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 70

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 70
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 70

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SNOHOMISH COUNTY

shop, . B. Thomas, proprietor ; lumber yards. the Arlington Lumber Company and the Williams Lumber Company; restaurants, the Two Jacks, the Seattle Chop House ; millinery, Miss Kate Pearl. Mrs. C. C. Brown, Mrs. H. Townsend : tailor shops. Paul Hoppe. M. Ferris ; carriage store, Jasper Sill ; shingle and saw-mills within and in the vicinity. Lincoln Mill Company, Smith Brothers, proprietors. Brown & Koontz, the Arlington Shingle Company, L. A. Wheeler. president ; the Verd Cedar Company. William Verd. proprietor; the Arlington Lumber Company. Albert Brown, manager: the American Red Cedar Shingle Company ; the Arlington Water & Light Company, Crippen & Mescher. proprietors ; the Arlington Laundry Company's steam laundry : I. C. Peterson's turning and carpenter shop : cream- ery and cold storage, the Arlington Co-operative Association : Thomas Jensen, president, W. O. New, manager : the Valley Gem Dairy & Bottling Works. C. H. Wrage : postmaster. C. H. Jones : newspaper, the Arlington Times, C. L. Marsh, editor and pro- prietor. There are also eleven saloons in Arlington. Its professional men include physicians. Drs. J. E. Phelps. E. M. Adams. W. F. Oliver, E. Mohrmann ; graduate nurse, Margrathe Mohrmann : dentists, E. K. Adams, E. W. Turner ; lawyers, L. N. Jones, E. N. Livermore. Its dealers in real estate are A. L. Blair, Jones & Toles and Brumby Brothers & Hud- son. and C. L. Marsh is a regularly appointed United States land commissioner.

The churches that have been established in Arlington are the Methodist Episcopal, Rev. Charles A. Owens, pastor ; Free Methodist, Rev. G. W. Escher ; Norwegian-Lutheran. Rev. Dale ; Baptist, Rev. J. J. Ticker, and the Catholic, with no resident pastor, but supplied by Father O'Brien, of Snohomish. Local lodges or camps of the following fraternities have been organized and are being maintained, namely, the A. O. U. W., D. of H., M. W. A., W. O. W., Women of Woodcraft, I. O. O. F., Rebekahs. A. F. & A. M., O. E. S., Modern Brotherhood of America, the Fraternal Brother- hood and the F. of A. The shingle weavers and engineers have unions, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Loyal Temperance League each maintain local organizations in the town.

The most important event in the recent history of Arlington was the building in 1900 and 1901 of the Arlington-Darrington branch railroad. about twenty-eight miles long. The only trains being run over the road at this writing are tri-weekly accom- modation trains, which are not specially satisfactory to passengers. yet the road is developing a magnifi- cent section of county along the north fork. bring- ing its wealth of lumber and shingles to the market of the world, and encouraging the development of its great agricultural possibilities and causing a great influx of population, all of which is more or less tributary to Arlington. It is also lending en-

couragement to the development of the Darrington copper producing belt, which. if indications are to le trusted, has a grand destiny in store for it.

With a splendid site. magnificent natural drain- age, great tributary wealth of timber and agriculture and mines, a progressive people, a record of past achievement of which it has canse to be proud, the young town of Arlington looks out upon the future with confidence that it is destined to occupy no second place among the inland towns of northwest- ern Washington.

MONROE

It would be difficult to imagine a more sightly location for a town than that occupied by Monroe. Near it is the spot named by the carly settlers. "Park Place." because of its park-like beauty, and the site of the present town is scarcely inferior in natural attractiveness to that so justly celebrated from the earliest times. Indeed, Park Place may reasonably be considered a part of Monroe, though not included in the corporate limits, for the semi- rural, semi-urban homes, which are a prominent characteristic of Monroe, extend all the way to Park Place, making the two a unit in fact, if not in law. Not content with bestowing transcendent beauty upon this favored spot. Nature, in her partiality to it, gave also the elements of wealth with a lavish hand. The statement has been made that if Monroe were considered the center of a circle, with a radius ten miles long. more natural resources would be included than in a circle of like area described about any other town in the state. However this may be, it is certain that the natural wealth tributary to Monroe is indeed great. Sit- nated in the celebrated Forks country not far from the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers, it is the natural trading point for the splendid valleys of these waterways, valleys rich in timber, rich in agricultural achievements and still richer in agricultural possibilities. It also en- joys the trade of Woods creek, another tran- scendently rich section, and of course has a right to its share of the trade of the Snohomish valley. While Monroe is certainly not to be classed with those temporary towns which depend entirely upon the timber and disappear as soon as the work of the logger and the mill man is done, its rapid development during the past few years has been due to the great activity in the lumbering industry. So very abundant is the timber contiguous to it. that even were this its only resource, it would have assurance of a long life, but the demands of the multitudinous manufacturing population which must some day establish itself around this gateway to the Pacific will cause the splendid agricultural possibilities of its tributary bottom lands to be developed to the utmost, giving it assurance of immortality as a town.

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At least as early as 1828, the desirableness of ! as soon as good times came, its population in the Park Place as a site for a town was appreciated. and it is said that some efforts were made by Salem Woods to start one there. Little resulted from these efforts, however, for J. A. Vanasdlen tells us that when he came in October, 1889, a saloon, which had been maintained there previously, was closed. and that there were only two small buildings in the place. Mr. Vanasdlen brought with him a stock of general merchandise, starting the first store. In 1890 he secured the establishment of a postoffice, to which the name "Monroe" was ap- plied and of which he continued to be master for the ensuing seven years. In the fall of 1889 came also Ladd & Elliott, who opened a large hotel and a saloon. The next business was the blacksmith shop of George Beaton, established in the spring of 1890, about which time the town site was platted.

The development of 1891 consisted of a small grocery store of J. W .. Ilalvert, the butcher shop of Shannahan & Chitwood : the hotel of John John- son, and a large public hall building, while about one mile below town C. Dubuque & Son built and began operating what is now known as the Stocker saw-mill. Here the growth of Park Place was arrested by the location of the Great Northern railway, which passed about a mile from the town, making it evident that the location of the business part must be changed.

Mr. Vanasdlen, who was the first, at least in later times, to locate in the old town, was also the first to move to the new site. He and John Stretch platted what was known as Tye City, so named after the man who he says was the real locating engineer of the Great Northern, though John F. Stevens is usually credited with having accom- plished that task. Tye City was platted on Mr. Stretch's homestead, now the northeastern part of Monroe. Its name has fallen into disuse. while the name of the old town and the first postoffice sur- vives. Mr. Stretch tells us that the name of the railroad station originally that the name "Monroe" was substituted on

was Wales, but his solicitation. The next building after Van- asdlen's to move to the railroad was Elliott Brothers' saloon; then John Brady bought and moved the pioneer blacksmith shop, which is still in use. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows purchased the old hall building and brought it to the new town, where it was utilized for lodge and social purposes until destroyed by fire. John John- son also moved his hotel buikling, that which is now occupied by the First and Last Chance saloon. The last building to be moved was placed in the new town about five years ago.

In the meantime, new buildings were being crected continuously until the depression of 1893 and subsequent years caused a pause in general de- velopment and progress. Though Monroe revived as did almost all other towns in the sound country.

fall of 1902, when it incorporated, was only 300 persons. A year or two before it had suffered Se- verely from a fire, supposed to be of incendiary origin, which started under the roof of the I. O. O. F. hall, and did not stay its ravages until the whole | of the main business block, the one numbered forty- one on the Monroe Land & Improvement Company's plat, was in ashes. A complete list of the losses - cannot be attempted here, but the principal ones were: Independent Order of Odd Fellows, $3,000 to $4,000; Henry Dennis, $800 or $1,000; J. E. Dolloff, $6,000 or $1,000; H. M. Treadwell, $2,000: B. L. Monck. $3,000, insurance $1,000; E. F. Wel- burn. $1,000; John Brady. $2,000: Lot Wilbur, of Snohomish, $800 to $1,000; George Mack, $3,- 000; W. R. Pearsall, $1,000. Slight losses were also sustained by persons in other blocks. Mr. \ anasdlen's three buildings were scorched, the loss being $116, fully covered by insurance.

The destroyed buildings were speedily replaced, mostly by the men who sustained the losses, but the I. O. O. F. located their fine new hall building in another block nearby.

Since Monroe was incorporated very late in 1902, it has multiplied its population by five. The people will not admit that there has been any boom, but contend that all this growth is the legitimate result of developments in the rich timber lands con- tiguous and in agriculture. Monroe's population is conservatively estimated at fifteen hundred within the corporation limits, while in the immediate vicin- ity of the town are at least a thousand more.

The main occupations of the people in the coun- try immediately tributary are lumbering and farm- ing, the former business having the ascendency at present. The manufacturing establishments in the vicinity are those of Stephens Brothers, incorpo- rated, producers of rough and dressed lumber, shingles, sash and doors, moldings, etc., E. Milton Stephens, president, Elmer E. Stephens, vice-presi- dent. B. F. Bird, secretary ; the Monroe Water & Light Company, A. H. Buck, president ; the Mon- roe Mill Company. S. A. Buck, president ; August Holmquist, shingle manufacturer; W. E. Stocker. lumber and shingle manufacturer : John Johnson, lumber manufacturer.

Many of the farmers are engaged in the pro- duction of milk for the two creameries of Monroe. namely. Weinstein & Company's, Charles Hanson. manager, and the Monroc Creamery, W. E. Bar- tholomew, proprietor. The reputation of the Forks country, in which Monroe is situated, for the pro- duction of berries and small fruits has long been established. Adjoining the town is a berry farm of some fifty-five acres, while within and around it are many small tracts on which raspberries, black- berries, strawberries, etc., may be seen growing in great perfection and abundance. It is highly prob- able that in future, when the development of the

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sound country shall demand it, this entire region will be devoted almost exclusively to small fruits. The population it will then sustain will number inany thousands.

One of the institutions in which Monroe takes special pride is its annual district fair, which last year was held late in August. Under the head of "Welcome." its president and directors wrote, in their published premium list for 1901, the following :

"The pride that the citizens of Monroe and its neighborhood and the directors feel in this little fair, using that term in its endearing, not its dimin- utive sense, is such a sentiment as binds communi- tics closer, unifies their action, rejoices in every one's achievement, and teaches that the success of one is the prosperity of all. We take honest pride in the belief that our town of Monroe and vicinity will appear to visitors of both occasions to have made a greater and more permanent growth since the first local fair a year ago than any other place in Snohomish county. Nor is the reason for that growth for from immediate view; the very situa- tion and evironment of the town is its capital stock, paid up non-assessable, open to all who will with honest work or honest capital draw upon it, and over and above all, stock incapable of diversion, not subject to graft. We welcome impartially all who come. To those on pleasure bent we promise a good time; to the merely curious much that will interest ; to those with the more serious thought of location or investment, food for earnest consider- ation.

Besides those already mentioned, the established businesses of Monroe are as follows: Monroe State Bank, E. M. Stephens, president, A. J. Agnew, vice- president, C. L. Lawry, cashier ; Stephens Hospital, Dr. L. L. Stephens, proprietor ; hotels, Hotel Pear- sall, R. J. Stretch, proprietor ; the Washington, Mrs. I. Van Horn, the Hotel Monroe, J. L. Wallace, Hotel Northern, Mrs. Emma Bell; real estate, J. A. Vanasdlen, E. T. Bascom; the Monroe Land Company, S. E. Tallman & Son, J. Mckean, town- site agent ; general stores, P. Sjostrom, Monroe Clothing Company, Harry Weller, manager, Charles Knosher & Brother, Warner & Harris, J. E. Dolloff & Company, Moody's Racket, Sherman J. Moody, proprietor, also ancther racket store; drug stores, E. A. Roberts and W. E. Mansfield ; the Monroe Furniture store, J. A. Vanasdlen and Nellis Francis, proprietors; shoe stores, Prescott & Company and the Monroe Shoe Store, Mrs. Wilma Cedergreen, proprietor; C. E. Ritchie, jeweler ; barber shops, Mrs. Tillie Hewitt, the Pioneer, H. J. Dennis, pro- prietor. H. A. Barnhart, the latter mentioned also a dealer in jewelry ; Monroe Livery, Feed and Sale Stable, J. P. Joos, proprietor, Metropolitan Livery and Feed Stable, B. J. Dougherty, meat market, Charles F. Elwell ; millinery, Mrs. M. E. Holcomb ; Monroe Hardware Company, Monck & Evans, pro- prietors ; confectionery, tobacco and stationery, A.

B. Spraw & Company; stationery, Thomas W. Stranger ; confectionery, cigars and notions, W. R. Pearsall; W. D. Bruce, cigars and tobacco ; whole- sale and retail dealers in meats, groceries, and farm implements, Bruhn & Henry, Inc .; restaurants, Olympia Café, Monroe restaurant, Charles E. Cun- ningham, proprietor, and two others; the Mercer blacksmithing and repairing shop ; Andrews & Sons, blacksmithing and repairing; the Pioncer Cyclery ; A. Strandberg, shoemaker ; Bradley Williams, con- tracting painters and paper hangers; tailors, James Holmes, John Veith; Star bakery and grocery; A. H. Lemon, dealer in wood, coal, brick, cement, etc .; Roberts Brothers, manufacturers of ice cream and dealers in ice; Monroe bakery, J. P. Schmitt, pro- prietor ; carpenter shop, John Harris; Joseph Den- nis, pioneer drayman ; Andrew Lindquist, building contractor ; J. E. Stirton, contracting carpenter ; photograph gallery, D. W. Funk, now leased to the Rigby sisters; second-hand store, J. H. Hoffer; James Farmer, builder and plasterer ; Monroe hand laundry, John Uhey, proprietor ; plumbing and tin- smithing, J. T. Mackenzie ; postmaster, R. H. Sta- pleton ; veterinary surgeon, G. L. Wainwright ; har- nessmaker, E. H. Nims; saloons, Bank Liquor store, J. L. Wallace, proprietor, Rainier, W. C. White, proprietor, Olympia bar, Peter Suhl, pro- prietor, Horseshoe, Malone & Donovon, proprietors, First and Last Chance, Charles Dickson, proprietor, Gardell & Bloom ; newspapers, Monroe Monitor, E. C. Bissell, publisher, Washington Transcript, G. W. Head, publisher ; dentist, Dr. R. S. Stryker ; physi- cians, Drs. L. L. Stephens and Harry K. Lum; at- torneys, L. C. Whitney and E. T. Bascom.

One church, the Methodist Episcopal, W. J. Rule, pastor, has established itself in the town, and there are a number of fraternities, including the K. O. T. M., L. O. T. M., I. O. O. F., Rebekahs, M. W. A., I. O. G. T., and F. of A. Monroe has excel- ent common and high school facilities.

The town was incorporated late in 1902. It en- joys city water, electric lights, and other advantages which it could not have without incorporation. Its municipal interests are at present in the keeping of the following officers : Mayor, W. J. Williams ; coun- cilman, P. W. Anderson, R. J. Stretch, B. L. Monck, E. Milton Stephens, W. C. White ; clerk, E. C. Bis- sell; treasurer, E. A. Roberts ; marshal, E. P. Shipp : attorney, L. C. Whitney; police judges, William Sawyer and John A. Swett.

GRANITE FALLS

Situated on the Monte Cristo branch of the Nor- thern Pacific railroad, at its point of entrance into the rich upper Stillaguamish river valley and located on the narrow plateau dividing that valley from the Pilchuck on the south, Granite Falls occupies a com- manding position as a commercial center. While these valleys are not of great area, when fully devel-

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oped they will support a large farming community and in the meantime their timber is a great producer of wealth. Their minerals have already been so en- ergetically exploited as to give the district an im- portant position among those of the Northwest. From the West the trade of both valleys for many miles around comes to Granite Falls. The land is similar to that at Arlington, especially adapted for dairying and gardening. Recently a $4,500 bridge was built over the Stillaguamish a mile below town, bringing the Jorden country with its well known farms and zinc properties into close communication with the city.

The geological survey gives the town's altitude as 396 feet and that of Mount Pilchuck, ten miles east, as just a trifle over a mile. The valley of the Stillaguamish is much lower than that of the Pil- chuck. It is interesting to note that the beautiful, noble waterfall of the former stream, from which the town derives its name, lies about a mile and a half up the river and is about to be transformed by the corporation which owns it into a great power producer.

Long before there were any white settlements on the Stillaguamish-Pilchuck plateau the neck of land embracing the town site was known as the "portage" among Indians and pioneers. It lies be- tween the waters of the county's largest rivers. the Pilchuck being a branch of the Snohomish. In 1884 the first actual settlers arrived, William M. Turner and F. P. Kistner, the former coming first. Turner took for his claim the southwest quarter of Section 18, Township 30 north, Range 7 east, and Kistner took the quarter section adjoining on the south. A year later W. H. Davis took the piece west of Kistner's and in 1886 Robert Wright homesteaded the quarter adjoining Turner on the west and Davis on the north. At that time these places were cov- ered in part by forest, in part by a large "burn," the latter giving it an added attraction for settlers.

When the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern came through Snohomish county in 1889, these settlers, together with a few who had joined them, loggers and trappers, secured a post-office, John L. Snethan becoming the first postmaster. The mail was car- ried over occasionally from Getchell. In August, 1890, deeming the little settlement then ripe for local commerce, Mark Swinnerton, of Marysville, of the district, lumbermen attacked the heavy timber. established a store on Kistner's homestead, near the junction of the four original claims, or a few yards beyond the schoolhouse on what is now the main street of the town. T. K. Robe erected the building. :

The next step in the town's progress was the platting of the site. Eighteen blocks were laid out, twelve on Wright's land and six on the Davis place. Although the recorded plat, dated August 4, 1891, bears the names of Henry W. and Abbie D. Davis and Robert Wright, S. W. Holland and T. K. Robe were the real promoters of the town. In 1891, also, George C. Monroe put in a grocery store and a few 20

months later work was begun by James Roycroft on the Granite Falls hotel, a two-story frame struc- ture. It was completed and opened before the rail- road builders reached the place. Blackman Brothers, late in the fall of 1891, erected a tie mill near the town for the purpose of supplying the Everett & Monte Cristo road. Later, in 1893, they built a large saw-mill and shingle plant at Blackman's lake, but unfortunately these important industries were de- stroyed by fire a year later. The railroad reached the town October 16, 1892, and the following spring. a station was established. During this period of construction work, Granite Falls became a bustling, populous camp.

Swinnerton was succeeded in 1892 by Anderson & Davis, the former of whom shortly acquired the property, erected the town's pioneer shingle mill, a double block, and organized the Granite Falls Manufacturing and Mercantile Company. T. K. Robe kept a store for a time in 1893. His building began to be used about 1895 by Dr. Frank Chappell as a drug store. In the spring of 1897 Percy Par- minter built a double block shingle mill a short dis- tance east of town and in 1898 he established the little store which has since developed into B. E. Chappell's large mercantile house, having passed in- to the latter's hands in 1902. J. H. Boyd and T. K. Robe also entered business in 1898 at Granite Falls, the former succeeding the mercantile company. That concern had actually closed its doors for several weeks during the hard times, leaving the settlement without a business house. Boyd sold to Morgan & Goodrich a few years later, and subsequently this firm became the present Granite Falls Mercantile Company. T. K. Robe and George Whitcher also operated a store during the latter nineties.

In 1900 the town had perhaps fifty or sixty peo- ple, Boyd's and Palminter's general stores, Dr. Chappell's drug and hardware store, the post-office, railroad station and four tributary shingle mills ; Palminter's, Shafer Brothers' on the Pilchuck, Swartz & Stacey's east of town, and Anderson's pioneer mill, which had been removed to what is now Sobey. A general awakening came with the opening of the century. Settlers invaded the forest to commence the hewing out of homes, miners came in numbers to bring to light the mineral treasures installing mills for the manufacture of lumber and shingles, and to supply all and handle the growing commerce came merchants, tradesmen and profes- sional men. For four years, beginning with 1900. the population of Granite Falls has doubled cach twelve-month,-a remarkable growth, yet a sub- stantial one justified by the resources of the region. It has become a town of first importance on the Monte Cristo line and is undoubtedly one of the best small cities in the country.

The pioneer school of Granite Falls was opened in Robert Wright's old cabin, half a mile northwest

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of town, and was taught by Miss Eva Andrus. After two terms there, the school was removed, in 1889, to a temporary shack house erected on the site of the present building, Mr. Kistner having donated a block of land there to the district. When Holland became the owner of the place, he confirmed the title to district No. 21. Charles Gregory first taught this school. The present school-house was erected in 1893 at a cost of $2,600 and to it an "L" has re- cently been added, doubling its size. The district, embracing thirty-six square miles, also had another school-house at Sobey's mill, known as the Outlook school.

Granite Falls also maintains two thriving church organizations, the Congregational and the Catholic, both of which have substantial church homes. The former was established five years ago and practically since its inception has been under the able charge of Rev. Campbell W. Bushnell. The Catholics erect- ed their church building in 1903. They are minis- tered to at intervals by a priest from Snohomish.

The fraternal spirit is strong in the town. Three years ago, in the summer of 1902, the Modern Woodmen erected at a cost of $2,000, a combination hall and opera house. and next year the Odd Fellows expect to put up a $5,000 building suited to the same purposes. The societies and lodges of the town are as follows: Modern Woodmen of America, Royal Neighbors, Woodmen of the World, Women of Woodcraft, I. O. O. F., Rebakahs, Foresters of America, Court of Honor, Independent Order of Good Templars, Order of Lions, Shingle Weavers' Union, G. A. R., and the Women's Relief Corps.

July 25, 1903, the Granite Falls Post was started in the town by Niles & Moore. Two years later it came into the possession of its present proprietors, Frank Niles and R. G. Messner, the former being its editor. The Post is a most worthy little paper which enjoys the full respect and patronage of the community.

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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 70

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