Celebrating 3+ years on the web and passing 100,000 page views in January 2004
Our free site remains free. How to subscribe to our separate online magazine or donate to our project

Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Free Resources Stories & Photos

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

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

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Daniel D. Dillard, first mayor of Concrete

Daniel and Henrietta Dillard on their wedding day in 1912

Daniel Dougal Dillard built the Baker Lumber Co. mill on the west side of the Baker river, just north of the junction with the Skagit river, sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, maybe slightly before. The mill was located just down the slope from the east dead-end of Main street in present-day Concrete, Washington. You can see a historical marker there on — what else — Dillard street [or avenue]. Thanks to his descendants Andria Kennoy and Jody Dillard, we know that Daniel was born in Arkansas in 1856 and moved to Texas with the family as a young man. At various times he was a cowboy in South America and then lived in Arizona where he met Rudolph Ruggenstroh, who was initially a partner in the Baker mill. A family story passed down was that he met Billy the kid during Daniel's wandering days as a cowboy. He was descended from "Capt. James Dillard" of Virginia and South Carolina, who fought in the Revolutionary War. James's oldest son was Thomas Milton Dillard, Daniel's father. Daniel was born after Thomas moved his family to Arkansas. Sometime in the 1890s, Daniel moved to British Columbia. Jody has a wonderful family story about when Dan moved down to Concrete, part of the way in a canoe. There is a hint within that he had maybe followed the gold rush to the Klondike, circa 1897-1899. He was always known as quite a character:

Uncle Dan Dillard [was] coming across a river from Canada into the U.S. (or vice versa) and was stopped and investigated by the Border Police. They inspected his belongings in the canoe and then questioned him and proceeded to search him. They came upon a small leather pouch and they asked Uncle Dan what this was. Scowling, he held the bag at arms length over the side of the canoe, "It's me gold dust!" he replied "and I'll deposit it here in the deep before ye shall have it!"

Dillard famly: (from left to right) Daniel Jr.; Daniel Sr. holding John; Mary Fannie "Fan" standing in back; in front of her is Lillie; Hennrietta Phillips Dillard is sitting with Cecil on her lap; then June Dillard.

Magnus Miller founded the town of Baker in 1890 just up the slope from Dillard's mill. His business grew rapidly as newcomers settled the area and two cement companies sprang up on both sides of the Baker. Charles Dwelley noted in his book, So they called the town Concrete, that he hired men to fell cedar trees way north of town and cut them into shingle bolts that were then floated down the river and caught on a boom. The mill was built along the right-of-way for the Seattle & Northern railway and soon produced a million shingles daily. At one time it was called one of the most successful mills in the country, surely in the state.
Soon after Baker was incorporated as Concrete on April 27, 1909, Daniel Dillard was elected the first mayor and took office on May 10. Three years later, when he was 56, he traveled briefly to Alabama to marry Henrietta Phillips in the town of Goodwater sometime in February 1912. They would eventually have six children. In 1917 he applied to the city council for permission to erect a half dozen telephone poles for his private telephone line. It likely connected with the Concrete Telephone Co., owned by the famous sisters, Kate Gluver and Nell Quackenbush. Sometime in those early days, he also helped build a church in town, possibly the Catholic church on the slope northwest of the grade school.
Shortly after Daniel moved to Baker, his sister Catherine (Kate) and family followed him from Texas, where both Kate and Daniel lived after being born in Arkansas. Kate's daughter Eula married Bill Connelly, a man who worked for Dan at the mill. In 1923 she left Connelly and married Joseph Kemmerich, the son of upriver pioneer August Kemmerich.
In 1932, Dillard was killed in a car wreck west of Concrete in what was then called the Rock Cut. A year later, Henrietta died after suffering a nervous breakdown, brought on by her intense loneliness and the strain of being left with the six children.

Great Northern train picks up Dillard shingles

Baker River Shingle Mill

This bunkhouse-kitchen was built from cedar shakes. Dan Dillard at far right

Click on these thumbnails for full-sized photos. Photos from So They Called the Town Concrete, by Charles M. Dwelley. The book is long out of print but available at many used-book stores. It is a tremendous chronicle of the town by the longtime publisher of the Concrete Herald.

Dillard's partner's name may have been spelled Rudolph Roggenstroh. We can find no record of him. Perhaps a reader can help us. Please email if you can. Thank you.

Story posted on Oct. 19, 2002 and updated on Feb. 5, 2004
Please report any broken links or files that do not open and we will send you the correct link. Thank you.

You can read about our prime sponsors:
Read the history websites of our two newest sponsors and supporters:
Oliver Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 82 years
Bus Jungquist Furniture at 829 Metcalf street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 36 years

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

College Way Antique Mall, 1601 E. College Way, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, (360) 848-0807
Where you will find wonderful examples of Skagit county's past, seven days a week

North Cascade Ford, formerly Vern Sims Ford Ranch,
West Ferry street and Crossroads/Highway 20
either on the Sedro-Woolley page or directly at www.northcascadeford.com
DelNagro Masonry Brick, block, stone — See our work at the new Hammer Heritage Square
See our website www.4bricklayers.com
33 years experience — 15 years as a bonded, licensed contractor in the valley
Free estimates, reference, member of Sedro-Woolley Chamber

(360) 856-0101

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
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 would like to help support our considerable research costs, you can subscribe for just $17.50 per year. As a paid subscriber, you will receive six 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

Mail copies/documents to street address: Skagit River Journal, 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, WA, 98284.

Skagit River Journal free resources home page
If you are not a subscriber, go to story list of the Skagit River Journal subscriber edition,
including all archives.
Skagit River Journal online subscriber edition Preview edition page