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(S and N Railroad)

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, founder (bullet)  Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet) Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

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How to navigate this huge site
and find your story among 800-plus

      Karen Prasse, the noted Stanwood museum volunteer who is now working  at the Burlington Public Library, convinced us that we should make a real effort at providing advice for the frustrated readers who try to find features about particular towns or people among our 800 + stories on this huge site. Author Tom Robinson has asked for the same aid, as have many other readers as our site has grown exponentially the past two years. So we will provide some guidelines here and we will try to avoid making this into a dense, unreadable manual like the ones that come with your new hardware.

The search function

      The quickest way is to use the search function, a box that you will find at the bottom of each story. Here is what it looks like:


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 seeking? We have helped many people find individual names or places, so o 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?
     

 Using the search box is an art that you perfect after using it a bunch of times. For instance, you need to learn when to use the simple way:

Blanket Bill

or to save time and narrow down the results, to use the more specific way:

"Blanket Bill"

      Without the quotation marks, you get a result from every story that contains the word "blanket" AND every story that contains the name "Bill." But if you use the quotation marks, you get only the stories that include the exact combination, "Blanket Bill."


The Portals

 

      First of all, Think Portals. Those are our building blocks that we constructed back in 2004 to split the huge amount of stories into smaller chunks. Portal pages are what we use to provide a central place where you can peruse the links to all the stories about a specific town or area. For instance, Karen wanted to find all the stories about Burlington. First, you need to know how we split up the geographic areas. We have portal sections about Sedro-Woolley and the surrounding areas, from Clear Lake to Sterling to Prairie to Skiyou — in all four cardinal directions. We have an upriver portal for everything each of Skiyou, from Utopia to the Cascades and to the Sauk River area. Most importantly, we split Skagit County in half. Every town that lies west of Hwy 99 or I-5 is "West County." If either of those roads run through it, then the stories are included in the West County section. For instance, when you go to the main portal page, you will find a box that looks like this:



West Skagit County: Hwy 99 to Sound
(townsite)
(bullet) includes: Mount Vernon to Belfast, west to Fidalgo, south to LaConner/Fir Island/Conway, north to Alger & Samish

     

That obviously contains Burlington, so you click on that link, which brings you to the West County Portal page, which has a box that looks like this:


Portals to cities in western Skagit County
Mount Vernon
Burlington
LaConner area
Anacortes/Fidalgo
Chuckanut/Blanchard/Equality Colony
Samish Island/Edison/Bow/Allen
Belfast/Belleville & North on 99
Southwest County/Fir
Bayview/Padilla

 

      Click on the Burlington link and you will be taken to a list of all the stories specifically about the town of Burlington and its pioneers. (BUT you have to go to the actual Portal Page to do so.) And then just click the link of the story you want. One proviso: all stories about Burlington may not be listed yet on that portal page. There is a backlog. So, if you do not find the story you seek there, go back to the search box and try that method. There is a search box at the bottom of every story.

Other Area Portals:
      We provide many Portals for you. For instance:

Subject Portals:
      Then there are the Subject Portals. For instance:

Sub-Portals

 

      In addition, there are sometimes Portals with Portals. For instance, inside the Upriver Section, you will find a portal for all stories about the Sauk-Suiattle-Illabot Creek area. And within the Snohomish County Portal, you will find a sub-portal about Darrington and Monte Cristo areas. Then there are housekeeping Portals:

Administrative Portals




As simple as 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .

So . . . how did this work out?

What do we ask in return? Your feedback. Did this help you? Is there still a problem that you uniquely have in trying to find a story about a subject, person or town you seek? If so . . .


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      Thank you for your patience. We hope this help. And Karen and Tom Robinson, this Bud is for you.


Story posted on June 28, 2009 . . . Please report any broken links so we can update them. Updated August 2016


Getting lost trying to navigate or find stories on our site?
Read how to sort through our 800-plus stories.
Return to the new-domain home page
Links for portals to subjects and towns
Newest photo features
Search entire site
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 seeking? We have helped many people find individual names or places, 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?


 

(bullet) See this Journal Timeline website of local, state, national, international events for years of the pioneer period.
(bullet) Did you enjoy these stories and histories? The process continues as we compile and collaborate on research about Northwest history. Can you help? Remember; we welcome correction, criticism and additions to the record.
(bullet) Please report any broken links or files that do not open and we will send you the correct link. With more than 800 features, we depend on your report. Thank you.

If you would like to make a donation to contribute to the works of this website or any of the works of Skagit County Historical Society and Museum. We thank you up front. While in your PayPal account, consider specifying if you would like your donation restricted to a specific area of interest: General Funds, Skagit River Journal, Skagit City School, Facilities, Publication Committee, any upcoming Exhibit. Just add those instructions in the box provided by PayPal.

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Email us at: skagitriverjournal@gmail.com
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Mail copies/documents to Street address: Skagit River Journal c/o Skagit County Historical Society, PO Box 818, 501 S.4th St., La Conner, WA. 98257