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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
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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
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Pioneers of the mountain area of Sauk river,
Stillaguamish, Monte Cristo and Illabot creek

(Sauk Prarie)
Thanks to our alert subscriber, Sharon Cowan, we are making a correction of this caption for the location of Sauk Prairie. The prairie and the road by that name are north and northeast of Darrington. In this view, we are looking southwest from the Darrington area and we see White Horse Mountain. Photo by Darius Kinsey, print courtesy of another subscriber, Marv Olsen. Click on the photo above to see the full-size print.

William and Mary Moran
      Historian John Conrad wrote in his 1970 Pioneer Picnic obituary notes about this Sauk-area family. "Miss Genevieve Moran, 73, died a tragic death in Seattle on March 20 when fire destroyed the Hotel Ozark, where she had an apartment. She and several other tenants lost their lives. Genevieve was born at [old Sauk City], upriver on the Skagit in 1896, the daughter of William and Mary Moran, who lived on the south side of the river. They later moved to the [north side, where the new town of Sauk formed around a shingle mill and the Great Northern train depot]. She went to the old Sauk school, worked later in the Concrete telephone office and moved to Seattle 25 years ago." We hope that a reader will have more information about these folks.
John G. and Catherine Perrault
      The Perrault family members were among the most important pioneers of the little town of Sauk city, located at the mouth of the Sauk river, where it empties into the Skagit river on the south shore, opposite modern Rockport. We had only limited information about the town and the family until we were contacted two years ago by their great-grandson Gregory Perrault. As he explained, he lives within walking distance of the Suzallo library at the University of Washington and its fine history wing, the Allen library.
      Our first discovery about the couple was years ago when we found the 1937 obituary of Catherine, which stated that they came to Washington territory in 1883 and settled in Sterling in 1886 — probably while George logged for Barlow and Ball west of Mortimer Cook's town of Sedro.
(John Sutter)
John Sutter, a Baker river pioneer in the late 1870s and in Lyman in the 1880s.
      Greg discovered by researching postal records that the original post office for the Sauk district was established on July 20, 1886, by Stanley Lockerman, who became the first postmaster. That was before there was a town to speak of on the prairie just west of the junction of the rivers. On Feb. 8, 1888, George Perrault proposed that the post office be located in the town that had 220 inhabitants by then. Although most historical records called the town Sauk City, the official post office designation was as Sauk at the legal description of the Northwest 1/4 of section 34, Township 35North, Range 9East. Albert G. Mosier, pioneer of Sedro, was contracted to plat the town in the summer of 1890 and his county map of 1891 shows that the town curved around the bend of the Skagit at that point and stretched east to line the west bank of the Sauk. The town began as an important trading point and transportation hub in 1888-90 because of its proximity to the Monte Cristo mining area to the south. When the nationwide Depression set in during 1892-93 and a quicker overland route was discovered via the Stillaguamish river in Snohomish county, the town's importance faded. Then the monster floods of 1894-97 washed the town away, especially the last one, succeeding in their destruction when even the fire of 1889 that leveled the town had not succeeded.
      Meanwhile, back on Feb. 29, 1888, Perrault took over as postmaster and sometime subsequently the location of the post office changed to section 35, slightly east of the original spot, maybe because the town was rebuilt there following the 1889 fire. A.V. Pressentin [Adelbert, brother of Birdsview pioneer Karl von Pressentin] succeeded Perrault as postmaster on Feb. 25, 1892, interestingly calling the new third location Sutter Sauk. The Sutter in the name was for John Sutter. Greg found that in 1890, John Sutter, Alex McLeod, and William. Byers joined with Perrault to buy at Sheriff's auction for $500, the estate of I.J. Beauregard located near Sauk Prairie in section 27. The partnership conducted business as McLeod and Byers.
      We also read in the 1937 obituary that when the Perraults first arrived in the Skagit valley, they lived in the lowlands — probably meaning Fir island — for a short time. A handwritten note indicates that they lived in old Sterling. The obituary states that when they set up shop in Sauk, the family started a combination store/hotel/post office. The store was later swept away in a flood in an unknown year, probably the big one of 1897 that swept across Sauk Prairie, and the part of the building used as a hotel was tipped over. They then moved to a farm near Marblemount and George acquired considerable timberland before his death in 1909, which probably left Catherine a good nest-egg for her retirement. The handwritten note also indicates that their last name was pronounced in the French manner: Perr-Long-O. Catherine was survived by her Ernie; she died at his home in Everett.
William Shields
Oct. 14, 1884, Skagit News (Mount Vernon)
      William Shields was incorrectly reported to have abandoned the Sauk. He has not done so, but has thoroughly cruised the country. He says a good road could be put through easily from Stanwood to the Sauk valley. The expense would not be great, and many of the settlers would help the road along. the divide between Sauk and Stillaguamish is not over forty feet above water and could be easily crossed by a road. [Ed. note: this timber cruiser of the Sauk river area seems to have disappeared from historical records. We hope that a reader will know more about him.]
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Story posted on Sept. 30, 2004, last updated 9/28/2007 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them

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