New features posted most recently:
 | The Hotel Osterman was photographed by the Schneider family during the 1903 Fourth of July parade. It burned in September 1909 and was replaced by the present Gateway Hotel in 1910, which was originally called the Wixson Hotel.
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- See this photo feature with nearly two dozen photos of Gilbert Landre's cabin/hotel, built in the 1892 era, which still stands near Cascade Pass.
- For those who want to purchase Mary McGoffin's exciting new book, Under the Red Roof, 100 years of Northern State Hospital, we suggest that you stop by the Sedro-Woolley Museum, which has copies for sale, as does the Sedro-Woolley Senior Center. The Journal's four-part Northern State Hospital story has now passed 25,000 page views since we introduced the story in the first year on the web, in 2001. McGoffin's book goes into much more depth and we recommend this book very highly.
- New: Newest feature: Norman Spragg's memories of
English Logging Camps, including the location of each one.
- New: Photo tour of Sedro-Woolley, 1903, 4th of July, and the Osterman House Hotel, courtesy of 93-yo Muriel Weissberg
- New: Introduction to Part Two of Nina Cook's 1886 Sedro diary, posted this month.
- New: Mary Purcell, the iconic Sedro-Woolley teacher and principal for 45 years. Link is repaired.
- New: Did you know that Buffalo Bill helped Sedro-pioneer Frank Hoehn promote Sedro-Woolley's first rodeo in 1914? Read our exclusive two-part Hoehn profile
- New: William Entwistle, who began logging in Washington at age 12 in 1876, tells about early logging methods, plus rare old logging photos.
- New: B.R. Lewis and his family and the Clear Lake Lumber Co., which at one time was the biggest mill in the Northwest.
- Two-part section on pioneers of the Sauk River and Cascades area.
- We have found and shared evidence that answers several questions about the mysterious death of Garfield Minkler, Birdsey's son, in his own store in Lyman on May 19, 1920.
- We have finally discovered enough material from our research to profile B.R. Lewis and his family and the Clear Lake Lumber Co., which at one time was the biggest mill in the Northwest. Both stories shared from recent issues of the optional Subscribers-Paid Journal magazine, now in its 11th year.
- Ball House falls to the wind in 1996. Shared from Issue 52 of the optional Subscribers Magazine.
- The two most humorous stories of our 700. Otto Klement's tale of his Lyman trading post, in 1881, and the mixture of liquor and the good ole boys and the pig [link repaired]. And Frank Wilkeson's 1890 New York Times column about the two rapscallion hobos of old Sedro, who took the Swedes for a ride.
- The 125th anniversary of the naming of Sedro — read the background of the birth of Sedro aka Bug, and the first post office in our town, Dec. 7, 1885.
- Book reviews of Sunnie Empie's The Legacy of Ida Lillbroanda and Howard Royal's Memoirs and diorama about his family's Birdsview Stump Ranch.
- Lafayette Stevens, 1875 upriver coal miner, early pioneer of Sterling and Clear Lake and king of hyperbole.
- A dear, dear friend and fellow history-lover has passed on. Cecil Hittson, R.I.P. (link repaired)
- Learn all about "The Duke" of Duke's Hill, circa 1905-07
- This is the year for centennials and significant anniversaries in Sedro-Woolley, including: the centennial anniversary of The Great Woolley Fire of 1911; the centennial anniversary of the first Model-Ts on sale here, via Livermore Ford Agency, 1911; and the centennial anniversary of the opening of Sedro-Woolley High School. In addition, celebrating the 90th anniversary, we have the Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop, still going strong in Sedro-Woolley, and the launch of the Volunteer Fire Department.
Any time, any amount, please help build our travel and research fund for what promises to be a very busy 2011, traveling to mine resources from California to Washington and maybe beyond. Depth of research determined by the level of aid from readers. Because of our recent illness, our research fund is completely bare. See many examples of how you can aid our project and help us continue for another ten years. And subscriptions to our optional Subscribers Online Magazine (launched 2000) by donation too. Thank you.
 We recently visited our newest sponsor, Plumeria Bay, which is based in Birdsview, just a short walk away from the Royal family's famous Stumpranch, and is your source for the finest down bedding. See our Journal feature on this local business and learn more details and how to order items at their website.
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- Portal sections filled with links to stories: L.A. Boyd of Birdsview and the Hoyts of Prairie . . . Liquor, Prohibition, Moonshine and Saloons . . . Book reviews and suggestions . . . Memoirs by pioneers and descendants . . . Logging, mills and loggers.
- See all the links at this portal section about the L.A. Boyd family, with a short biography of patriarch L.A. Boyd, who sailed all over the world, became a sod-buster in Nebraska and then joined George Savage at Birdsview, to become the first schoolteacher there.
- Johnny Jacobin, who overcame great odds in Sedro-Woolley
- Oldies but Goodies, our updated stories from 2001 onwards. Including our completely updated logging section with six stories about logging and mills in Sedro-Woolley and all around western Washington, logging from 1876 onwards.
- Become a history detective. Join the NW Washington History Detective Meet-up group, which began in Sedro-Woolley in 2009.
- A review of Jill Livingston's book, That Ribbon of Highway III, Highway 99 which follows the history of the road from its beginning in the Teen years of the 20th Century, through its designation as US99 in 1926 and its long life until the mid-1960s when most of it was replaced by Freeway I-5 from the Mexican Border to Vancouver. She also profiles Sam Hill — son-in-law of Great Northern magnate James J. Hill. Sam Hill launched the Good Roads Association in 1899 and that inspired similar groups in states and localities all over the West Coast.
- See our Wish List — and one special need, which would not cost you a cent.
- Four-part section with the history of the Loggerodeo and Fourth of July celebrations all over Skagit County, from 1876 onwards, with dozens of photos of the events.
- We have totally rewritten our "Who we are/Statement of Purpose" file so that you could see what has transpired in the past four years since last updated it.
- In December we introduced a special portal section in remembrance of the town of Bug, later old Sedro, by the river, in December 1885.
- We have noticed renewed interest in the poem about Sedro and Slugs, by pioneer Jessie Odlin. It nearly became the city anthem at one time. But do you know the connection to Ivar's Acres of Clams and one of the oldest troubadour poems of early Washington Territory?
- The Castle Tavern is back on Metcalf Street.
- We shared this lively story earlier with subscribers about just how rough the accusations got between the teetotalers and the wets circa 1900. In Sedro-Woolley, banker Charles E. Bingham was mayor and he and Julia liked to party hearty at the mansion on Talcott Street. While Dr. Charles Harbaugh, son-in-law of P.A. Woolley, was dry as a bone. Read the Truth newsletter that his forces printed underground that year. Rotten Joints and John Barleycorn in Wild Ole Woolley.
- Can you help answer rail historian Neil Sullivan's questions about the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Northern Pacific Railroad (originally the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern line) that ran north and south through Sedro-Woolley, from Seattle to Sumas? He is constructing a model of the line, which will include accurate depictions of downtown Sedro-Woolley along the tracks.
- History of the Sedro-Woolley Chamber of Commerce, which dates back to 1896.
- Have you ever heard supposed quotations from the speech that Chief Sealth gave in 1854? Read how Dr. Henry A. Smith wrote his accepted version in 1887, and a 1993 look at both Smith and the speech by David M. Buerge.
- Have you read our introduction to our planned Food & Wine portal? Bold and old Zinfandel from Sausal Winery in Sonoma County.
- Introducing our new weekly journal within the Journal (but please let's not call it a blog), the Puget Sound Mail, debuted August 9, 2009.
- See our new Calendar section for historical events and family and school reunions coming up or planned for 2010. Can you help with events and dates? We're a little behind.
- R.I.P. A dear friend and fellow history-lover has passed on. Cecil Hittson, R.I.P. Dick Fallis, the historian who helped revive local interest in history starting with his research and Skagit Valley Herald columns in conjunction with the county and state centennials of the 1980s, has passed away in LaConner.
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810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
