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Skagit River Journal

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

Noel V. Bourasaw, editor

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

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Northwest Skagit Advocate

Advertisements, the Cleary brothers from Kansas
and the explanation of the towns, Allen and Roray
Inaugural Issue, Part 4 of 4 Bow, Oct. 10, 1908, Vol. 1, No. 1, B.M Frederick, Publisher See the links below for the three other sections of this issue and suggestions for more background reading. We have reproduced the stories with very light editing for clarification, and links and annotation are added in [ ] brackets and underscored items. More detailed annotations will be marked: [Journal ed. note]. We welcome additions by readers, along with copies of documents and photos that will make this section complete.

This photo of Crenshaw's Bow Department Store was taken in 1915, when a horse pulled the delivery wagon, just a few years before autos would take over. The book, Skagit Settlers — still for sale at the Skagit County Museum at LaConner, identifies the people as, l. to r., W. Nelson Crenshaw, the owner; Flossie Shadle Rains, the clerk and a daughter of butcher Lou Shadle; and Clyde Des Noyer at the reins of the delivery wagon. We are not sure why the sign reads: "Foot Schulze & Co.," but that may have been advertising for a product. Photo from the Paul Shadle collection.

Bow

Crenshaw Department Store and Trade Center. Line of General Merchandise Unexcelled in variety and value. W.N. Crenshaw, prop. [Often misspelled as Cranshaw]
A.G. Lincoln. Standard Groceries. Pleased to see his customers and courteous treatment always extended.
L.D. Shadle. Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Fresh and salt meats, live stock, etc. Heavy buyer and seller of live stock. Cash paid for poultry.
J.E. Stewart & Son. Wagonmakers and blacksmiths, horseshoeing and repairing of all kinds. Bow, Wash.
Walter Hughes. Harness made and repaired in good style. First class shoe repairing a specialty. Bow, Wash.
Botts & Kincaid. Pool and Billiard Parlor, tobacco and cigars, confectionery, ice cream. The only amusement hall in Bow, a good barber shop in connection. George Botts & Earl Kincaid. Bow, Wash.
Cleary Bros. Dealers in everything needed by you, among which these articles may be mentioned: boots, shoes, hats, caps, gloves, hardware, dry goods, tobacco, cigars, flour, cooking utensils, stationery, coal oil, confectionery, etc. And manufacturers of Red cedar shingles, Bow, Wash.

John Cleary and the Cleary brothers Journal ed. note: The Cleary brothers were among the dozens of people who moved to Skagit County from the tiny town of Lincoln Center, Kansas, in the 19th Century. If you have read the Journal story about George Green and Emerson Hammer of Sedro-Woolley, you know that Lincoln Center was the cradle for many of Woolley's pioneers. We are pleased that Mike Day of Kansas recently read that site and responded with many details about the Lincoln City emigres. He informed us that John Cleary moved his family of nine to Burlington sometime before March 4, 1894, the date that his youngest son was born in Mount Vernon. Many Kansans moved to Washington for jobs in the logging industry after the 1893 Financial Panic.
In John Cleary's case, however, he left Kansas for different reasons and earlier. The impetus for people moving to Skagit County was the decision to move by Green, who was a major cattleman back there. He sent Hammer, his son-in-law, out here first in June 1889. Green also happens to have been shot by Cleary's older brother, Patrick Cleary, back in Kansas in 1869. Two years later, after murdering at least two other men, Patrick was taken out of his jail cell and hanged until dead. John Cleary's obituary in the Lincoln Sentinel indicates that John moved his family out here sometime afterward. We are still investigating whether John owned his own mill, separate from his sons, after moving here. We do know that he came to a sad end out here in 1907, dying in the drunk tank of the Burlington jail.
For a 1960s story about Bow, Ray Jordan interviewed old timers and identified three of John's sons who were involved in the Cleary Bros. mill at various times: Ben and William, his eldest, and Grover, the baby of the family, later on. (See the Journal transcription.) You can read other details about the mill in other articles in this section in Issue 33 about the 1908 issue. In another story, about the Cook ranch in Olympia Marsh, Jordan recalled that, during his boyhood in the nearby village of Belfast in 1902, the Cleary brothers had a store and a post office in Sam Bell's town of Belleville, four miles north of Burlington, and that they had a small shingle mill near the Samish River.]

Edison

George Halloran. Druggist. Patent Medicines, prescriptions carefully compounded, confectionery, stationery.
Logged Off Lands! We have sold ten tracts of from 8 to 80 acres, within five miles of Bow, Washington. During the last ninety days at prices from $40 to $55 per acre. Easy terms at 8 per cent. Our Samish River acreage is going fast. If you want any of it apply to our agent: Pat Halloran, Edison, Wash. Merchants & Mechanics Bank.
Journal ed. note: Pat Halloran was wounded in the crossfire between police and the Spurgeon brothers when they robbed the Edison Bank in November 1917. He died a few days later. He was the father-in-law of Wickersham and Woolley pioneer David Donnelly.]
Iddins Bros. General Merchandise. Full line of clothing, boots, shoes, dry goods, hats, caps, notions, cooking utensils, confectionery, stationery, tobacco, cigars. Highest Cash Price Paid for Produce. Edison, Wash.

Miscellaneous

The Lake Whatcom Logging Co. will give away logged off lands on the main road between Burlington and Bow, near Roray's mill, one acre free for each acre cleared. Parties availing themselves of this offer may leave two large stumps to each acre, but otherwise land must be ready for the plow. One year's time is given and not over ten acres to one man nor less than five acres. We have 250 acres good land for sale in this vicinity at prices ranging from $40 to $60 per acre and in lots to suit, from eight acres up. For further information apply to our agent, P. Halloran, Farmer's & Merchant's Bank, Edison, Wash. [See Issue 41 of our Journal Subscribers magazine online for our exclusive story on the details of the confusing town of Allen-Roray.]
The Great Novelty Shop. Everything on Earth — If we Haven't Got it, We'll Get it. Largest stock of post cards in the county. Burlington Market Day, Oct. 17. We will sell 25 cent post cards, four for 5 cents
J.H. Dunaway & Co. We have just received one thousand copies of sheet music, which, regardless of value, we are putting out at 10 cents a copy. There is something for everyone in this line, regardless of whether you want sacred music or ragtime, or easy pieces for beginners, or classical vocal or instrumental or string instrument, and it's yours for 1- cents a copy. Come and get a thirty-two page catalogue free of charge. [Journal ed. note: back in those days, before radio broadcast music far and wide, families amused themselves and each other by singing around pianos and organs in their parlors, or Aunt Jennie playing the mandolin. And each town formed its own local groups and bands to entertain folks at the town hall. Sheet music was a big seller back then, with scores of show tunes and notes for vocals and instrumentals.]

Links, background reading and sources

You can find more information about the businesspeople noted above by checking the advertisements section of this issue.

Links to the other three parts of this newspaper issue in Issue 33 that were originally shared with subscribers:

Deanna Ammons shares the long-lost, rare inaugural issue of Bow's newspaper, the Northwest Skagit Advocate, Oct. 10, 1908. Part One: Publisher's plans, local news and a recap of early pioneers of the Fidalgo Island area.
Part Two, the Northwest Skagit Advocate, Oct. 10, 1908: early days of town of Bow and environs.
Part Three, the Northwest Skagit Advocate, Oct. 10, 1908: early days of town of Edison, at the delta of the Samish River.
Part Four, the Northwest Skagit Advocate, Oct. 10, 1908: advertisements of Samish Valley towns. Includes the newly discovered explanation of the names of the railroad stops and towns of Roray and Allen.

Other background links:

Old Newspaper Logs on the site, dating from 1878 on.
Introduction to the multi-part section on the history of Edison.
Our section on Edward R. Murrow, Blanchard's favorite son, includes stories about Edison activities and the Samish River Valley.
This profile of Euphronious Watkinson includes the story of the Watkinson Bros. Dry Goods Building, which still stands in downtown Edison and is now the home of the Edison Eye Art Gallery and the family of owners Dana and Toni Rust. It also includes many more photos of Edison in pioneer days.
Three-part section on the history of Bow/Brownsville.
Three-part transcription of Chapter Two of the 1906 book, Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, covering the very early settlement of the Fidalgo Island area. This story is from our old domain, so the links may not work; it is being updated for 2008.

The goblins that sent shivers up the spines of Edisonians on Halloween 2005
when Jean Sherrard came armed only with his camera and lenses. [Shudder]

Story posted on April 18, 2006, last updated Dec. 27, 2007 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them
This article originally appeared in Issue 33 of our Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine

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