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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
700 total Free Home Page Stories & Photos
(Also see our Subscribers Magazine Sample)
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

Happy New Year 2011,
our 11th year on the Internet

Search entire
700+ features

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reunions

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Sample stories
from Subscribers
edition

Who we
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Statement
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Finding a story is as easy as 1, 2, 3 . . .
1 (newest stories)... 2 (Portals)... 3 (Search)

Click here for the links to these and other newest free homepage features:?s about Northern Pacific Railroad … Bow1906 History Book transcriptions … Dick Harris Skagit River poems … 1906 Illustrated History annotated transcripts … Nellie Coupe, educator … River Pigs and Cayuses pioneer profiles … Earliest Skagit saloons … Founders of Mount Vernon — Edward G. English, kidnapped? … Skiyou pioneer Lawrence Seabury's memories of 1902 … Junius B. Alexander of Sedro … Jim Crow in the NW: Coon Chicken Inn … Cascade Pass Road & Hwy 20 … Walter Washington deLacy & 1858 Fraser River Gold Rush road … E.R. Million, early Mount Vernon attorney …… Ray Jordan's history of Hoogdal … Woolley's 3-Railroads triangle … Index of 29 Ray Jordan stories … Birth and timeline of Skagit Steel … Dolbeer Donkey & Shay Locomotive … How they marketed booze in Prohibition … … Two-Spot Locomotive Sedro-Woolley … KKK in Sedro-Woolley 1920s

That is the Atlanta Home Hotel above, created on Samish Island by former Whatcom Sheriff G.W.L. Allen. Allen is just one of the most important pioneers whom we will profile in depth later this year, along with Mortimer Cook, the founder of Sedro; James A. Power, publisher of the Puget Sound Mail; Michael Padden, of Lake Padden, and several others. All the more reason to subscribe as we complete our 11th year. Want to subscribe now and order subscriptions for friends, family or clients?

Optional Subscribers Journal online — Click here for a peek at the Issues 53-54: Issue 53:The Journal's exclusive transcription of the first five chapters of Ray Jordan's terrific book, Yarns of the Skagit Country. Only a few hundred copies were printed, chock full of first-hand stories of the history of Sedro-Woolley and the upper river especially. We have gone further and provided more than 100 annotations, endnotes and mini-profiles of pioneers and businesses. Profile of Frank J. Hoehn, Sedro's genuine cowboy from 1889 and he performed with Buffalo Bill. Nina Cook, daughter of Sedro-founder Mortimer Cook, wrote a diary down at the river in their cottage, starting in 1986; story updated and second new section added.
Issue 54: More transcribed newspapers: three sections from various issues of the Skagit County Times (Sedro-Woolley), of the year 1902. Collection of mini-profiles of several Sedro-Woolley pioneers. And these full profiles: B.R. Lewis, owner of the Clear Lake Lumber Co. mega-mill; George Hammer, founding partner of Sedro-Woolley's Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop. Mary Purcell, taught in Sedro-Woolley for 45 years. Nellie Coupe, who married into the famous Whidbey sailing family and became a very important teacher in Whatcom County. Photo tour of downtown Woolley in July 1903, including several photos of the 4th of July parade.
Issue 52: Murder/suicide mystery of Garfield Minkler, of Lyman; Les Palmer's memories of his childhood in Sedro-Woolley and his connection with the Northern Pacific railroad tracks; Jon Jech, a descendant of the Jech family that built the Ford dealership building that is today the Sedro-Woolley museum, writes about Hart's Island, the symbol that it represented for we who spent our childhood in Sedro-Woolley; among many stories; Handy new portals: 1. Odds and Ends Portal, includes stories that are brief; and 2. Memoirs Portal for finding autobiographies and vignettes.

Follow these links below to portal sections
of the areas and subjects that interest you:

Click on the underscored Sedro-Woolley link above for an interactive map showing the location of Skagit County at the far northwest corner of Washington and the United States.

Sedro-Woolley

Check out Sedro-Woolley First

Bug through Sedro-Woolley

Reader questions answered

Early timeline

Founders Mortimer Cook — P.A. Woolley — 4 British bachelors.

Areas surrounding Sedro-Woolley in all 4 directions

includes: Prairies, Duke's Hill, Northern State Hospital, Sterling, Skiyou, South of Skagit; Clearlake, Biglake, McMurray

Our monthly and occasional column: the Puget Sound Mail

Upper Skagit River: Utopia to Cascades

includes: north of Skagit from Utopia to the dams and Cascades, Sauk River-Illabot Creek area, and the creeks of Skagit's south shore

West Skagit County: Hwy 99 to Sound

includes: Mount Vernon to Belfast, west to Fidalgo, south to LaConner/Fir Island/Conway, north to Burlington, Blanchard, Edison, Alger & Samish

Logging Section

includes: mills, donkey engines, equipment and logging railroads
Maps … Mining

Washington & other counties
Whatcom, the mother county 'til 1883
Snohomish County, home of early Skagit pioneers

The trains of the Northwest

includes: Fairhaven & Southern; Seattle & Northern; Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern

Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Puget Sound & Baker River, and more

Skagit County stories that are countywide, that involve more than one town or more than one family and town or that do not fit in any other county portal.
Stories about the Skagit River Floods history very short stories in Odds and Ends Portal Memoirs by pioneers & descendants Puget Sound Mail, our monthly column Food & Wine . . . Prohibition, liquor

Frontier Women

includes: Territorial Daughters, and biographies of and by pioneer women
Bios and obits, men and women, pioneers and descendants 36 Ray Jordan Yarns stories

Suggested reading and museums

Transcriptions old newspapers

Regional Museums

Getting lost trying to navigate or find stories on our site? Read how to sort through our 700-plus stories.
Return to the new-domain home page	Links for portals to subjects and towns	Newest photo features	Search entire site
Our monthly column, Puget Sound Mail (but don't call it a blog) debuted on Aug. 9, 2009. Check it out.

See this Journal Timeline website of local, state, national, 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. Can you help?

Remember; we welcome correction & criticism.

Please report any broken links or files that do not open and we will send you the correct link. With more than 700 features, we depend on your report. Thank you.

Read about how you can order CDs that include our photo features from the first five years of our Subscribers Edition. Perfect for gifts.

You can click the donation button to contribute to the rising costs of this site. See many examples of how you can aid our project and help us continue for another ten years. You can also subscribe to our optional Subscribers-Paid Journal magazine online, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2010, with exclusive stories, in-depth research and photos that are shared with our subscribers first. You can go here to read the preview edition to see examples of our in-depth research or read how and why to subscribe.

You can read the history websites about our prime sponsors
Would you like information about how to join them in advertising?

Our newest sponsor, Plumeria Bay, is based in Birdsview, just a short walk away from the Royal family's famous Stumpranch, and is your source for the finest down comforters, pillows, featherbeds andduvet covers and bed linens. Order directly from their website and learn more about this intriguing local business.

Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 90 years continually in business.

Peace and quiet at the Alpine RV Park, just north of Marblemount on Hwy 20, day, week or month, perfect for hunting or fishing
Park your RV or pitch a tent by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley — doubling in size for RVs and camping in 2011.

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

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.

Are you looking to buy or sell a historic property, business or residence?
We may be able to assist. Email us for details.

Did you find what you were seeking? We have helped many people find individual names or places, so email if you have any difficulty.

Tip: Put quotation marks around a specific name or item of two words or more, and then experiment with different combinations of the words without quote marks. We are currently researching some of the names most recently searched for — check the list here. Maybe you have searched for one of them?

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.

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Email us at: skagitriverjournal@gmail.com

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

Skagit River Journal

Happy New Year 2011, our 11th year on the Internet

Happy New Year 2011,
our 11th year on the Internet