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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Free Home Page 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

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

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Newspaper logs from pioneer days
of the Pacific Northwest and Skagit County

One of the sad things you quickly learn when you begin researching Skagit County history is that well more than half of the early newspapers before 1911 have been burned in various fires. In addition, many volumes of early newspapers have either been thrown away or have disappeared when early papers changed hands. If you have any such newspapers, you have a keepsake and we would love to see a copy.
Almost all the early volumes of the Skagit County Courier of Sedro-Woolley disappeared long before 1960. Several volumes of the Skagit County Times of Sedro-Woolley have also disappeared at unknown times. Many of the early volumes probably burned in the July 1911 downtown-Woolley fire. And all the volumes of the Sedro Press, the first newspaper in town from 1890-95, burned in an 1895 fire in the original plant.. The cruelest fire occurred at the Puget Sound Mail in LaConner several decades ago. The Mail began on Bellingham Bay in 1873 and was the oldest continuously published weekly in the state. All that is left of the first 30 years or so is microfilmed copies of partial pages that were rescued from the blaze.
So we were overjoyed when Clear Lake Historian Deanna Ammons told us this summer that a local man found some long-lost copies of the Skagit County Times in the walls of a house that he was remodeling. They range in time from various years during 1891-1909 and they hold stories that were mostly unknown. The most spectacular issue is the one from Dec. 5, 1891, when the town of Woolley was preparing for its first full election in the company town that P.A. Woolley built. We have now combed through about two thirds of the papers, line by line. This research comes at the tail end of a four-year project during which we have researched other volumes on microfilm all over the state. Unless you have tried this yourself, you have no idea what fatigue you feel after spending eight hours hunched over the flickering pages of microfilm, trying to read the small type and either take notes by hand or make barely legible copies on primitive printers.
This section will build over the months as we share with you the nuggets we have discovered in our panning of newspapers all over Skagit County, plus Snohomish and Whatcom. We will also start a list of places where you can read microfilmed copies and we will eventually list what copies are available in each place. They are literally worth their weight in gold. As you read our transcriptions, keep in mind how important it is for our readers to share photo copies of any old newspapers that they have in their family collections, especially those before Please email if you can help. When you see information in [ ], we have either corrected spelling or provided more information about the person, company or place mentioned, from the extensive research we have conducted for more than ten years. Most of these stories are shared from the archives of our optional Subscribers Edition

Sedro-Woolley Newspapers we have transcribed so far

The Dec. 5, 1891, Skagit County Times. In it you will find the shocking news that the merger of Sedro and Woolley was first attempted in 1891 after both towns had been incorporated as cities of the fourth class. Plus the preparation for the Dec. 8 election where four different parties nominated their slate of candidates for municipal office in Woolley. We also read about profiles of two famous early editors, Edward S. Morrill and Ambrose B. Ernst. Morrill was the nephew of Senator Justin S. Morrill of Vermont, the father of land-grant colleges, and Ernst went on to become the father of Seattle city parks.
In the May 2, 1896, issue, we learn about the Batey & Hart mill; John Munro's Grand Rapids mill, Albert W. Hight's mill and Sterling and McMurray mills; news from early Burlington and McMurray; a list of government officials at state, county and town levels; early churches and fraternal lodges; new information about the George Green and Dave Parker families; the Collins family, namesake of Collins road, and homestead filings. You will also find links to short features in this issue about the first proposed cheese factory in Sedro, Sedro's bid for the Skagit County Fair, an obituary for Gustav Pidde and the very early days of the Masonic Lodge.
Transcripts of issues from various months of 1899 Skagit County Times newspapers, edited by Seneca G. Ketchum. Those were the first newspapers after the merger of Sedro and Woolley in December 1898.
Transcription of the April 2, 1903, edition of the Skagit County Times of Sedro-Woolley. Includes the first mention of the Dempsey Brothers upper-Skagit River logging operations, the Goat Trail to Slate Creek mines, logging and shingle mills when a glut hit the market, the Sterling Mill and copies of actual ads.
Introduction to the Odds and Ends section, which includes five collections of short stories from the Courier-Times and other early city newspapers about people, events and businesses in Sedro-Woolley in the first half of the 20th century.
Transcription of two pages from the Dec. 1, 1949, issue of the Courier-Times, which includes photos and details of the severe flood, and especially how it affected old Sedro, the Nookachamps and Hamilton; plus history of the Wildcat Steelhead Club, the first Great Northern passenger in 17 years; and how Sedro-Woolley violinist Floyd Maxwell bagged his fifth deer despite losing an arm and both legs; plus several more stories.

Sedro-Woolley editors and publishers

George Hopp, first publisher of the first newspaper in old Sedro, the Sedro Press, beginning April 18, 1890. We have never found a copy of this early newspaper and the last one seen was reported in 1953 to be owned by Ethel Van Fleet Harris. We hope a reader will find one in a family scrapbook.
Seneca G. Ketchum Biography Part 1. Feisty pioneer Sedro-Woolley newspaper editor (from 1899 until his death in 1903) in his years before arriving in Washington Territory in 1888. And his family, 17th-century English immigrants, pioneer settlers of Toronto, Ontario, and businessmen of New York State.
Ambrose B. Ernst owned the Skagit County Timesin 1891 and then moved to Seattle where he was honored this year for being the "father of city parks." Updated completely in August 2004 with letters and photos of the period that are the first extensive record of the old town of Woolley.

Sedro-Woolley's Skagit Steel & Iron Works in Washington Magazine

Part one of our series of articles from the 1890 volume of the Washington Magazine, this one about the two towns of Sedro in August 1890.
Washingtonian Magazine of February 1929, a glossy statewide publication, profiled Sedro-Woolley's Skagit Steel and David G. McIntyre before the magazine faded during the Depression.

Mount Vernon newspapers Skagit News

A profile of William Cox Ewing, who founded the Skagit News in Mount Vernon in 1884 mdash; in which the careful reader will also learn about U.S. politics and government in the 19th century; the Ewing family's influence on Abraham Lincoln, the defense of Dr. Samuel Mudd and President Andrew Johnson; Washington territory and the first successful ascent of Mount Rainier. Ewing was descended from one of America's most prestigious families. It concluded U.S. Senators, cabinet officers, generals such as William Tecumseh Sherman and William's own father, who defended President Johnson.
Read excerpts from the first six issues, including profiles of many early pioneers and the first appearance of the Dolbeer steam donkey.
Transcriptions of April 1884 issues of the Skagit News, which include details of many early logging operations around the county in the year of a huge wave of new settlers.

Early Mount Vernon newspapers

Transcripts of the Mount Vernon Record, predecessor of the Argus, from the October 7, 1897, issue, illustrating life in Skagit County as the pioneers struggled out of the nationwide Depression and began to enjoy the golden fruits of the Klondike that would soon bring an economic boom. Please mail us Xeroxed copies of any old newspaper you find, especially copies of the Chronicle, Record, Post and Argus.
Mount Vernon Log Jams Part Two. Rare newspaper issues of Eldridge Morse's Northern Star (Snohomish City) that pegs exactly when work on the log jams near Mount Vernon began and when it was completed; and issues of the Washington Standard newspaper in Olympia from the 1870s that detail the work on the jams. Includes a short history of the Standard and the first newspapers in Washington Territory and Olympia, from 1853 on.

Early newspapers, various Skagit County cities Northwest Skagit Advocate, Bow, Washington

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.

Sebring's Skagit County Illustrated

A comprehensive history of Skagit County, written in 1902, chapter one in series from Sebring's Skagit County Illustrated magazine. Issue 21

LaConner newspapers

James Power's Puget Sound Mail began as the Bellingham Bay Mail in Whatcom in 1873 and after moving to LaConner in 1879, it was the main medium for news of the Skagit valley and Puget sound. This site has notes from the January through June, 1890 issues.

Profiles of early Skagit County editors and publishers

A profile of Edward S. Morrill, who moved here in 1885 as a teenager from Vermont, logged the townsite of Burlington and then spent more than 50 years writing for newspapers all over Skagit. Plus a short profile of his famous uncle Justin Smith Morrill back in Vermont, who represented his stare for 43 years in both the U.S. House and Senate. Along the way he sponsored the bill for land grant colleges that soon took his name in the title. And his key support for famous Washington, D.C. landmarks including Statuary Hall, Washington Monument and the Library of Congress.

Upriver Skagit river newspapers and articles

Mike Aiken shares a November 1878 issues of Clarence B. Bagley's (Olympia) Puget Sound Weekly Courier, and the story of how the Upper Skagit was opened to settlement and logging that year as the log jams were conquered and our most important upriver pioneers staked their claims, including Mike's great-grandfather, Birdsey Minkler.
Skagit County Logger from Hamilton, our three-part transcription of the June 5, 1890, issue, the oldest complete newspaper we have found so far.

Snohomish County newspapers covering Skagit River

Eldridge Morse, editor of the Northern Star, first newspaper in Snohomish County. He came West in 1872 and for the next 32 years traveled the Northwest and reported his findings to readers and the government while bringing culture and science to the region with his friend Dr. A.C. Folsom. With links to a version of Morse's biography, thanks to Blackman Museum, Snohomish, and Ann Tuohy.
Obituaries and documents about Morse, his wives and Northwest pioneers.
Eldridge Morse's first tour of the Skagit river settlements from his The Northern Star newspaper in Snohomish, in the April 29, 1876 issue of the Northern Star.
A subsequent Eldridge Morse tour of the Skagit river settlements from his The Northern Star newspaper in Snohomish, in the April 9, 1877 issue, noting the growth of Skagit City, settlement on the north fork of the Skagit and how Mount Vernon was born that year.

More newspapers that we seek

The Northwest Skagit Advocate from Bow is an example of newspapers that have fallen through the cracks that we would like to share with readers. Other like that, which had a short but sweet life, include the Deming Prospector, the Birdsview Bee, the Lyman Localizer, the original Mount Vernon Argus, Pre-1910; the Mount Vernon Chronicle of the 1890s, and all the Sedro papers, etc. Please email us if you have copies of any early county paper before 1920, or copies of the early Snohomish Eye, the Northern Star, the Stanwood newspapers, or any from Fairhaven and early Whatcom county. We do not need to see the original copies. Photocopies will be fine or scans if you have them. If you do not want to keep the originals, we can refer you to museums that will preserve them for you.
We have many more newspaper excerpts coming in 2007-08.

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Story posted on Dec. 21, 2003, last updated on April 17, 2007

See this Journal website for a timeline of local, state, national and international events for years of the pioneer period.

Did you enjoy this story? Remember, as with all our features, this story is a draft and will evolve as we discover more information and photos. This process continues until we eventually compile a book about Northwest history.

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Please let us show you residential and commercial property in Sedro-Woolley and Skagit County 2204 Riverside Drive, Mount Vernon, Washington . . . 360 708-8935 . . . 360 708-1729

Schooner Tavern/Cocktails at 621 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, across from Hammer Square: www.schoonerwoolley.com web page . . . History of bar and building

Oliver Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 82 years.

Joy's Sedro-Woolley Bakery-Cafe at 823 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 82 years.

Check out Sedro-Woolley First section for links to all stories and reasons to shop here first
or make this your destination on your visit or vacation.

DelNagro Masonry Brick, block, stone — See our work at the new Hammer Heritage Square

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Peace and quiet at the Alpine RV Park, just north of Marblemount on Hwy 20
Park your RV or pitch a tent by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley

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Skagit River Journal

Newspaper logs from pioneer days of the Pacific Northwest and Skagit County

Snohomish County newspapers covering Skagit River

Newspaper logs from pioneer days
of the Pacific Northwest and Skagit County