Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Subscribers Edition, where 450 of 700 stories originate
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
Site founded Sept. 1, 2000. We passed 5 million page views on June 6, 2011 The home pages remain free of any charge. We need donations or subscriptions to continue. Please pass on this website link to your family, relatives, friends and clients.

Pioneering in upper Skagit
recalled by early settler Glee Davis

By Glee Davis, Bellingham Herald, June 26, 1953

The power plant that Glee and Frank Davis built at Cedar Bar, unknown year. Courtesy of Gretchen Luxenberg, National Park Service.

My mother, Mrs. Lucinda J. Davis, was the first white woman to move into the Upper Skagit Valley when she brought her two sons, Frank and myself, and daughter, Dessa [Idessa], to Goodell's Landing (now Newhalem) to take over the small store and hotel in 1893.
These buildings were erected of logs by early day prospectors in 1894 when the spot was the head of canoe navigation. Canoes were used to bring up supplies to Goodell's as late as 1898 when Frank Davis and the Buller brothers brought up a load for Capt. Burbridge who was prospecting near Thunder Creek.
In 1895 we again operated the trading post during the summer season. There were many prospectors working the various gravel bars, such as the Taylor, Ferry, Reflector and Cedar bars, who brought out some fairly large stakes.
We had become much attached to the mountains and in 1897 went further up the Skagit canyon where we found the place for our permanent home. [The biggest flood in many years washed out all the buildings on our ranch except for the barn on Nov. 17, 1897. We moved to a location up the Cascade river and] on June 17, 1898, the stopping place at Cedar bar, known as the Davis ranch, was opened. This was 25 miles from the post office and wagon road over a precipitous trail with several creeks to ford.

Mining activity grew

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.

This same year the Ruby Creek Mining Co. started development of claims at the junction of Ruby Creek and the Skagit River. They built a sawmill far up the mountainside where there was good timber and operated the mill by a Pelton water wheel. Lumber was cut and flumed down the hillside to where they constructed a flume five feet by four feet in size and about three miles long to bring water from their dam on Ruby Creek to the placer diggings. They installed two hydraulic giants to wash down the old gravel beds and put them through the sluice boxes.
All this required a large pack train to bring in supplies and machinery from Marblemount, which was the end of the wagon road. William Parry and four other packers ran this pack train of about 30 horses. Another large pack train was operated by Jack Ring and Preston Conner who took supplies into the Mountain Goat Mine and others on Slate Creek where there was much activity.
train over the old Hope [B.C.] trail from the Fraser valley. By 1902 the Ruby Creek Mining Co. had given up and the North American Mining and Milling Co. started development of mining properties at Mill Creek, some 14 miles further up Ruby Creek. This company built a wagon road up Canyon and Slate creeks to connect with the narrow-gauge railroad from east of the mountains over Harts Pass which terminated at Barron near the Mamouth [actually the Mammoth mine near Azurite] and Eureka mines. This road became an outlet for many other ventures.

House burned On Oct. 23, 1900, an early snow came and we had to take our stock out before snow slides closed the trail. While we were away for one night a party of three men stopped at our place. Being careless with fire, the house was burned to the ground with all our belongings. In those days no one carried fire insurance so this was a total loss. In the spring of 1901 we had to begin all over again. Every piece of lumber used had to be cut out of the woods.
Engineers of the U.S. Geological Survey climbed a nearby peak in 1904, named it Davis Peak and built a monument on the top to be used in triangulation work. In 1906 I applied for homestead right and obtained a patent on the land. Later, in 1913, I was married to Hazel Campbell of Bellingham and she, too, became much attached to the Upper Skagit.
We needed electric lights and water at the ranch so my brother and I got busy and cut lumber out of the timber, planed it and built a flume 2,000 feet long to carry about four second feet of water from the dam we constructed across Stetattle Creek. A powerhouse also was built and a generator installed.
There was always a fair transient trade. As the prospecting and mining travel wanted the tourist trade built up. We planned to gradually build up a larger and better place and make an attractive mountain resort. Our dreams of this were brought to an abrupt ending when City Light took the entire place by condemnation after two court trials.

Cedar Bar roadhouse, circa early 1900s, unknown source

Endnotes

Condemnation of Davis property As Paul C. Pitzer explained in his 1978 book, Building the Skagit,

In 1913 Glee Davis married and his wife, Hazel, moved into the homestead. The other Davis children had long since married and moved away. Glee ran the roadhouse and worked for, of all people, the Forest Service, making trails and building lookout stations. Later, Glee's brother, Frank, moved back to Cedar Bar, and together the two men built a dam across Stetattle Creek, put up a 2,000 foot flume that ran to the homestead and carried water to irrigate their garden.
Years later, in 1925, Glee and his brother acquired a quarter-horse generator, which they installed on Cedar Bar. But they only enjoyed the luxury of electricity for a while because Seattle City Light was building in the valley, and had acquired most of the land around the Davis Homestead. After two long court battles over condemnation proceedings, City Light paid the Davis family about $26,000, and took over the holdings at Cedar Bar. In 1929, Lucinda Davis, by then an old woman, and her family moved down the valley. Less than a year later, Lucinda Davis was dead.

[Return]

Links, background reading and sources

Portal to all Davis links, both in Issue 57 and prior
Our Portal Section to Mining, with links to all associated features.

Story posted Sept. 11.
Please report any broken links so we can update them
This article originally appeared in Issue 57 of our Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine

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 — for as little as $5 per night — by the Skagit River, just a short drive from Winthrop or Sedro-Woolley. Alpine is doubling in capacity 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.

View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook

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

Pioneering in upper Skagit recalled by early settler Glee Davis

Pioneering in upper Skagit
recalled by early settler Glee Davis