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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Subscribers Edition Stories & Photos
The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit.
Covers from British Columbia to Puget sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan. An evolving history dedicated to the principle of committing random acts of historical kindness

Noel V. Bourasaw, editor (bullet)

810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet)

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Puget Sound Mail

January-June 1890 issues

James Power

Until 1982, the Puget Sound Mail was the oldest continuously published newspaper in Washington. Looking back, its launch was not fortuitous because it occurred on June 16 or July 5, 1873 — depending on the source, just a few months before a major stock market crash and its location was the town of Whatcom, which was just a shadow of what it was 15 years before when it was the kicking-off point for 10,000 miners on their way to the Fraser river gold rush in British Columbia.
James Power, the publisher, soon proved to be up to the task. A young printer employed by the government printing office at Washington DC, got western fever, and trekked by a combination of steamers to Whatcom, which was at the time one of the villages mentioned as the possible terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The original Bellingham Bay Mail was also the first newspaper north of Seattle in Washington territory but its growth was stunted when NP announced on July 14 that year that Commencement Bay, later named Tacoma, was chosen as the terminus. Power's politics were solidly Republican, so much so that he and two of his brothers back in Ohio enlisted for the Union Army in the Civil War while his father enlisted with the Confederates in Tennessee. Power stuck it out on Bellingham Bay until September 1879. By then, the town was lagging far behind the bustling little village of LaConner on the Swinomish slough in the south half of Skagit county.
From the time that he published his first issue down south on Sept. 13, 1879, Power worked hard towards the formation of Skagit county in return for the inducements proffered by farmers and businessmen on the Skagit delta. The change in name to the Puget Sound Mail reflected his plan to market the newspaper up and down the sound and to try to cover the entire area. His attention became divided with the election of November 1882, when James Power was elected to the Territory Council (upper house or Senate), representing Whatcom, Snohomish and Island counties, and Orrin Kincaid of Mount Vernon was elected as representative, both by strong Republican majorities. The two men were placed on the standing committees on county matters and Power soon introduced a bill for the division of Whatcom county at the Chuckanut mountain range between townships 36 and 37.
After considerable jousting, Skagit county was created in 1883 and Power became a very powerful politician. In April 1884, Power chose politics over printing and leased the Mail to partners Walsh and Riggins for $500, including the job shop. The partners failed in the business within a year and ownership passed to future Washington governor Henry McBride and R.O. Welts, future county superintendent of schools. Finally, in February 1887, Fred Leroy Carter took over and stayed at the helm until 1940.
In 1890, the Mail published on Thursdays. At that time, La Conner was how Carter spelled the town's name — with a space. Then, as now, different media spelled the name with or without the space. We spell it LaConner for consistency when people search our site for references to the town. Although you can find microfilm of most of the volumes at the Allen Library of the University of Washington and the Washington State Library in Olympia, many of the issues are either burned at the edges because of a fire at the plant in the 1940s, or have water damage from the time that the last publisher, Bonnie McDade stored them at her home. But Mrs. McDade is to be thanked for preserving what she could of this newspaper's proud history. You can find our corrections and supplement notes within brackets, [ ].

January 1890 issue, undated, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. [R.H.] Ball Livery Stable. Ad for R.H. Ball: oats & hay at my warehouse
LaConner. City Meat Market. Ad for O'Hare & Wilke, Front St.
LaConner. Robert Ginnett. Ad for painter, paper hanger, boat builder to specs
LaConner. Thomas Hayton wedding. County Superintendent of Schools Thomas Hayton returned from trip east of the mountains with new bride, Miss Hattie Campbell
[He must have gone on an extended honeymoon. He did not run for reelection in November 1890.]
Influenza. All men at the LaConner sawmill suffering from "La Grippe" word then used for influenza.
[Where was the sawmill? Illustrated History of Skagit & Snohomish Counties, 1906 page 203: one company started on Pleasant Ridge 1889, burned 1900, citizen group bought it $1,300 and rebuilt. This could be part of that operation]
LaConner. Water Works. Editorial: should provide water service for steamers in port. First mention of the company
LaConner. Rock, W.L.. Ad for Harness shop: harness, saddles, whips
LaConner. Steamer Landing. Last Friday, six steamers here at one time: E.W. Purdy with scow; Utsalady with scow; Daisy Starr, L.J. Perry, Yakima
LaConner. Edwin Wells. Ad for blacksmith and horseshoeing. Nicknamed Ned
LaConner. Sons of Veterans. Lodge formed for sons of veterans "of the late war" organized at Masonic Hall
Anacortes. Anacortes boom
Ship Harbor [Anacortes]. Ship Harbor boom apace, hotels not extensive but being erected
[This month marked the unofficial boom, the mother of all booms in Skagit county at a stump-filled peninsula on Fidalgo island at Guemes Channel. Amos and Anna Bowman had started a village at Ship Harbor, a few miles west — now the International Ferry Terminal. Before the year was over, many people had moved on to the next boom.]
Deception town [Fidalgo island]. Legh Freeman. Editorial note: Washington Farmer man takes all the credit for the Fidalgo island boom
[Tongue in cheek. See more Freeman information below]

Other

Ellensburg, Washington ads [east of the Cascade]. Front page ads, especially on Puget Sound Mail supplements, for Walters & Co. real estate, for rebirth of Ellensburg post June 1889 fire. Spelled with an "H" on the end in the ad copy.
Puget sound. Union Pacific Railway steamers. See file for schedule all boats
Puget sound. Sternwheeler Skagit Chief departs Tacoma 9 a.m. Mon & Thurs, stops: San Juan Island, Clinton, Utsalady, Stanwood, LaConner, Fairhaven, Oak Harbor.
Puget sound. Sternwheeler Henry Bailey, departs Tacoma to Skagit River Mon & Thurs 1 p.m.

February 1890 issue, undated, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. G Antennen & Co. [maybe 1 "N"] Furniture
LaConner. Nob Hill addition. J.J. Conner project, Henry McBride authorized agent
LaConner. Swinomish Lumber Co.. located between LaConner & Avon, now prepared to furnish lumber at their mill. J.O. Baertsch, president; S.R. Young, Secretary; leave orders at Visell & [Paul] Polson's store
Anacortes. Beale, C.W.. Of Anacortes refused $55,250 for 51 acres
Anacortes. Commercial Real Estate. Wilson & Cadwell buy 60 lots Anacortes. Plan $65,000 hotel equal to Rainier in Seattle. Two 2-story business blocks, sawmill, planing mill, to employ 200 men
Edison. Blanchard Logging. [Legh R. Freeman's Washington Farmer report about Blanchard camp; 9 million feet logs past year.

Upriver

Sedro. Fairhaven & Southern Railway. Washington Farmer: "The F&S Railway is nothing more than a spur and feeder for the several main trunk lines of railroads now being constructed by Canadian Pacific, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific companies to the great ocean terminus on Fidalgo island."
Hamilton area. [J.J.] Conner mine sold [cousin of LaConner founder]. Skagit Iron & Steel Co. — F&S RR officers [Nelson Bennett et al] as prime stockholders — has purchased the Conner property, south X river from Hamilton. Will put in smelter this year near this place as soon as the RR is built
Cascade river. Wardner mines. Marble company just organized with James F. Wardner as president. Capital stock $250,000 for quarrying marble ledge on the Cascade [probably river], will put a force of men to work in spring. Will transport over the Fairhaven & Southern Railway.
[Wardner was one of the most colorful boomers in the 1880s. After a life that was like a roller coaster, he made a real fortune in the silver mines of Idaho and started a namesake town there. In 1889 he joined his buddy Nelson Bennett in Fairhaven and helped boom the Bellingham Bay town. He also floated one of the most preposterous frauds, that of the Black Cat Farm of Eliza island. See our Wardner website]
Cascade river. Boston mine. [Maybe Coal or Iron Mountain across the river from Hamilton]. Company just formed for Cascade Mining Co. capital $500,000 & purchase Boston Mine. George & Jack Rowse [sometimes spelled Rouse] contracted with the company to take 50,000 tons of galena ore this coming season. Will put in a concentrator. Estimated ore assay at $150/ton.
[See this Journal website about the Rowse family and the Boston mine.]

March 17, 1890 issue, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. Wright's Sarsaparilla. Wright's Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla cleanses the blood
Potter's clay. Very finest clay located in Skagit valley and Fidalgo island. Building stone is high quality at Chuckanut and some of the smaller San Juan county islands.
Anacortes. Captain Buckman of steamer Fairhaven steamer refused to give way to ocean steam at Anacortes wharf last Sunday. Came to blows with wharf master then arrested by deputy sheriff, charges of assault
Edison. William Gilkey and family moves to Edison
Deception town [early village at the southern end of Fidalgo island, south of Anacortes]. Legh R. Freeman. Letter from Deception. "One night last week at Gibralter a novel prayer meeting took place asking almighty God to remove one L.R. Freeman, a public nuisance from their midst."
[Newspaper editors often took the gloves off about their competitors back in those days. This is an example. An unknown contributor wrote this letter about Freeman, a civil war veteran who made himself famous in many parts of the country and eventually gained most fame as editor of the Washington Farmer magazine. He is the subject of the website now in draft version that we will present in February 2005 in our optional Subscribers Edition.
Mount Vernon. Bacon & Ellis. Ad: $100,000 to loan on improved land 1-5 years. . MV office with E.C. Million
[George Bacon, author of Booming & Panicking on Puget Sound, was one of the most important early sources for farmers in Skagit and Whatcom county who wanted to obtain mortgage loans on their homestead property. His book offers marvelous details of his trips by steamer and horseback.]
Riverside [north Mount Vernon, today's Hoag road]. B.N.L. Davis. 1300 acres, 1,100 river bottom land. Bought $3,000 feed this winter.
[Davis was easily the most important early preacher in Skagit county, arriving here from Tennessee in 1872 and walking dozens of miles weekly to tend to his flock from Skagit bay and LaConner to the Cascade foothills. But this was not a minister who vowed himself to poverty. He became a famous dairyman, introducing Holstein cattle to the valley and growing so many hops that in one year he cleared $40,000, a fortune in the nineteenth century. He died, still a young man, in 1891. Read all about Rev. Davis in a well researched story by historian Dick Fallis at Dan Royal's fine website]
Puget sound. Pacific Navigation Co. steamers. Ad with schedule for Henry Bailey and Skagit Chief.
[See the history of these steamers at our website about Joshua Green, a partner in the company: This site is on our old domain and will be updated in Spring 2005. For now, the links may not work.]

Cokedale mine and shaft in the 1890s during peak production of coking coal

Upriver

Old Sedro. Fairhaven & Southern Railway. Fairhaven road is already running trains to Sedro. Anacortes road [Seattle & Northern Railroad] also graded to same point and track laying will soon commence
[F&S ran 26 miles on a diagonal southeast from the town of Fairhaven on Bellingham Bay to old Sedro, Mortimer Cook's original village. The line was organized by Nelson Bennett's Fairhaven Land Co. in late 1888 and the first scheduled train ran over the tracks on Christmas eve, 1889. Bennett's deadline was Christmas day. The S&N ran east from Ship Harbor (later Anacortes) to Sedro and the first scheduled train ran at an unknown date in April 1890. Originally planned to run north of the Skagit river and to continue over Cascade Pass, the line terminated at Rockport in 1900.]
Cokedale. Bennett Mines. Nelson Bennett's coal mines [4 miles northeast of Sedro] being worked.
[This was originally called the Crystal mine by the original owner, Lafayette S. Stevens. This is a puff piece about that mine and Hamilton coal as good as that from Cumberland Gap. Story from Seattle Journal newspaper. Eventually known as the Cokedale mines and capitalized and developed by Butte financier C.X. Larrabee and James J. Hill of Great Northern Railroad, this group of coal seams produced ore that was processed in 50 bee-hive ovens on the hill east of future Northern State Hospital. The coal-bearing seams were originally discovered by Stevens, who settled at the future town of Sterling on the north bank of the Skagit river soon after arriving in the valley in 1873 [see our Stevens website]. He and partners, including V.S. Marshall, could not finance the mine themselves, so they sought out Nelson Bennett, the promoter of Fairhaven & Southern Railway, and sold the property to him in 1888. Read about the coal mines at these Journal websites: Amasa "Peg-Leg" Everett, — and early coal mines by New York Times columnist and Hamilton resident Frank Wilkeson.]

April 1890 issue, undated, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. Campbell and Hanson contractors. Campbell and Hanson awarded contract for blasting out cliff?? on three lots recently purchased by Paul Polson opposite Antenen's store and the hardware store (of Perry Polson?). Rock blasted 60 feet back. Polson will also re-grade the street and raise it (one foot?)
LaConner. D.B. Hall Drugs. Ad
LaConner. Eyre, Fred. Lumber on ground for Fred Eyre's new livery stable on 1st St. to be built immediately
LaConner. Benjamin Harrison Gaches. Son born Jan. 4, 1889, died March 28, 1889
[Unfortunately the catalogued death records of Skagit county do not begin until 1891, so we are not sure which of the Gaches brothers was the father of this infant. James and George Gaches arrived in LaConner in 1873, a seminal year for immigrants — including Otto Klement, Lafayette S. Stevens and Amasa "Peg-Leg" Everett, and maybe Harrison Clothier. LaConner founder John S. Conner sold them his store, which became the most important general store in the early decades of the counties. They went on to become commission merchants, storing, marketing and selling the prodigious crops of the Swinomish flats and other local products, besides outfitting early settlers, loggers and miners. 2004 note: Thank God the city of LaConner was dissuaded from the idea of selling the Gaches Mansion on the hill. A report in the Skagit Valley Herald of July 2, 2004, says that they are instead negotiating a long-term contract with the Quilting Museum, which has treated the house lovingly for seven years now. Bravo.]
LaConner. Hood's Sarsaparilla. Ad for C.I. Hood & Co. Lowell, Mass. 100 doses for $1, blood purifier
LaConner. Circulating Library (maybe first). Featured in ad for S. Joergenson [Jorgenson?] Drugs, also agent for trans-Atlantic steamers
LaConner. Paul Paulson store. Plan to raise the grade all along Front street about a foot to use the rock now being dumped in the slough. Contractors Campbell and Hanson and large force now working, making rapid progress on Paul Polson's lots.
[Paul, a cousin of the Polsons who started their hardware empire in LaConner, had a checkered career. Besides his early retail efforts in LaConner, he had an impact on both Sterling and new Sedro, the town launched on Third street in 1889.]
LaConner. Mrs. Perry Polson's father was a pioneer publisher in California back in the 1850s.
LaConner. Steamer Landing. People catch steamers for upper sound at LaConner
Deception town [Fidalgo island]. Contracts let for several new buildings in the town
John Klement resides at Deception town [Fidalgo island].
[He does not show up anywhere in Otto Klement family extended tree]
Deception Pass. Ure, Capt. Ben. Unable to obtain official survey of his island. [Positive slant opposed to history books]
Saloon licenses. County commissioner [Pat] Halloran announces retail liquor licenses.
[See this Journal website for complete list of early liquor licenses]
Mount Vernon. Skagit river frozen. River frozen for several days
Avon. Tozer, Dr. A. Amott Tozer. Physician & Surgeon, Avon [Finally made the connection of the original old Sedro drugstore, started by Tozer and A.E. Holland, who was formerly Mortimer Cook's clerk from 1886. "Doctor" Tozer (spelled Tozier on the papers) was even elected county coroner on the Republican ticket back in 1890 when there were no minimum qualifications for the office.]
North fork [of Skagit]. Bessner brothers horses. Eugene Bessner returns from east of mountains with a "carload"?? of horses. Brother Nick continued further east. Will be back in a month or so. Another issue probably later in month: 35 head of draft horses for sale, Bessner Bros. Mares too, all broken to work at John Bessner's ranch North fork and Nick Bessner's ranch on the Samish Another issue prob May: Nick Bessner returns from E. WA, snowed in 2 weeks, 18 more work horses and mares Small display ad weekly all through the issues
U.S. Patent Office. Long story about 100 years anniversary in April

May 1890 issue, undated, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. Boot & Shoe Store. August Staude, owner. Will sell at San Francisco prices
Riverside. Lyman Everett [probably Amasa Peg-leg Everett]. One of our oldest settlers and farmers has bought 320 acres from B.N.L. Davis, 1 1/2 miles from Mount Vernon, for $80,000
[Report from The Logger, short-lived upriver newspaper that probably began in April 1890]
LaConner. AOUW. Swinomish Lodge #75 meets LaConner 1st and 3rd Sat eves. F. Watkins is M.W.
LaConner. Edison Hotel. D.S. Kauble, meals at all hours
LaConner. J. & G. Gaches store 1/3 page ad. Dress goods, hosiery, blankets $2, shoes, clothing, cloaks, Newmarkets, hardware, wagon, plow, harnesses, saddles, groceries
LaConner. Ginnett Mrs. M.B.. Dies of typhoid fever, just 24. M.E. church. Husband, 2 small children survive

Anacortes in January 1890 as the boom building period begins
Anacortes Boom. Anacortes now experiencing greatest boom in history of Puget sound

Other

Lyman. Minkler, B.D.. State representatives Minkler and Edens doing good square work.
[May 15 badly burned issue]:
Skagit county. Bacon & Ells. Ad: $100,000 to loan on improved land for 1-5 years, meet any rate offered by any company on Puget Sound. Loans approved & money furnished by ourselves without delay. Bacon & Ellis, Mount Vernon office with E.C. Million.

June 26, 1890, undated, partially burned LaConner

Antenen, G. & Co.. Furniture store. Wallpaper ads
Booen & Ewing. Photographers will be in LaConner soon to locate permanently over the post office
Brooks, W.S.. Ad: Carriage & wagon repair next to Ned Wells Blacksmith shop on 1st street
Chilberg, Mary. Misses Eva Sturdevant and Fanny Langridge, graduates of Olympia Collegiat Institute, visiting classmate Miss Mary Chilberg at Pleasant Ridge.
Curtis, Melville. Melville Curtis now superintendent of Port Townsend Iron Works
Draper, Hannah C.. Ad: milliner
Dwelley, Joseph F.. Post office store LaConner, sewing machines, confectionery, books
Howe, Dr. Gadsden E.. Ad: physician and surgeon at LaC office of Dr. Calhoun
McGlinn island. Ad: to rent 1/2 mile from LaConner great for chicken ranch. Terms at L.L. Andrews
Polson Hardware Co.. Ad. No Visell mentioned
Polson, Perry. Perry Polson building handsome new residence at the crossing of Third and Benton streets
Smith, R.W.. Ad: Restaurant & Bakery, meals at all hours

Anacortes

8th street being graded
Anacortes boom. 3 sawmills, sash & door factory, 2 brick yards
Depot dock. Work continues
Graham Bros. Nursery. Weekly ad
McNaught hotel. Brick work on hotel & bank in McNaught addition. Carpenters planking a road
Wilson's Hotel. brick hotel, excavation begins 60'x100'

West county

Bayview. Kalso, Otto. Ad: sells half Percheron horse
Deception Pass. Ure, Ben. Capt. Ure studies tides, has hailed boats and warned them to lay to until tides advance to no avail most of the time
[Although other editors and future historians would give Ure the backs of their hands and dismiss him as a mere pirate, Carter seems to give Ure grudging respect for his detailed knowledge of tide and weather in the tricky Deception Pass. Ure owned part or all of his namesake small island, just south of where the bridge would be built in 1935, along the northeast shore of Whidbey island.]
Deception town. Deception Pass-town name change proposed. "Pioneer" writes: Meeting at "Fidalgo City" to change name of Pass from Deception to Gibraltar to keep away Real Estate buyers.
[Even after rading Thomas H. Heuterman's marvelous book, Movable Type, we are still mystified about Legh Freeman's misspelling of his settlement on the south end of Fidalgo island as Gibralter rather than Gibraltar. The above notice in this issue was another sharp editorial rebuke by Carter in the Mail and the chorus of these rebukes from nearby editors was gaining a fever pitch by 1890. We hope to answer the spelling question by Spring 2005 when we publish our profile of Freeman. He platted the twon site of Gibralter on Dec. 10, 1889, with 130 blocks.]
Edison. Longe, C.A.. Maybe Lange. Ad: Jeweler
Avon. Flagg, A.E.. Agent for Skagit Company, unexplained
Oak Harbor. Island House. for sale ad, Mrs. C.N. Miller, also display ad
Padilla. Whitney, Renzi E.. Ad: sells Percheron colts "on 'Whitney's island. see George Jenne at this place near Telegraph slough bridge"
Pleasant Ridge Threshing Machine & Mill Co.. Ad
Samish flats. Stud horse. Ad: Stallion Leroy, full-blood English shire will stand Mon & Tues at G.D. Neville's on Samish flats. Wed & Thurs at my place (H. Waikle); Fri and Sat at Olof Polson's North Fork. $25. Little Giant stands for $12.

June 28, 1890 issue, undated, partially burned LaConner and west county

LaConner. Osborne binder. Only 11" drive made. 3 horses drive it. T.S. Hurd store, LaConner
LaConner. Perry Polson building handsome new residence X of 3rd & Benton streets
LaConner. Tillinghast, A.G.. Family has secured quarters for family at Mrs. Turner's residence. They are now full-fledged citizens of LaConner
LaConner. Wright's Blackberry Cordial. Ad for D.B. Hall drugs
Melville Curtis. Now superintendent of Port Townsend Iron Works, in town with W.H. Burdon & Henry C. Barhausen of Fidalgo and S.B. Best of Deception
Mount Vernon. McLean, George D.. Loans money direct after appraisal

See the Old Newspaper Logs section for transcripts of many old newspapers from all over the area.

Story posted on July 1, 2004
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