf a hundred and fifty feet in length. Mark Swinnerton was also constructing a wharf and warehouse adjoining his store. There was a third wharf at that time belonging to Mr. Steele.

The vast body of fertile lands, both tide lands, higher valley land and upland susceptible of the fi- nest horticultural products, constituting, as some estimated, about twenty-five thousand acres im- mediately tributary to Marysville, led to the applica- tion to her of the name of the "Garden City" of the sound. Besides the great staples of oats and hay common to all the tide lands were vegetables, ber- ries and fruits of every sort, which found their shipping point at Marysville. In the year 1890 the steamers City of Quincy and Mabel made daily trips to Seattle and intermediate points. The population in the year 1890 was estimated by this visitor at four hundred. There was an enrollment of eighty children in the public schools. Although there was at that time no church building in the town, there were regular services maintained by the Methodist and Catholic denominations.

A correspondent of the Tribune of May 11. 1894, looks in upon the prosperous little town of Marysville and finds that in spite of the hard times it was making a substantial gain in all standard lines of business. The Stimson Lumber Company had become an important factor at that time in the development of the logging business. They opera-

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

Like the other ambitions villages of Washington state. Marysville aspired to the rank of a city, and in 1891 became incorporated as a city of the fourth class. The first council meeting was held on March 20, 1891, and the first officers of the city were as follows: Mayor, Mark Swinnerton ; coun- cil. Henry Plate, H. B. Myers, C. H. Schaefer. Alex. Spithill, Edmund Smith : clerk, M. F. Shea ; treas- urer : David A. Quinn. In 1901 the city erected a city hall at a cost of twenty-seven hundred dol- lars, having a fire department in the lower floor. As a municipality Marysville has had an exception- ally quiet and well-ordered life.

The Methodist church seems to have been the pioneer religious organization of the town. Marys- ville was part of the Snohomish circuit, of which Rev. A. J. McNamee was pastor. In 1891 Rev. WV. C. Hockett became pastor and built a three thousand dollar church, which was dedicated in August, 1891. The charter members of that church were Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Chesney, Lestella Bed- ford, Maria Ladd. Mrs. E. Munson, Annie Munson. Mary Munson, Edwin Norum, Mary E. Pease. Alice Pease, Vesta Pease, Nellie Robins and Rose Stevens. In 1902 Rev. L. J. Covington became pastor of the Methodist church. The Catholic church was built in 1895, the Congregational in 1898 and the Baptist during the present year, 1905.

One of the foremost factors in the business life of the city at present is the Marysville State Bank. occupying a fine brick building erected in the fall of 1904 on Cedar and Second streets at a cost of eight thousand dollars. S. T. Smith is president, C. E. Olney vice-president and E. E. Colvin cashier. The deposits amount. to $120,000, the loans and dis- counts, $25.000; cash available, $60,000. We find a number of milling and shingle enterprises at and near Marysville. Of the shingle mills there are the Smith Manufacturing Company, with a capacity of a quarter of a million shingles per day : the Ebey Mill Company, with from a hundred and fifty thou- sand to two hundred and fifty thousand shingles per day ; the Harrington Shingle Company, a hundred and twenty-five thousand shingles per day : the Dex- ter Mill Company, seventy-five thousand to a hun- dred thousand shingles per day : Marysville Shingle

Company, two hundred thousand shingles per day. besides sixty thousand feet of lumber. The above mills are all located within the city itself. The

ted a logging railroad seven miles in length, having headquarters at Marysville. The shingle mills at that time were under the control of Anderson & Besmer and Stevens Brothers & Ladd. These ! following are within a few miles: the Marysville firins together employed about forty men and cut " Company, one hundred thousand shingles; the about two hundred thousand shingles per day. In | Summit Mill Company, fifty thousand; J. A. Ken- that year Dr. J. F. Hawkins was the physician of the town, Judge Sisco was the Justice of the Peace, and the Marysville bank had been estah- lished, of which C. E. Olney was president and S. F. Smith cashier. The Marysville Globe was the newspaper of the town at that date. independent in polities but with a Democratic editor, Steve Saunders. nedy, fifty thousand: Barlow Shingle Company, one hundred thousand : Nelson Lumber Company, thirty thousand feet of lumber per day; Kruse Brothers & Roberts, thirty thousand feet of lumber per day. The Stimson Logging Company, whose terminus and booms are in Ebey slough, is an important factor not only in the lumber business but also in the transportation business. During the current summer they incorporated the Marys- ville & Northern Railway Company, and by means of their road not only tapped one of the finest bodies of timber in the country but make connection with the Northern Pacific railroad at Arlington and thus bring the town into connection with a second transcontinental line.

Of the miscellaneous lines of business in Marys- ville we find the following: Drug stores, Edgar II. Blair , C. Teager ; paints and wall paper. Charles A. Anderson; meat markets, Carl A. Gehlhaar , Bertois Packing Company. George A. Hauschen ; hardware, Myers & Turner , Smith & Asbery , Me- Corkindale ; blacksmith shops, Harry Bowman, L. McCorkindale : stationery stores. Harry A. Rath- von, Mrs. Matson; photograph gallery, W. J. Wood ; billiard hall, Louis Swanson ; fruit and con- fectionary store, A. E. Heider : livery stable, Allen & Delano: bicycle store, Samuel Andrews; shoe store, Myers Shoe Company ; poultry market, Dex- ter N. Fowler: jeweler. James Harbridge; real estate and insurance. Steve Saunders; F. G. Mer- rick ; general merchandise stores, F. L. Bartlett, C. T. Conrad, M. A. Guy, Mrs. C. E. Webster, Hagen ; feed store, C. N. Schumacher : undertaker. Charles Schaefer; restaurants, Mrs. J. Stahl, Mrs. John Overton. T. N. Hoyt, Mrs. Thomas, C. F. Morehead : hotels, the Florence. W. E. Sauntry , the Marysville, W. W. Howard; tailor, Carl Rohde ; shoe shop. William Tyson ; barber shops. Henry Ludwigsen. Charles Raymond; foundry, William White; grocery stores, O. G. Hagen. George Hauschen.

The electric light system belongs to the Everett Railway, Light & Water Company. W. W. Glazier being manager. Marysville is now supplied with a waterworks system under control of a private cor- poration, which brings water in pipes from a spring five miles east of the town.

The public schools of Marysville are a just source of pride to her citizens. Beginning with a rude school house on the present Woods farm two miles east of Marysville in 1885. the public school accommodations of the place have evolved into the present elegant brick structure, built in 1892 at a cost of about ten thousand dollars.

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The municipal officers are as follows: Mayor. C. T. Conrad ; councilmen, W. F. Harrington, W. H. Roberts, J. Regan, J. P. Comeford and C. E. Olney; clerk, M. Swinnerton; treasurer, C. A. Doan ; police judge, F. C. Merrick ; marshal, Austin McDonald ; attorney, B. E. Padgett. There is a volunteer fire department, of which Edward Con- rad is chief.

The churches of Marysville with their present pastors are as follows: Baptist, Rev. W. C. King: Catholic, Father P. Gard; Congregational, Rev. O. L. Anderson ; Methodist, Rev. H. G. Ward.

Marysville has a large list of fraternities. and these with the chief officers at present are the fol- lowing: W. O. W., Jeffery Hilton, C. C .; J. W. George, clerk ; Royal Neighbors of America, Mrs. Nettie Secrist, oracle; Mrs. M. McRae, recorder ; Foresters of America, O. H. Tyson, C. R. ; O. J. Morrison, F. S .; Fraternal Knights and Ladies, G. E. Benjamin, com. ; Mrs. George Johnson, secre- tary ; Masons, C. E. Munn, W. M. ; M. Swinnerton, S. W .; M. W. A., C. H. Schaefer, clerk ; D. C. Somers, V. C .; Degree of Honor, Mrs. Alma Cum- berland, C. H .; Mrs. H. A. Rathvon, recorder : Odd Fellows, R. V. Delano, N. G .; Austin Me- Donald, V. G .; Order of Pendo, Mrs. Harrington, councillor ; Mrs. May Davis, secretary ; Women of Woodcraft, Mrs. T. Raymond, G. N .: Mrs. George Allen, clerk ; Brotherhood of American Yeomen, O. H. Tyson, H. F .; F. G. Merrick, cor. ; Daugh- ters of Rebekah, Mrs. Emma Myers, N. G .; Miss Mertie Myers, secretary; International Shingle Weavers' Union, D. J. Noonan, president ; William Ross, financial secretary, Ferd Brady, recording secretary.

Last but not least among the organized institu- tions of Marysville is the newspaper, the Marysville Globe, published every Friday and edited by O. L. Anderson. This is a bright, newsy paper, indepen- dent in politics, and thoroughly devoted to the up- building of the town.

The population of Marysville is estimated in the recent publication of the State Secretary's office at twelve hundred. This comparatively small population gives one little hint of the extensive business carried on in this city. One might travel far without finding a more energetic, attractive, and altogether desirable community than Marys- ville.

STANWOOD

If the reader of these records will kindly take his map in hand while he reads, he will discover a large number of rivers issuing from the towering snow peaks of the Cascade range. By reason of the great snow fall and rain fall in those mountains these streams, though short, convey large bodies of water. Their upper parts are foaming torrents. often milk white from the grinding of the glaciers

upon the lofty peaks. In their middle reaches they are usually impetuous, yet in many instances navi- gable by light draft steamboats. Their lower parts, subjected to the influence of the ocean tides, are commonly deep and still and afford almost bound- less opportunities for boat traffic. Among these streams, with such a history as we have sketched, we find the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish trav- ersing Snohomish county. About the deltas of these streams and extending for a number of miles along their banks are extensive tide lands. These lands constitute the most extensive body of such lands in the state next to those of Skagit county. As has been developed at various points in this work, these tide lands, when drained, are of enormous productiveness for every species of grain, fruit and vegetable to which the climate is adapted. These lands are the home of the small farmer, for on a traet of from five to twenty acres it is possible to make as good a living as could be derived from a quarter section of ordinary farm land. A dense population is therefore certain to arise upon these surpassingly fertile tracts of land. We now behold those regions in their making. Co-extensive with the development of these agricultural belts is the lumbering interest of the same region, for in theirna- tive state these lands are densely timbered. Therefore the region which the lumberman had culled of its splendid logs the farmer afterward enters, and by clearing and burning the refuse of the logging camps he provides a place for permanent and beau- tiful homes. As a natural result of these con- ditions there have been founded and are now being founded numerous towns along the Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers and along the railroads which now traverse Snohomish county in all directions. Near the mouth of the beautiful Stillaguamish we find a small town which, for its population, is one of the most wealthy and well built places in the county.

This town is Stanwood. Like the other towns of this region Stanwood had its origin in the necessities and incentives of the early lumbering and trading necessities of the decades of the sixties and seventies. The first settlement of any kind in the vicinity of what is now Stanwood was 'a saloon and trading post put up by Robert Fulton in 1866 on Florence island at its most westerly point on Davis slough. In the summer of that year John Gould bought out Fulton and was himself followed in turn by George Kyle, who took a claim there and got a postoffice established which was known as Centerville, Kyle himself being the postmaster. The mail was brought from Utsalady. At some time prior to 1873 the postoffice was moved to Robert Freeman's place just below the present site of Stanwood, still retaining the name of Centerville. In 1812 HI. Oliver took up a homestead on the land now occupied by the greater portion of the town. In 1875 James Caldon bought out Freeman and

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established a hotel and saloon on the river three hundred yards below the present town, his place being known as the Pioneer. In a few years Peter MeLaughlin and Michael McNamara purchased Caldon's interests, but on account of failing to make good their financial obligations were obliged to surrender it to Caldon in 1882, and from that time In on Caldon again managed the establishment. 1876 a man destined to have an important connec- tion with the town and vicinity arrived at the little liamlet. This was Mr. D. O. Pearson. Mr. Pear- son brought lumber with which he intended building a store to supply the logging camps upon the river above. Leasing a tract of land for five years he erected a wharf, a building for a store and a warehouse. His store was a substantial structure which still stands just opposite his present store. On April 4, 1877, he brought and opened up in his store a stock of goods of the value of from four to five thousand dollars. Two years later G. H. Irvine built a store on Main street, the same building which is now used by S. A. Thompson for his general merchandise business.

In the meantime Mr. Pearson had been ap- pointed postmaster and had changed the name of Centerville to that of Stanwood in compliment to his wife, that being her maiden name.

Other buildings were added as the necessities of the growing community seemed to demand. To supply the raging thirst which, even in spite of the salubrious climate of Puget sound, seems to have tormented the inhabitants of most of those early towns, H. Oliver built and conducted the O. K. saloon. Peter Mclaughlin became the pioneer blacksmith at about the same time, his blacksmith shop being on the present site of John Hall's livery stable. Within a year or so after entering upon this business Mr. Mclaughlin died and his wife Rose opened a hotel. At about the same time an- other saloon was established by Samuel Gilpatrick on the site of the present Palace hotel. About the vear 1882 Andrew Tackstrom established a shoe shop and A. E. Klaeboe opened a drug store. Henry W. Poor opened the second blacksmith shop about 1884.

Until the year 188: Mr. Oliver, the original town proprietor, had sold lots simply by metes and hounds, but in that year William R. Stockbridge. who had come to Stanwood from Puyallup, bought out all the Oliver holdings and in the following year laid out a town site of twenty acres. This was surveyed by Peter Leque and filed on September 28, . 1889. as a plat belonging to William R. Stockbridge and his wife, Augusta M. Stockbridge.

During the last years of the decade of the eighties the little town made rapid improvement. During that time M. A. Goodykoontz established his present hardware store, and at about the same time the second hotel in Stanwood, known as the Melby House, was erected. About the year 1890

Louis H. Smith opened the third general store in the town, selling out in a few years to George J. Ketchum, who still conducts the business.

The railroads and rumors of railroads which marked that time had the same effect upon Stan- wood as upon the other towns of the county. The Stanwood people endeavored to secure the con- struction of the Fairhaven & Southern railroad directly through the town site in 1891 by offering a subsidy of four thousand dollars. The railroad people, however, did not see it to their interest to accept the proposition and the line now passes a mile east of the town. During the period of the boom Messrs. Pearson and Ketchum laid out forty acres of land as an addition to Stanwood in the direction of the railroad, but they never sold a lot.

Those years which we have sketched so rapidly were years of greater progress in the country round- about than in the town itself. It appears from correspondence which we find in the Eye of August 2, 1884, that that year witnessed the garnering of immense crops of oats and hay upon the fertile lands about Stanwood, while great quantities of the finest fruit and vegetables rewarded the toil of the settlers. This correspondent speaks with especial admiration of the orchard owned by Mr. Gardner Goodrich about two miles above Stanwood on the river.

Stanwood suffered a severe blow on May 2, 1892, by a fire which broke out in Armstrong's hotel ou Market street. Thirteen buildings in the central part of the little town were destroyed. There was no means of fire protection and as a result the citizens were helpless except for the valu- able aid of the steamer William F. Munroe, which happened to be lying at the wharf at the time. The heaviest losses sustained in this fire were those of John H. Armstrong by the destruction of his hotel, and L. H. Smith, who lost his general merchandise store across the street from the Armstrong hotel. Both these buildings, however, were insured, whereas many of the smaller ones destroyed carried no insurance. One rather comical incident is re- called by the old timers and that is that the members of the Good Templars lodge, in session at the time, rushed from their hall clad in the regalia of the order and rendered most efficient service in help- ing Mr. Armstrong save his stock of whiskey. Among other buildings burned in this fire was the Norwegian Lutheran church. The burned area was rebuilt almost immediately and Stanwood has never since had another fire.

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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 67

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