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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, editor

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

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Introduction to memoirs of Skagit
County pioneers and old timers

Any time, any amount, please help build our travel and research fund for what promises to be a very busy 2010, traveling to mine resources from California to Washington and maybe beyond. Depth of research determined by the level of aid from readers. Thank you.

As our collection of memoirs grow, we have set up this portal so that you can select among them when you want to hear and read the voice of the pioneers themselves and their descendants.

Retired Senior Volunteers Program-RSVP-1989 collection

See Part One with links to 99 memoirs of Skagit County old-timers, organized in six sections.

More memoirs from early pioneers

Mabel Boyd Royal's memories of her father, Lewis A. Boyd. Sailor, farmer, first upper Skagit river schoolmaster, Skagit County clerk, story in two parts.
The story of the L.A. Boyd family by his son, Archie Boyd. Years after sailing around the world, L.A. was the first schoolmaster upriver and was later Skagit county clerk.
Little Mabel Boyd [married: Tom Royal and Ollie Steen], joins her Hoyt relatives on a wagon trip from Prairie around Lake Whatcom to Fairhaven for Fourth of July 1897.
Chapter 3: Otto Klement's diary. His arrival on the Skagit. How he came to Washington Territory in 1873 and paddled across Puget Sound in a cedar canoe. And a Journal profile of Klement and Chapter 2: Hogtied! More memoirs, good old boys in 1882 Lyman — Boredom, devil rum, hijinks, greed and frontier humor.
http://www.skagitriverjournal.com/Upriver/Uto-Conc/Birdsview/Savage/Savage02-AutoBio.html>1916 autobiography of George Savage, 1878 Birdsview settler and first county surveyor.
Bessie Porter's memories of Sauk City, Rockport, Pressentins, Martins and the Great Northern railroad. And Ted Porter's memories and photos of Tom Porter and his famous cabin near Illabot Creek.
Lucinda Davis, a divorcee from Denver, arrived at the Cascade River in 1890 with her children, Frank, Glee and Idessa, and they braved floods and fires to establish Cedar Bar, the most famous Skagit River roadhouse. Will be extensively updated in 2010; can you help?

Links, background reading and sources

See our Memoirs Portal for stories by "old-timers" and links to 99 vignettes by other Skagit County old-timers who have now passed on.
Alphabetized sections include links to biographies and obituaries of men and women, pioneers and descendants.

Story posted on Dec. 26, 2009. . . Please report any broken links so we can update them
This article originally appeared in Issue 51 of our Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine

Getting lost trying to navigate or find stories on our site? Read how to sort through our 680-plus stories.
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Our new weekly 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.

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

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Oliver-Hammer Clothes Shop at 817 Metcalf Street in downtown Sedro-Woolley, 88 years.

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

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.

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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?

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Skagit River Journal

Introduction to memoirs of Skagit County pioneers and old timers

Introduction to memoirs of Skagit
County pioneers and old timers