Site founded September 1, 2000, passing a half million page views in July 2005
These home pages remain free of any charge. We need donations or subscriptions/gifts for students, military and family. Please pass on this website link to your family, relatives, friends and clients.
(Seattle & Northern 1890)

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. An evolving history dedicated to the principle of 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
(Click to send email)

Mabel Boyd's family rides from Prairie
to Fairhaven on 4th of July, 1897

By Mabel Boyd Royal Steen, Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, March 9, 1939
(Young Mabel Boyd)
Young Mabel Boyd
      I remember in 1897 when we lived at Prairie, Joe Hoyt had a shingle mill there and I lived with my sister [Annie Boyd Hoyt] and brother-in-law, who worked for Joe at the time. I was a young child then but I can plainly remember our trip to Fairhaven. Some neighbors and my folks planned to go to Fairhaven and spend the Fourth of July. What a wonderful day that was then. The joy it brought to us children! The thought is simply thrilling yet.
      We made our preparations two days ahead of time and were ready for an early start on July 3, for it was considered a long trip with a team and wagon. The wagon was brought close to the house to be handy and that afternoon some other children and myself were playing in it. Of course, I had to get up in the spring seat and jump up and down. As it had been raining, the seat was slippery and all at once my feet flew out and down I went, head first, hitting the bridge of my nose on the dashboard. Considerable wailing and much bloodshed ensured for I received quite a gash, but worst of all, the children told me they bet I wouldn't be able to go. However, I said I was all right and next morning we were all ready bright and early for our big trip. Bird and Nell were hitched to the wagon and we piled in. Some sat on the spring seat, some sat on a seat made by putting a 12-inch board across the wagon bed. We surely had fun and not a thing along the road escaped our eyes.
      The road was extremely rough and muddy and the heavy wagon jolted from one side to the other. It rained quite a bit, too, but the older folks had umbrellas, and we children didn't mind a bit, eve though we did get most of the drip from their umbrellas. At last we arrived at Fairhaven and I didn't think a town could be so big. Mount Vernon being the largest I'd ever seen at that time. It rained the morning of the 4th, but after a while it cleared up and we went to the place where they were celebrating. If I live forever, I shall never see anything quite so wonderful as that celebration.
      There was a big Ferris wheel all decorated with flags and bunting and people going around and around in the air; a merry-go-round with beautiful horses, with bright eyes and flowing manes. We had candy, paper fans that folded and all sorts of treats. There was a man with a music box that stood on legs. He called it a tubaphone. It was similar to an old Edison phonograph but instead of a horn it had a hollow rubber tube that branched off like the handle of a sling shot, and the large part was fastened on the reproducer. The branched part, with little buttons at the end, he put in his ears. Then he would start it going and it sounded through the tube like phonograph without a horn, no volume at all. Everyone thought that was a wonderful invention and wondered what they'd get up next. He charged ten cents for each person and he played two songs. I remember one song he played was "My Boyhood Happy Days Down On the Farm."
      Well, we had better weather on the way home and I think both old and young enjoyed that Fourth. I know I did, even though I had to go with a court plaster on my nose and still carry the scar from that fall in the wagon.
      Ed. note: Mabel Boyd is one of the most important historians who has ever lived on the Skagit river. She was born on the south side of the Skagit river at Birdsview, the twelfth child of Lewis A. and Olive Clarissa (Torrey) Boyd. The family had originally arrived here in October 1882 when there were just nine children. Although she had only a rudimentary education, Mabel has left her family six volumes of diaries and notes, many of which we had the pleasure to transcribe. In the late 1930s and '40s, Mabel was a correspondent for the Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times. Her information has been lovingly collected and reprinted by her grandson, Dan Royal, who has a wonderful website of his own, The Stump Ranch, which is a thorough collection of upper Skagit river history and photos.
Links to other stories
Story posted on March 21, 2003, and last updated July 29, 2005
Did you enjoy this story? Please consider subscribing to the optional Subscribers Edition. That is how we fund this grand project.
Please report any broken links or files that do not open and we will send you the correct link. Thank you.
Return to our home page anytime
You can read about our prime sponsors:
(bullet) Allelujah Business Systems/Copies/Mailbox, 133-B State St., Sedro-Woolley, 360 855-1157
Preserve your family keepsakes . . . allcopiersystems web page
(bullet) 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
(bullet) Oliver Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 82 years.
(bullet) Joy's Sedro-Woolley Bakery-Cafe at 823 Metcalf street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 82 years.
(bullet) Heirloom Gardens Natural Foods at 805B Metcalf street, the original home of Oliver Hammer.
(bullet) Bus Jungquist Furniture at 829 Metcalf street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 36 years.
(bullet) Check out Sedro-Woolley First for links to all stories and reasons to shop here first
or make this your destination on your visit or vacation.
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 driver from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley.
Would you like to buy a country church, pews, belfry, bell, pastor's quarters and all? Email us for details.
Looking for something special on our site? Enter name, town or subject, then press "Find"
Search this site powered by FreeFind
Did you find what you were looking for? If not, please email us and tell us what you seek and we will put it on our list to research. The more details, the better.
Please sign our guestbook so our readers will know where you found out about us, or share something you know about the Skagit River or your memories or those of your family. Share your reactions or suggestions or comment on our Journal. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to visit our site.
Sign Our Guestbook Get your own FREE Guestbook from htmlGEAR
View Our Guestbook
Remember, we welcome correction and criticism. Please click on the email slot at the right to report any problems with these pages or to suggest ideas for future stories. This is a completely free site. We fund it by providing an online magazine for paid subscribers. If you are not already a subscriber and you would like to help support our considerable research costs, you can subscribe for just $20.00 per year. As a paid subscriber, you will receive eight yearly issues plus many rare treats between times, including scans of photos and documents that illustrate local history, before they are shared with anyone else. You can go here for Subscription details and you can read the preview edition to see examples of our in-depth research. You may also order gift subscriptions for friends, family or clients who are interested in local history or students or military people who are away from home. Or you can email us for more details. Do you have scanned photos to share? Or you can mail us copies. See addresses to right.
Email us at: journal@stumpranchonline.com
(Click to send email)
Mail copies/documents to street address: Skagit River Journal, 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, WA, 98284.