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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, Snohomish & BC. An evolving history dedicated to 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

Features about the North Cascades from
Monte Cristo and Darrington north to Sauk City Eastern Skagit and Snohomish counties Sauk, Suiattle and Skagit rivers, plus background reading

Monte Cristo-Darrington area in eastern/northeasttern Snohomish county

The Everett and Monte Cristo Railway, a book filled with photos and details of the railroad that led to the mines in the North Cascades in the 1890s.
The basic book on the Darrington/Monte Cristo area and the local Indian hisotry is Darrington: Mining Town/Timber Town and is available from author Elizabeth S. Poehlman, 658 NW 163rd Street, Shoreline, WA 98177. Cost is $10.95 plus $ .96 tax for a total of $11.91 per copy. "This is a second printing done in 1995 with a new introduction and corrections but with no additional material. I did a second printing of my book in 1995 (with a few corrections but no additions to it) and still have a good supply of that second printing."
Photos and introduction to the railroad and mines of the Monte Cristo district in the North Cascades in the 1890s.
Frank Wilkeson wrote an article for the Feb. 27, 1893, issue of the New York Times about the mines and railroad at Monte Cristo in Snohomish county. This continues our extensive section on frontier mining.
Profile of Chief Wawetkin [or Wawitkin], the last chief of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian tribe.
Profiles and obituaries of the James Bedal family, Sauk river homesteaders in 1891. The first comprehensive look at this hardy family, including wife Susie Wahwetkin, a descendant of the last Sauk-Suiattle tribal chief; son Harry, a forest ranger; and Edith and Jean, the daughters who led pack teams across some of the most challenging trails and rivers in the North Cascades and became two of the most important Indian voices in Washington state for their generation. Includes the myth of Bedal's description as an immigrant and his family connection to Little House on the Prairie.
The towns of Bedal Camp, China and Orient on the Sauk river, and how these villages began in the 1890s on the trail from Sauk City to the Monte Cristo mines.
Marv Olsen, our Monte Cristo-Bennettville correspondent, tells an honest-to-God, true story about his late father leash-trained his pet salmon.
Snohomish county history.

Sam Strom and Alice Elinor Lambert (all in Issue 30, paid-subscribers section)

Sam Strom, the young Count of Monte Cristo, Norwegian immigrant of 1893.
Sam Strom, pioneer miner — 2-part memoir of the Snohomish county miner in the 1890s, courtesy of Alice Elinor Lambert via Elizabeth Poehlman.
Alice Elinor Lambert Ransburg, a character in her own movie, Darrington writer from 1930s-1970s and member of Seattle's original Bohemian, artistic community at the turn of the 20th century.
Elizabeth Poehlman, author and pastor's wife, who wrote the book on Darrington and in this issue she profiles Alice Elinor Lambert.

Sauk City-Sauk-junction of Sauk and Skagit rivers

Our 6-part section about the area around Sauk and old Sauk City and Monte Cristo remains one the most popular on the site. Start with our portal site, Part One of four parts about Sauk City and the pioneer miners, farmers and storekeepers who braved the remote wilderness and the constant threat of floods. Keep in mind that three of these Sauk links are on our old domain, so the click links will not work in all cases.
Two Ray Jordan stories about the Sauk City and Sauk river area and Diane Wainright McMurdie's memories of her relatives who homesteaded there.
Ray Jordan's story of the mysterious Weeden massacre of neighbors on Sauk Prairie in 1911, and the late Rolf Olsen's memories about the massacre.
Larry Spurling shares an oral interview with his late uncle Howard Spurling about his family's life, growing up on the Spurling ranch on Sauk Prairie.
Pioneer biographies of the Sauk area: William, Mary, Genevieve Moran; John G. and Catherine Perrault; Samuel and Sarah (Hunter) Wainright. Harry and Hattie (Ellis) Wainright; Henry and Emma (Wainright) Gay.
A list of all Upriver Skagit history stories, from Utopia to the Cascades, sorted by town and area, including links for stories about the Sauk area and Monte Cristo.

Links to other stories and further reading Background reading and books

We also strongly suggest that you look for Philip R. Woodhouse's definitive book on Monte Cristo, published in 1979 and now out of print but widely found in used-book stores and libraries. Woodhouse also teamed with Daryl Jacobson and Bill Petersen on the book, Everett and Monte Cristo Railway, which is still in print from Oso Publishing.
Darrington, Mining Town/Timber Town, by Elizabeth Poehlman, 1979, Gold Hill Press, Kent, WA. Elizabeth moved to Darrington as a pastor's wife and soon set about interviewing surviving pioneers and their descendants, touring the mines and meeting with Indians who explained the area to her. This is a must for anyone studying the towns of the region and the Monte Cristo Cristo.
A Broad Bold Ledge of Gold: Historical Facts of Monte Cristo, Washington, by Rosemary Wilkie, 1958. Rosemary spent every summer in Monte Cristo from 1951 on and fell in love with the mines and the deteriorating properties. When she discovered that no book had been written specifically about the area, she endeavored to write her own and succeeded with a slim volume with photos, pegged on the date of July 4, 1889, the year Washington became a state. A real find in used book stores.
For a delightful personal view of this area, we heartily recommend that you read this website by Margaret Robe Summitt, Ph.D., longtime stalwart of the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society: The history of Robe, Washington, Robe Canyon and the Robe family who settled it.
Will D. "Bob" Jenkins. Last Frontier in the North Cascades. LaConner: Skagit County Historical Society, 1984. One of the two best of the Society's extensive series of history books. Jenkins lived to be 98, in the fourth generation of a newspaper family that came from Kansas to Whatcom in the 1880s. His stories of growing up with his mother on a homestead in the North Cascades are a treasure.
John C. Miles, editor. Impressions of the North Cascades. Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1996. A terrific collection of essays.

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Story posted on Oct. 10, 2005, and last updated on May 1, 2006
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Skagit River Journal

Features about the North Cascades from Monte Cristo and Darrington north to Sauk City Eastern Skagit and Snohomish counties Sauk, Suiattle and Skagit rivers, plus background reading

Features about the North Cascades from
Monte Cristo and Darrington north to Sauk City Eastern Skagit and Snohomish counties Sauk, Suiattle and Skagit rivers, plus background reading