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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

Charles M. Dwelley,
Concrete publisher for 40 years,
and his family who made Skagit history

Charles M. "Chuck" Dwelley spent 40 years as the voice of the town of Concrete, after originally being assigned there in the months just prior to the October 1929 stock market crash to edit a failing small-town weekly newspaper, the Concrete Herald, which had gone bankrupt. His early days as an editor were not auspicious at all, especially for the grandson of one of Skagit County's earliest pioneers.
Along the way, he actually eclipsed the publicity and historical reputation accorded to his grandfather, Joseph Franklin Dwelley, and he grew into a significant journalist rival for his mentor, Frank Evans, publisher of the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times. His voice became pre-eminent for all things upriver in the Skagit Valley and he pushed badly needed infrastructure and transportation projects, while he opposed others that he considered boondoggles or frivolous. His value for historical researchers was insured when he published his memories of his adopted town, So They Called the Town Concrete, in 1980. That book has recently been reprinted by the Concrete Museum. In a 1984 letter to Anne Bussiere, who took over as editor of the Herald for owners Bob and June Fader, Dwelley explained how he soon became the established upriver "whipping boy" and how the manager of Superior Cement Co. soon demanded that Herald articles concerning the cement plant were to be brought to him for approval. Dwelley called the man's bluff and he was soon on his way to establishing a presence in town.

See the extensive section on Charles M. "Chuck" Dwelley, which was created by Larry and Josef Kunzler as part of their program in August 2006 to honor Dwelley by installing a plaque on the Dalles Bridge, one of Dwelley's most important projects.

In his 1980 book, Dwelley recalled how he was sent to Concrete as a young man of 21 to take over the bankrupt weekly Herald, just before the depression struck, Mr. Dwelley eked out a living of sorts until he manager to put the Herald on its feet financially and retire the mortgages some ten years later. Meanwhile, he was establishing a reputation, which grew to statewide and eventually nationwide, as a top editor and writer. His short editorials have been reprinted in numerous daily newspapers and national magazines and reread over radio stations throughout the country. Dwelley sold the Herald in late 1970 to Robert and June Fader. In 1979, he edited a collection of historical stories in a book for the Skagit Valley Historical Society, Skagit Memories, and he wrote a column, "The Bridge Tender," in the Channel Town Press, LaConner newspaper.
In Issue 31 of the online Subscribers Journal magazine, you can read the full biography of Dwelley. The story also includes the history of the Concrete Herald, which began in Hamilton in 1901, and profiles of his father and grandfather. His grandfather was Joseph F. Dwelley, who grew up in Maine as a member of a family that descended from a ancestor who married a descendant of a Mayflower passenger in 1620. After fighting in the Civil War, Joseph moved to Wisconsin, married, and then migrated West to Washington Territory in 1870. In that year, he became one of the first settlers to stake a claim at the future site of Mount Vernon, and in 1873 he moved his young family to LaConner, where he served as judge for 50 years.
Charles M. Dwelley was the middle child of three of Charles L. Dwelley, who was born in LaConner in 1878 as the fourth child of Joseph and Angeline Dwelley. Charles L. Dwelley moved his family to Anacortes in 1910, where he worked for the Anacortes Pulp Mill when it started and remained there until his retirement. He was president of the Historical Society in 1954.

Links, background reading and sources

Introduction to Charles M. "Chuck" Dwelley publisher of the Concrete Herald from 1929-70.
Charles M. "Chuck" Dwelley, country weekly newspaper editor. We present for the first time full biographies of Chuck, the publisher of the Concrete Herald for 41 years; his grandfather, Joseph F. Dwelley, who was a pioneer of the Skagit Valley in 1870; and his father, Charles L. Dwelley, pioneer resident of Anacortes.
Obituaries for Chuck Dwelley and Art Dwelley.
Chuck Dwelley's 1953 history of Skagit County
A reprint of So They Called the Town Concrete is now available from the Concrete Museum, as one of their main fundraisers.
We have updated our story on the 50th anniversary of the Dalles bridge at Concrete, which was erected in 1952 after decades of nail-biting, harrowing rides across that canyon and the Faber gorge by both settlers and buses full of children on gravity ferries. Includes a drawing of the bridge from a 1951 Concrete Herald issue.
See a list of our many Journal features about Concrete and that area of the upper Skagit River:
See the website by Larry Kunzler and Josef Kunzler that explores Skagit River floods in depth — past, present and future, and offers a special section about their research of Chuck Dwelley and the Concrete Herald.
Larry Kunzler and Josef Kunzler are now researching and cataloguing articles about Skagit River floods in the Concrete Herald archives, as they have done with other newspapers. Read about their project and see links there to their website and articles about replacement of the Dalles and Faber ferries.
In future Journal issues, we will transcribe and post a series of stories about historic Concrete from the Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the Concrete Herald, dated June 21, 1951.

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Story posted Dec. 1, 2005, last updated April 24, 2007

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

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Skagit River Journal

Charles M. Dwelley, Concrete publisher for 40 years, and his family who made Skagit history

Charles M. Dwelley,
Concrete publisher for 40 years,
and his family who made Skagit history