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 71

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 71
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 71

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The city is soon to have an electric light plant, to be installed in connection with a new shingle mill by O. Lewis, of Snohomish. A franchise has been granted and at this writing poles are being set.

November 8, 1903, Granite Falls became a city of the fourth class. Its first officers were : Mayor, B. E. Chappell; councilmen, J. H. Fox, J. G. Luckey, 1). 1. Carpenter, L. H. Messner and W. H. Earl; clerk, C. T. Smith : treasurer, Dr. Frank Chappell ; marshal, L. A. Clinton. The present corps of city officials are as follows: Mayor, D. I. Carpenter ; clerk, C. T. Smith; treasurer, Dr. Frank Chappell; marshal, L. E. Luckey ; councilmen, Dan Ashe, A. S. Critse, Emil Mongraine, William Fredregill, and C. E. Willoughby. The Robe building adjoining the post-office is occupied as a city hall.

There are nearly a dozen mills in and around Granite Falls. Robe & Menzel operate a modern plant, just south of town, erected in 1902, consisting of a saw-mill with a daily output of 30,000 to 40,-

000 feet, planing mill and lath factory. Of shingle mills there are eight : Sobey Manufacturing Com- pany, a mile and a half west ; Chappell Shingle Com- pany, a mile north: Sullivan Brothers, two and a half miles west: Fred Johnson, three miles west ; Sobey Manufacturing Company, a mile south ; Ewald Brothers, two miles east; Swartz & Stacy, three miles east and the Best Shingle Company, three miles northeast, all large establishments. Besides these, the Lane Logging Company operates a camp five miles down the valley, employing forty or fifty men, and the Starr Logging Company is opening an immense camp three miles northwest, which will use two miles of steam railway and employ one hun- dred and fifty meu.

Only a mile and a half east of town, directly on the railroad, lies the well known Wayside copper property, one of Snohomish county's few producing mines. Between forty and fifty men are employed in its operation.

A list of the business men and establishments of the present town would include the following : The Commercial Bank, J. B. Gibbons, cashier, es- tablished in June, 1905; the Granite Falls Post; general stores, Granite Falls Mercantile Company, of which J. L. Shumway is president, E. L. Knapp vice-president, and F. R. Morgan secretary-treasur- er ; Granite Falls Co-Operative Union, F. P. Ander- son manager ; dry goods and groceries, B. E. Chap- pell, William Harding & Company; hotels, Com- mercial, W. H. Earl proprietor, Granite Falls House, Mountain View, Ralph Pullen proprietor, Park House, Fred Stacey proprietor ; drugs and hard- ware, Dr. Frank Chappell : drug store, Samuel Yerkes; hardware, Ashe Brothers, Willoughby & Gallaugher ; book store, E. E. Knapp; jewelry store, Charles Gourdon; millinery, Vincent Rinard ; tailor shop, F. Wilson ; blacksmiths, Ashe Brothers : meat market, Bruhn & Henry; shoe store, Fred Brush; shoe repairing, Ignac Dezort ; real estate, insurance, etc., Charles Smith, A. P. Waterhouse, E. G. South- well; transfer company, E. E. Doolittle; barber shops, H. H. Fiske, L. D. Baker ; confectionery, fruits, etc., W. W. Robe. P. W. Laughead, William Freregill : cigar factory, Henry Bogaske; postmas- ter, A. C. Robe: physicians, Dr. Frank Chappell, Dr. William Green.

January 1, 1903, Granite Falls had, by actual count, 155 people ; a year later its population was 350 and the census taken by the Post January 1, 1905, showed a population of 670. Since that date the growth of the town has been steady and rapid, and with all its tributary resources, and all the means already installed for developing them, there would seem to be no reason why this rapid increase should not continue indefinitely.

SULTAN

A convenient, central location on the overland route of the Great Northern railway through the

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Skykomish valley, a rich tributary region as yet slightly developed, an abundance of progressive public spirit, plenty of private enterprise, these are some of Sultan's most valuable assets. Upon these pillars the inhabitants of the present town are surely and steadily erecting a more pretentious structure. Sultan is the oldest town on the Skykomish river, which adds to its interest and importance.

The Sultan river, draining the Sultan mineral district and an extensive timbered area, flows into the Skykomish at the western edge of the village, which lies along the northern bank of the latter stream. As yet the fertile valley lands at this point are covered for the most part by timber, though there are numerous farms and ranches in various stages of development and considerable dairying is carried on. Monroe, the metropolis of the valley, is located only four miles further down the Skykomish and between these two towns the country is well settled by prosperous farmers, who are rapidly converting the forest lands into cultivated acres.

Sultan's pioneer settler is John Nailor, who came, with his Indian wife, in 1880, settling upon the town site. He erected his cabin on the bank of the slough. At that time the placer mines of Sultan river were being worked by a considerable number of men, a condition which soon gave inception to the settle- ment at the river's mouth. In 1885 Sultan post- office was established with Mr. Nailor as postmaster, the name being taken from that of the river, which in turn is thoughit to have been derived from a pio- neer Indian resident, Sultan John. The Pioneer hotel was erected by Mr. Nailor in 1888.

In 1889 the little town began to take more defin- ite shape. William B. Stevens arrived at this time and he and his wife, Agnes Stevens, purchased twenty acres of the Nailor homestead and platted the track into the town site of Sultan City, the dedi- cation being dated October 19, 1889. Mr. Stevens also bought the Nailor hotel, and at once established a small store, thus initiating his town site project in earnest. To these holdings he added in 1890 an- other large tract also acquired from Mr. Nailor.

Dr. J. L. Warren put in a drug store in 1890, and that year McDevitt & Davis, of Olympia, suc- ceeded Stevens in the general merchandise busi- ness. Before the close of 1890 Stone & Ewing were operating a saw-mill of twelve thousand feet ca- pacity, on the site of the present depot. The next year T. W. Cobb & Company, general merchants; Shaw Brothers, clothiers and dry goods merchants ; Dr. M. L. York, dentist and barber; B. F. Mc- Pherson, furniture dealer ; H. M. Baker, real estate dealer and executor of the Stevens estate; Beebe & Son, blacksmiths; George Childs, laundryman ; Solomon Hufford, and Mummey & Bernard, butch- ers, and A. W. Hawks also located in the town. Two hotels, the Sultan, E. M. Taylor proprietor, and the Skykomish, D. B. Lewis proprietor, were

also added, and in 1891, too, II. M. Shaw estab- lished the Sultan City Journal.

While construction work on the Great Northern was in progress during the latter part of 1891 and in 1892, Sultan City was used as a supply station by the contractors. As a result, between eight hundred and one thousand people were congregated there for several months during the busiest season. Three river steamers plied regularly between Sultan and down-river points : the Minnie M., the Monte Cristo and the Florence Henry, the latter built especially for the Sultan trade; all were stern wheelers. The distance between Snohomish City, the lower ter- minus of the lines, and Sultan City is sixteen miles. For at least two years boats made occasional trips to this up-river metropolis, hidden away in the woods, though the railroad reached the place in the fall of 1892 and a station was established.

Of course the financial panie of the middle nine- ties destroyed the town's prosperity, bringing dis- aster to its business houses and distress to its citizens, but they did not become completely dis- couraged. Never did a little band of townsmen work more unselfishly together. In April, 1895. these citizens organized the Sultan Millsite & Im- provement Company, capital $1,000, officered as fol- lows: president, George Mann; vice-president, John Nailor, secretarf; A. W. Bower, treasurer ; A. C. Williams. Water rights and rights-of-way were located, ditches dug, flumes installed and a small tract of land within the town limits was pur- chased. Then a lease of this ground and power was offered as a subsidy to any mill company which would install a plant. Keefe & Perkins, of Machias. accepted the offer and immediately erected a double block shingle mill, employing sixty to seventy men. The mill prospered. new mills were added, and Sultan City gradually threw off the incubus of hard times and became a substantial, growing town.

Sultan was incorporated June 10, 1905, as a city of the fourth class. The census taken at the time showed a population of four hundred people. At the election which followed officers were elected as follows: Mayor, H. M. Meredith; clerk, Thomas W. Musgrove; treasurer, Eli Marsolais ; council- men, John F. Warner, G. V. Pearsall, E. A. Beebe, George W. Fowler. J. T. Atwood is marshal and A. L. Peterson street commissioner.

The pioneer school-house was built in 1890 witli money voluntarily subscribed. The site was that of the present structure and Miss Matie Warren was the first teacher. The old building was replaced in 1891 by a fine, frame school-house, costing perhaps thirteen hundred dollars.

There are seven fraternal orders in the town: the Odd Fellows, Rebekahs. Modern Woodmen, Royal Neighbors, Foresters of America, Royal Highlanders, and the Order of Pendo. Sultan Lodge No. 193, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1902 and the year following it built, at a cost of sixteen

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

hundred dollars, a combination fraternal home and public hall, the only institution of the kind in the low 11.

A unique industry of Sultan is a trout farm. established about two years ago by the Commercial Trout Company, composed of local capitalists, headed by 11. M. Meredith. This plant is situated on the Sultan river, two miles above town, and is apparently destined to achieve a great success. 1 .. E. Mayhall, ex-state fish commissioner, is in charge of the enterprise. About a mile above Sul- tan on the Skykomish the state maintains one of its numerous hatcheries in charge of Henry Baldridge, which utilizes one set of traps in the Sultan river. and operates a branch station further up the main stream.

The largest logging firm in the region is the Sultan Logging & Railroad Company, U. K. Loose president, operating a mile and a half north of town. This company employs a hundred men constantly and uses its own private railway system, connecting with the Great Northern at Sultan Junction. The camp of the Wallace Lumber Company, another large concern, lies on Housladen lake, only three miles north of Sultan. On Sky slough, near the river, the Creekwood Manufacturing Company, Leon Johnson & Son proprietors, is operating a plant engaged in the manufacture of various wood novelties. The Murett Shingle Company has a plant of fifty-five thousand capacity at Winter's lake, north of town: the Superior Mill Company operates a shingle mill of from ninety thousand to one hundred thousand capacity ; and a still larger shingle plant is that of Robinson & Idema, right in the town. As heretofore stated, Sultan is also headquarters for the Sultan Basin mining district and the well known Forty-Five mine, Nathan Jones, in charge of the Pinkham interests, residing at Sultan.

September 7. 1905. John A. Swett, of Sno- homish, established the Star. Sultan's representa- tive in the newspaper field, a folio sheet, politically independent.

The business houses and professional men of the town at present, other than those heretofore men- tioned, are embraced in the appended directory :

Hotels, the Sultan, A. L. Peterson proprietor, Pioneer, G. V. Pearsall proprietor ; general stores, John F. Warner, William Cook, G. V. Pearsall, Eli Marsolais; drug store and notions, T. J. Atwood ; physician and proprietor private hospital, Dr. F. S. Sandborg; physician, Dr. Thomas W. Musgrove; attorney-at-law, real estate, E. T. Bascom; black- smiths, E. A. Beebe & Son; livery, Wellington & Baldwin ; meat markets, E. M. Taylor, G. V. Pear- sall; shoe store, Joseph LePage; plumbing, J. C. Holmes; barber shop, Louis Richel; carriage re- pairing, Wellington & Baldwin; station agent, H. Duree ; postmaster, T. J. Atwood.

FLORENCE

Similar to Stanwood in its general surround- ings and in the nature of the occupations to which it is open is the village of Florence. This pleasant little place is located upon the south bank of the Stillaguamish river three and a half miles by boat and two miles by road east of Stanwood. It is lo- cated upon what may be called the delta of the river created by the sediment brought down through ages by that stream and by the spreading channels with which it enters the waters of the sound. A few miles above Florence the main river divides and a channel known as Hat slough leaves it toward the South. A little below Florence the river is again divided, what is known as South slough parting from it. Tlnuts between the main river and the two sloughs and the waters of the sound lies a beautiful and fertile island. This is known as Florence island. The town of Florence is at the head of regular steamboat navigation on the Stillaguamish river.

The town of Florence has the distinction of oc- cupying a site upon the first claim ever taken on the Stillaguamish river, that of Harry Marshall in the year 1864. In 1866 James H. Perkins came to the same point to take charge of the pioneer logging camp of Reynold and Duvall, and in the fall of that year he purchased Marshall's right and became a permanent resident of the place. He is still living there. Mr. Perkins at one time platted a town site, but this was subsequently recalled and the village has grown without any regular town lots.

By reason of its convenient and pleasant location Mr. Perkins' claim and others which were soon taken adjoining seemed to invite the creation of a business center, but not until 1884 did any one take advantage of the opening offered. In that year F. E. Norton erected a store and warchouse and brought in an excellent stock of goods. At the same time the postoffice was established, with Mr. Norton as postmaster. It is said that the name of Florence, which he applied to the place, was that of his old sweetheart. In the fall of 1884 a hotel known as the Corinth was built by Messrs. Coltenbaugh & Car- rins. At about the same time Messrs. Qually, Ole Nass, James Hall, Hans Lawsons and Captain Mar- vin erected comfortable dwelling houses. In 1885 Mr. Perkins built the Florence hotel. The excellent business which Mr. Norton had inaugurated in Florence was purchased by Jasper Still in 1888, and he sold out in turn a year later to the present owner, E. A. Hevly.

During the decades of the eighties and nineties much of the land adjoining the town of Florence was cleared of the stumps which had been left there by the operations of loggers, and small and well tilled farms succeeded. Also the tide lands were diked and cleared and brought into a high state of productiveness. 'There has seldom been any injury to these lands by flooding, and the lot of the farmers

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there is an unusually pleasant one. Enormous crops of oats and hay are produced, the oats yielding an average of a hundred bushels to the acre. In late years cattle raising and butter making has become a prominent industry and many of the ranchers have large herds of the choicest grades of cattle. Almost every farm upon the island may be reached by the steamboats that ply upon the sloughs and hence the transportation question is solved without any further difficulty.

A number of important shingle mills are con- | tiguous to Florence and bring much business to the place. Of these we may mention the shingle mill of John Hall, of Manley & Church and the Florence shingle mill, which together make three hundred and twenty-five thousand shingles a day. At the western end of Florence island Port Susan bay is located the Port Susan logging company, which employs a hundred and fifty men and operates a steam railroad with three locomotives. Florence is the headquarters for the supplies of this company. At the present time the following are the business men of Florence: J. H. Perkins, proprietor of the Florence hotel; E. A. Hevly, general merchandise store; Walter J. Hogan and J. H. Perkins, saloons ; Joseph Dolph, barber shop; John Heeney, black- smith; Peter Satra, livery stable: Alexander Rob- ertson, Justice of the Peace, a position which he has held for fifteen years; S. A. Satrum, postmaster. Florence has the advantage of a large public hall, which is owned by Mr. J. H. Perkins. There is a regular stage line making two trips a day to Stan- wood, of which Peter Satra is the proprietor.

There are two well-built little churches in the town, the Methodist and the Lutheran, which are ministered to in both cases by the pastors resident at Stanwood.

Florence has an excellent school with a good building, built in the early nineties and having re- ceived an addition during the last year. The teach- ers are Mrs. R. A. Small, principal, and Mrs. L. J. Havens, and Miss Kristine Thomle, assistants. It is recalled by the old settlers that the first school in the neighborhood was taught by Kate Bradley in a little house on the Sly farm.

In the beauty of its location and in the constantly developing country about it and in the growing in- terests of lumbering and navigation, which center there, as well as the progressive social and mental life of the people, the village of Florence may be considered as a genuine American community.

MUKILTEO

One of the very oldest towns in Snohomish county, Mukilteo is well known to all pioneers of Puget sound. Its splendid location on salt water for years encouraged the hope and expectation that it must certainly become a city of no little magni- tude and importance, but circumstances have been

against it from the beginning and so far all its aspirations for great things have been disappointed. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Puget sound country is still in its infancy and that the fu- ture of any town with a frontage on a good harbor. while it cannot be clearly seen, is yet perceived to be a wearer of bright and glowing colors.

The founders of Mukilteo were J. D. Fowler and Morris H. Frost , who formed a partnership for the purpose of establishing a general business where the town now is before Snohomish county was organ- ized. Frost was a custom house officer at Port Townsend. In traveling over the sound in discharge of his duties, he noticed the many points in favor of this spot as a site for a town. He called the at- tention of Fowler, who was then in the hotel busi- ness at Ebey's Landing, on Whidby island, to the opportunities there presented, and formed a partner- ship with him for the purpose of establishing a gen- eral store, hotel and saloon business at that point. Frost took the land which forms the site of the town and Fowler a claim adjoining him on the north. They went to work at once and soon had some rough buildings erected. That in which the store was kept remained on its original site until 1890, when it was destroyed by fire. In its stead was built a large frame structure, which is still in use as a saloon. The original hotel building is standing at this date, forming a part of the present postoffice building.

Frost & Fowler, besides conducting a general hotel, merchandise and saloon business, also en- gaged in logging and fishing and some time in the middle sixties erected a brewery, which was burned about 1883, and was never rebuilt. For many years Frost & Fowler shipped beer, berries, fish and ice from the Snohomish river to all points on the sound in their three sailing vessels, the Tibbals, the Pigeon and the Gazelle. Fowler was the active partner of the firm, Frost coming to Mukilteo only occasion- ally during the early years, though later he lived there.

The original name of the place was Point El- liott, but when Mr. Fowler came he renamed it "Mukilteo," which in the local Indian language means "good camping ground." A town was platted along the water front about 1861, but the plat was never recorded and is believed to be lost. The original, recorded plat was filed by Louis K. Church and wife in June, 1890.

Mukilteo's first telegraph office came as early as 1864, when the line was built northward from Seattle to Whatcom. Mr. Fowler was the first post- master. His commission was issued by Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, June 24, 1862, and it re- cites that Jacob D. Fowler was appointed post- master of Mukilteo, county of Snohomish, Waslı- ington territory, and took the oath of office March 26, 1862. Fowler continued to serve as postmaster until 1891, when he was succeeded by William

SNOHOMISH COUNTY

Hazard. 1. 11. Foster was Hazard's successor and on April 5, 1898, he handed the office over to Mrs. Louisa Sinclair, daughter of J. D. Fowler. The postoffice has therefore been in the hands of Mr. Fowler or a member of his family from 1862 to the present date, except for one comparatively short period.

One of the promising industries of the early days at Mukilteo was a salmon cannery, put up on the point by George Myers & Company in 1827. It is said that this cannery proved a fair success, until the heavy snows of the winter of 1812-8 broke down the structure, when the plant was removed to Seattle. It is claimed to have been the pioneer can- nery of Pit . : sound.

Some five years later, a company headed by Frank Tuttle erected another cannery at Mukilteo, larger than the Myers plant and much better equipped, but it. too, moved away after successful operation for two seasons.

About the yeat 1877, Frost & Fowler became somewhat involved financially, owing to the prevail- ing hard times, and their property was placed in the hands of M. V. B. Stacey, of Seattle, as trustee. George Myers, who was formerly in charge of the pioneer cannery, succeeded the old firm as store keeper and hotel proprietor. Stacey made an effort to build up the town, whose fortunes were waning rapidly at the time, but had no permanent success and the old town made no progress to speak of for many years.

In 1890 Mukilteo had quite a boom, owing partly to the general industrial revival which followed the admission of the territory to statehood, but more directly to its prospects of becoming the Puget sound terminal of the transcontinental railroad. ! Several additions were platted and much land was sold, but the town was once more doomed to dis- appointment. Furthermore in 1891, the Port Gard- ner boom commenced, resulting in the rapid up- building of the city of Everett and taking away from the ancient town all hope of a rapid development in the near future. The people were left just as they had been before the dawn of the railway era, de- pendent almost entirely upon the fishing and logging industries.

For many years prior to 1903. the population of Mukilteo did not exceed seventy-five or eighty. but in the year mentioned the Mukilteo Lumber Company erected and began operating a large saw- mill. causing a rapid increase in the number of resi- dents of the place. The present population is about two hundred whites and one hundred and fifty Jap- anese, most of whom are employed in the mill. This large institution naturally brought new buildings and new business houses and gave a decided im- petus to general progress. At the time of the writer's visit (September 11, 1905,) three ships were loading in the harbor, one of them a great iron freighter from London, England.

It is fitting to add a further word regarding this mammoth mill. It is not inferior in size to any on the sound, its capacity being two hundred thousand feet in ten hours. It is also equipped for manufac- turing all the bi-products, such as lath, etc .; indeed it is one of the most modern in its appointments as well as one of the largest in all the world. The company is officered by M. J. Clark, president; E. A. Nickerson, vice-president, manager and treas- urer and O. B. Whitney, secretary.

There is another saw-mill at Mukilteo, that of Ira Heath, which, though small, adds its contribu- tion to the prosperity of the town. The leading general store is that of the Mukiltoe Mercantile Company (Gilkey & Runkel), who established their business May 1, 1904, succeeding the Mukilteo Lumber Company, which had previously kept a store for the convenience of its employees. Other business establishments are : Meat market, Mc- Beath & Russell; barber shop, W. O. McAllister ; candies and notions, J. P. Brennan; general mer- chandise, N. J. Smith; three hotels, confectionery, cigars, etc., Dan Wood; real estate, M. W. Smith. A. D. Brooks is in charge of the railway station.

The Mukiltoe public school district was organ- ized in May, 1874, and a young man named Rogers was its first teacher. During the boom days a mag- nificent, three-story frame school, one of the hand- somest in Snohomish county, and one large enoughì for a town of two thousand inhabitants, was erected. It is now used as a lodge room, church and public hall as well as for school purposes.

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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 71

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