Mukilteo, Washington - The City Of "Firsts" - Scene Of Indian Treaty - M. H (part 9 of 14)

"The year of 1876 being the centennial year of American independence, it was decided to launch the new lodge under the name of Centennial. On the 17th day of November, 1876, by order of Brother Platt Adam Preston, the Grand Master, a dispensation was issued, naming therein Brother Hiram D. Morgan, W. M., Brother Hugh Ross, S. W., Brother Wm. Whitfield, J. W., and eleven others, authorizing them to initiate, pass and raise Masons. The dispensation was granted upon the recommendation of Eureka Lodge No. 20, of Seattle, the nearest lodge to Snohomish at that time. |

"Starting the lodge and furnishing it was a good deal like a young couple getting married. Getting the license to do business was easy enough, but a home had to be provided and furnished for the family. Friends, however, came to our assistance and helped us out of our troubles. Franklin Lodge No. 5, of Port Gamble, gave us some desks. Brother General McMicken, of Olympia Lodge No. 1, presented us with a sword for the tiler's use, that he had carried through the Rebellion; and from the battered condition of the scabbard it had evidently seen rough service. The Bible was presented by our late Brother Benjamin Harned, the Grand Treasurer, but owing to its fine print it was not read as much as could be desired. The jewels of the officers were works of art, being cut out of sheet tin; and the collars from which they were suspended consisted of narrow blue ribbon, costing about 15 cents per yard. The plumb, square, level and other working tools were the handicraft of Brother Elhanan Blackman, as were also the two brazen pillars at the entrance, only they were made out of cedar instead of brass, cedar being more plentiful.

"The upper part of a story and a half building on Front Street, across from where the First National Bank now stands, was rented from Brother H. D. Morgan, the lower part of which was occupied by a saloon; and upstairs, over that saloon, Centennial Lodge, working under a dispensation from the Grand Master, was born twenty-five years ago tonight.

"After the lapse of a quarter of a century I still have a vivid recollection of the meeting we held there. I have heard of steam incubators for raising chickens; but in that room, after a long session, it was hot enough to raise alligators. The proprietor of the saloon, who, by the way, was a pretty decent sort of a fellow, did his best to keep his guests quiet on lodge nights; but on Saturday nights the festive logger - there were no shingle weavers in those days - came to town, and usually when we, upstairs, were raising a brother fellowcraft to the degree of Master Mason, singing like nightingales (?) under the direction of Brother W. H. Ward, 'Here Another Guest We Bring,' the crowd downstairs would be raising Cain and be quarreling like a pack of wolves; and in that sweat-box we initiated, passed and raised Masons for twenty-nine months. At the first meeting held December 16, 1876, the following named brethren were present: Hiram D. Morgan, Hugh Ross, Win. Whitfield, Samuel O. Woods, Charles Baker, George Plumb, G. G. England, A. A. Blackman, Elhanan Blackman, H. Blackman, Jos. E. Getchell, W. H. Deering, R. D. Hilton, J. C. Gregory, and E. 8. Gregory, fifteen all told. Business started in brisk - bills for one year's rent, $150, chairs $22.50, dispensation $50, one case coal oil $3.50, etc., were ordered paid, committees were appointed to frame by-laws, etc., and four petitions were received and read in the following order: Petition of Mitchell Lord, E. C. Ferguson, W. H. Ward, and James P. Austin. You will observe that we started in with the Lord on our side. On January 29, 1877, the first Masonic degree conferred on any person in Snohomish County was conferred on Brother Mitchel Lord, a special meeting being called for that purpose. Brother W. H. Ward was a close second on the 3rd day of February.

"About this time the Good Templars organized a lodge and met in our lodge room; but they had a brief existence. Most of their members fell from grace, and their treasurer crossed the line into Canada.

"On May 5th Brother Lord was raised to the Master degree, followed by Brother Ward, W. S. Elwell, James P. Austin and Nick Healy in the order named, Brother Healy being raised on July 4, 1877. Brother Elisha P. Ferry acted in the capacity of a Grand Lodge officer conferring the degree. He threw a few bouquets at the officers and members present, saying that he believed Centennial Lodge was the best working lodge in the jurisdiction; but the governor was a very adroit politician. Brother Ulmer Stinson received the Master Mason degree on September 5, 1877. At that time, clad in a suit of blue overalls he chased the festive steer over the logging roads of Snohomish County. Now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, he has quieted down, and contents himself by occasionally wearing a

"On September 27, 1877, the Grand Lodge at its annual session granted Centennial Lodge its charter, numbered it 25 on its roll of chartered lodges, and commissioned Brother Stephen Andrews, of Seattle, the Grand Junior Warden, to constitute the lodge and install its officers. This ceremony was performed on October 13, 1877. The officers installed were as follows: Brother H. D. Morgan, W. M.; Brother Ethanan Blackman, S. W.; Brother Wm. Whitfield, J. W.; Joseph E. Getchell, treasurer; Charles Baker, secretary; George Plumb, S. D.; S. O. Woods, J. D.; W. H. Deering, tiler. About this time the question of building a hall was agitated, but nothing came of it, and we continued to enjoy Turkish baths every two weeks, free of charge.

"In February, 1878, Snohomish Lodge No. 12, I. O. O. F., was organized, and as its members were as poor as ourselves, we allowed them to use our 'sweat-box' for the modest sum of $1.50 per night, furnishing light and heat gratis.

"In September, 1878, according to the Grand Lodge returns, we had thirtyfour members on our lodge roll, many having joined by demission from other lodges. Of these thirty-four members, eight have 'ceased to travel life's devious paths.'

"While we had no desire to emulate our late lamented Brother Solomon as temple builders, our place of meeting was so unsatisfactory and intolerable that the question of building a hall was again revived, and in December, 1878, enough money was subscribed by the members to justify the trustees to go ahead with the proposition. The members subscribing agreed to furnish the money with the understanding that certificates bearing 12 per cent interest per annum should be issued to them. The lodge required that the stock should be non-transferable, and that the smallest stockholder should be paid first out of any surplus lodge funds. The scheme worked well and without any friction, and in a few years the whole of the certificates were taken up.

"Brother Joseph E. Getchell and wife deeded to Centennial Lodge the lot upon which the building now stands for $100. Specifications were drawn and bids called for. These were submitted on January 11, 1879, as follows: George Tompkins, $1,970; Brother S$. H. McNaughton, $1,900; and Brother Blackman, $1,850. The contract was accordingly let to Brother Blackman, and the members of Centennial Lodge settled down in their new home May 17, 1879. And then the trouble commenced. The old furniture was not good enough for the youngsters. The altar, upon which our first members had promised to be good, was not good enough; the sack of hay upon which the initiate kneeled when he obligated himself had to be discarded for one of velvet; an ornamental stove had to be bought; real silver jewels and wide blue velvet collars for the officers made a big hole in the treasury ; and, folly of all follies, an organ must be provided. And I expected at every meeting that Brother Paramore would tell us that he had sent for an organist. In the year 1890 Camano Lodge No. 19 moved from Utsalady, in Island County, to Stanwood, thereby materially increasing the Masonic standing of Snohomish County in the Grand Lodge. This lodge, standing as it does at the entrance of the rich valley of the Stillaguamish, is on the high road to prosperity and now numbers thirty-six members.

"On June 14, 1893, Pensular Lodge No. 95 of Everett, was chartered and now has 101 members upon its roll. The total number of Masons affiliated with the three lodges in Snohomish County is now 217. A chapter of Royal Arch Masons was established at Snohomish on June 12, 1891, and is known as Snohomish Chapter No. 15. Its first officers were Companions, A. W. Frater, High Priest; L. Paramore, King; and W. G. Swafford, Scribe; and it now has sixty-two members.

"In June, 1900, Everett Chapter No. 24 came into existence under the official direction of Companions Melvin Swartout, High Priest; A. J. Uphus, King; and P. K. Lewis as Scribe; and this chapter now has thirty-six members.

"Of the little band of craftsmen who first met together twenty-five years ago, two, Brother Hugh Ross and Brother George Plumb, have passed away. Brothers Charles Baker and G. G. England reside in King County, and the remaining eleven are still dodging the poll-tax collector in this county.

"Everything moved along smoothly with Centennial from its first organization. Membership increased slowly; members from other lodges affiliated with us, and some brothers demitted and returned to their eastern homes. However, the lodge gained steadily in numbers, if not in wealth; and it now has a membership of eighty. But these are scattered to the four winds of heaven. Brother J. D. Hunicutt is residing at St. Augustine, Fla., trying to keep cool among the blooming magnolias; while Brothers W. A. Allen and James Hagan are trying to thaw the icicles from their beards within the Arctic Circle. Quite a number of those whose names have been borne upon our records during the past have 'crossed the dark valley of the shadow of death'; and others have moved to Everett.

"Up to the year 1893 the lodge had accumulated a little money, but the financial panic of that year made quite a hole in our bank account. This misfortune was followed soon after by a band of outlaws from Port Gardner stealing away the seat of county government from Snohomish and leaving on our hands 200 poor, but deserving, electors in South Snohomish to care for. These disturbing factors in the prosperity of Snohomish, together with the insatiable hunger of Brothers Limerick and Paramore for cold lunches, reduced our surplus from $1,000 to zero.

"Still, for all that, Centennial Lodge has filled the mission for which it was organized. It has helped the weary traveler on his journey; it has cared for the unfortunate; nursed the sick and buried the dead; and has done these things as a duty 'without reward or the hope thereof,' except that reward that comes to all who walk straight the path of life.

"Twenty-five years ago tonight a little band of earnest and zealous craftsmen met together. They were few in number, but they were imbued with the right spirit and had an abiding faith in the future usefulness of the order in this commonwealth. 'Twenty-five years is a short span upon the arc of time, but we, today, look upon that initial meeting as an event of the remote past. During that time many of our brethren have embarked upon the restless ocean of politics. The senatorial toga has been successfully worn by one here tonight, while the lower house of our Legislature has been ornamented by several of our members. The judiciary, the office of county auditor, treasurer, surveyor and other important positions are now filled by brethren of the 'Mystic tie' with credit to themselves and to the satisfaction of their constituents. The mayor of Mukilteo visits us as often as his arduous duties will permit. I, myself, enjoy the emoluments of the responsible position of supervisor of Road District No. 58; and we have all, so far, escaped incarceration in the state penitentiary. Many of you may deem me monotonous, but I have thought it proper to give the names of the Masters who have controlled the destinies of Centennial Lodge from its inception until the present time. All of them have done their best to give Centennial Lodge a high standing in this jurisdiction, and I will call your attention to the fact that a large share of the work has fallen on one brother, who has held the office of Worshipful Master nearly one-fourth of the time since its organization: Brother Hiram I. Morgan, 18/7; Brother Elhanan Blackman, 1878-79, 1880; Brother G. G. England, 1881; Brother William Whitfield, 1882; Brother Elhanon Blackman, 1883; Brother Samuel O. Woods, 1884; Brother Levi H. Cyphers, 1885; Brother Robert M. Folsom, 1886; Brother Samuel Vestal, 1887; Brother E. C. Ferguson, 1888; Brother C. A. Mtssimer, 1889; Brother Elhanan Blackman, 1890; Brother G. G. England, 1891; Brother Nick Healy, 1892; Brother A. W. Frater, 1893; Brother Elhanan Blackman, 1894; Brother J. A. Coleman, 1895; Brother S. B. Limerick, 1896; Brother Charles I_owry, 1897; Brother Jos. E. Getchell, 1898; Brother Charles W. Gorham, 1899; Brother W. H. Ward, 1900, and Brother IL. Paramore, 1901.

"But you must be getting tired. However, I should be remuss in my duty, very ungrateful, and unpardonably lacking in gallantry if I were to close my remarks without reference to the Order of Eastern Star, after all the courtesies and kindnesses they have extended to the members of Centennial Lodge. Golden Rod Chapter No. 22, O. E. S., was instituted March 22, 1892, with twenty-one members, including the following officers: Mrs. Lon Jordan, Worthy Matron; Miss M. C. Grover, Associate Matron; Brother A. M. Hawkins, Worthy Patron; Mrs. Stella Deering, Secretary; Mrs. Pherlissa Getchell, Treasurer; Mrs. Lottie Cole, Conductress; Mrs. Florence Peacor, Associate Conductress; Mrs. Amanda Skaggs, Ada; Mrs. Fannie Horton, Ruth; Mrs. Emma Frater, Esther; Mrs. Frances Blackman, Martha; Mrs. Lucetta Ferguson, Electa; Mrs. Eunice Smith, Warder; and Brother Joseph E. Getchell, Sentinel.

"Golden Rod Chapter now has between seventy and eighty members. It is needless to mention them all by name. It is sufficient to say that the chapter is flourishing. It could not be otherwise with such officers as Mrs. E. M. Grover, as Worthy Matron; Miss Sadie Packard, as Secretary; and Brother L. Paramore as their advisor. A flourishing chapter is established at Everett.

"And now, in conclusion, I must express the hope that when another twentyfive years shall have passed away those who are living will look back with the same pleasurable feelings upon this meeting as I do upon the meeting held on the 16th day of December, 1876. And I hope the same spirit of friendship will still exist among the members of the lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter, and the Order of the Eastern Star, as it does now and that the blue ribbon of the lodge, the white of the Eastern Star, and the red of the Royal Arch, colors symbolical also of our nationality, will be as c'osely entwined as they are this evening."

River Navigation

RIVERS THE FIRST HIGHWAYS - INDIAN CANOES - TRAVELER FIRST STEAMER UP RIVER - SCHOONER GAZELLE - THE STEAMER RUBY - THE NELLIE - NELLIE LAUNCHED AT SEATTLE- - -NELLIE ACCORDED RECEPTION - RIVER INCIDENTS - WHARVES BUILT - SEATTLE BOAT DIRECTORY, 1877 - UP-RIVER ON THE NELLIE - ALKI ON UPPER RIVER - RIVER IMPROVEMENTS SLOW - RIVER ACCIDENTS - GLEANER AND MAY QUEEN - CAPT. CHARLES H. LOW - STEAMBOAT AMENITIES - OFFICERS' DUTIES MANY - UP-RIVER TRAFFIC IN 1891 - STEAMBOAT RACES - SNOHOMISH-EVERETT TRAFFIC BOOMS - DECLINE OF RIVER TRAFFIC.

In the beginning of the white era in Snohomish County the river was the only highway. All the functions now fulfilled by railway and public road were then the exclusive province of the river. For this reason it was of prime importance to the pioneer. Its course defined the path and the limits of settlement, for the dense forest, inaccessible by water, was worthless no matter how fine the timber nor how rich the sol. It was the river which must bear the pioneer's wares to market, whether those wares were logs or the products of the farm. It was the river which must bring him his supplies. It was the river which gave him his slight touch with the outside world. It was the river which brought him all that he knew of friends and neighbors and social life of any kind. More than one western Washington settlement suffered deprivation almost amounting to famine, when for any reason the river was obstructed.

Under these circumstances every phase of the river was watched with absorbing interest. Whether the water was low or high made a vast difference; almost the difference that it would mean today as to whether all the roads and all the railways were blocked or open to travel. In the same way, and for the same reasons the pioneer grew to know every boat that plied the river. He recognized the voice of every whistle and was acquainted with every officer. The names of the boats were as the names of dear and familiar friends. The captains were either the most popular or the most unpopular of men, according as they were friendly and accommodating or disagreeable and overbearing for the captain was a good deal of an autocrat. He could grant favors or deny them; he could tell the news in friendly fashion or he could keep it to himself. Utter dependence upon the river marked the first stages of the civilization of Snohomish County. It was the courses of the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish which divided the county into two distinct settlements, which had almost nothing in common and which knew each other not. The settler along the Snohomish was much better acquainted in Seattle than in the Stillaguamish valley. Such is the wonderful nature of Puget Sound, however, that it combines all the advantages both of river and of sea and has but few of the ocean's dangers. Its almost landlocked waters provided a well-nigh perfect waterway, and thus the river and the sea were tied together and made one, and the commerce of the river and of the Sound commingled as naturally and as easily as did the fresh water and the salt water at the river's mouth.

Indian Canoes

The first craft to ply the Snohomish River was, of course, the Indian canoe; not the birch bark canoe of Fennimore Cooper, but the much more sturdy, seaworthy structure made from the hollowed log. The Totem maker and the canoe builder was usually the same man, and he was a highly honored member of the tribe. The trade descended from father to son and thus the skill which fashioned the graceful, delicate lines of the great war canoe were handed down from generation to generation. Utmost care was used in the selection of the logs from which these canoes were made that no blemish of the wood should mar the perfect craft which was the Indian's pride. Before the coming of the whites the natives had only the crudest implements at their command, which-adds to the marvel of the fine craftmanship with which their work was wrought. Towed to a convenient place, the log was stripped of bark and then, with axes of stone the top was split off or levelled to make ready for the burning. Stones were heated and placed upon the flat surface and the burning process was begun. This required many days and infinite care and skill. Should the log be burned too near the edge the whole structure would be weakened or entirely spoiled. After the burning came the most expert work of the canoe builder. Both the inner and the outer lines of the canoe must be made smooth and perfect. Stone chisels and stone adzes were used for the first of this work, and this was followed by scorching, and scraping with sand stone. The great war canoes were sometimes nearly seventy feet long and were propelled by from ten to twelve of the strongest braves. As many as fifty warriors have been known to have been transported in a single canoe, and they went far out to sea. The more imposing canoes were high and pointed at both ends and decorated with grotesque, carved emblems of the tribe or of the individual owner, and colored with the native dyes, some of them made from the blue-black juice of the Oregon grape, and the red and yellow ochre. Black, white, red, yellow and deep blue were the colors used. These great war canoes were the almost priceless possessions of the tribe; they were the battleships of the Indian navy and were used only on great occasions of state or for the grim purposes of Indian warfare.

The canoe of commerce, the one used by the men of the tribe for hunting and fishing and ordinary journeyings, were much less ornate and were usually no more than twenty feet in length. They were handled with great skill and braved rough seas. Still smaller canoes were used by the menial Kloochmen, the squaws of the tribe. Many of these craft were not more than ten or twelve feet long and were of rougher finish but possessed of pointed prow and graceful lines. Nevertheless, these were the canoes most used both by the Indians and by the early white settlers. There is evidence that these canoes reached the very headwaters of the rivers. Although not always trustworthy, these Indian "gondoliers" were cheaply hired and their muscles and their canoes furnished the first transportation in the county.

The name of the first white man to see and ride upon the Snohomish River is not known. Vancouver failed to find it although he explored the Sound almost at its very mouth. It is on the maps made by the expedition under Commodore Wilkes in 1841 and was undoubtedly explored and travelled by the pioneers of Whidbey Island a few years later. The government coast survey which cooperated with the first great railway survey, headed by Governor Stevens, knew of it in

1853. The emissaries of the Hudson's Bay Company must have traded with the Indians and have heard of the great river long before the Wilkes expedition; but it is impossible to say authoritatively that "This was the man who discovered the Snohomish River, and this the day."

It was the Indian War of 1855 which first brought the whites into the Snohomish valley in any numbers and the first steamer on the river was the Traveler, commanded by Captain Horton, which brought Colonel Ebey and his volunteers eight miles up the river to the point where Fort Ebey was built. The Traveler towed the schooner A. Y. Trask, under the command of Capt. John E. Burns, and so far as is known these boats and these officers were the first to navigate the stream. As the danger was not from the Indians on the Sound but from those across the mountains, and this expedition was chiefly to guard the Sound settlements from attack by way of the mountain passes, the volunteers proceeded as far as possible up the Snohomish and its branches, the Skykomish and the Snoqualmie. Canoes were used for this transportation and it was in this way that the first oxen were brought into the county and the banks of the Snohomish and its tributaries were explored. The H. C. Page, built at Whatcom in 1853, and other vessels both steam and sail, called at Mukilteo and at Tulalip, but there is no record of any boat plying the Snohomish River, commercially, until the appearance of Captain Hyde and his little side-wheeler, The Toppy, and his scow, the Minnehaha. In the county records, under the date of May 20, 1864, there is entered a bill of sale by which Alexander Davis sold his sloop Bushwacker to Frost and Fowler, for the sum of $400. The description read: "Said sloop measures 1347/75 tons and was built at Port Lincoln, Washington Territory." This document was attested by J. M. Smith and B. L. Chalkes, and was recorded by J. E. Clark, county recorder.

Schooner Gazelle

One of the best known of the early boats, not only in Snohomish but in Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties as well, was the schooner Gazelle. She was built in 1864 at Mukilteo by J. H. Bagley and was first owned by Frost and Fowler.

Bagley, together with A. H. Taylor, was located at the mouth of the river as early as 1863, and when he sold his interest in the store and hotel he retained the "Jand for shipyard" and leased it until the following January. The sloop "Bee," built at Mukilteo in 1867, was very probably made by Bagley, but her route was between Mukilteo and Port Townsend, not up the river.

The Steamer Ruby

The "Ruby," a screw propellor, had a long and honorable career, and was built by Hyde at Snohomish. She was accorded a salute of three guns when she first visited Mukilteo as a blushing bride of the sea on September 1, 1867. Capt. Thomas Wilson was her best known first officer. There were a number of vessels making Mukilteo in 1867 and the two or three years preceding. Among them were the Restless, the Ajax, Captain Bailey, and the J. C. Caswell, which was the boat that first brought William Whitfield to the wilds of Snohomish County from Port

Ludlow. Captain Taylor commanded the Caswell. The Gem, Captain Hill, and the Black Diamond were well known boats in 1869, and the steamer Libby, which carried the mail once a week from Seattle to Whatcom, with Mukilteo as a wayport, was the chtef and most dependable link with the outer world which the settlers had after it went on the route in 1867.

The Zephyr, 1872, Thomas Wright, master, was one of the earliest of the light draft river boats (she made but one trip weekly, on Mondays), and she was followed by two of the most famous crafts that ever plied the Snohomish, the Nellie and the Fanny Lake, in 1876. Two items in the county records refer to early steamboating. One made June 5, 1866, tells of the sale of the scow Dart by George Walker, constable, to satisfy a judgment, and the other, dated July 6, 1867, records a mortgage given by H. H. Hyde to Frank King on a vessel building at Snohomish, the vessel being 65 feet long, 11-foot beam, with steam propeller. This mortgage was for $1,000, gold coin, and bore interest at the very modest rate of 2 per cent a month. While the name of the boat was not given in the record, it was undoubtedly the Ruby which Captain Hyde offered as security for this loan. Capt. H. H. Hyde was born in the State of New York, and as a young man was a sailor and ship's officer on Lake Erie, out of Toledo, Ohio. He went to California in 1858 but almost at once joined the adventurous throng which rushed to the Fraser River at the time of the gold excitement. He was also among the disappointed ones. He remained on Puget Sound, following the sea out of Port Madison until 1866, making his first journey up the Snohomish River' in that year on board the Toppy, of which he became the owner. His next venture was with the Ruby, in 1867. W. B. Sinclair was associated with him in this enterprise. Later he bought the Chehalis, which he disposed of and again turned to mining. Two years of this were sufficient and he returned to his first love, the sea. He was captain, in turn, of the Libbie, the Addie and the Otter. It was while in command of the last named that he was stricken with paralysis and after a long illness died at Seattle, December 28, 1875. |

In 1876, the Fanny Lake, Capt. J. S. Hill, was running from Seattle to the Skagit River, "via Snohomish, Tulalip, and Port Susan Bay, up the east side of Camano Island, touching at Hatt's Landing, Centerville, Skagit City and La Conner." The Zephyr was, however, the main reliance of the people along the Snohomish for local traffic. The Favorite was a steamer owned by the old Utsalady mill concern and was bought by the Puget Mill Company in 1876, and other boats mentioned in various connections at this time were the Linnie, also a Utsalady boat, and the Yakima, built and owned by the Puget Mill Company.

The Nellie

Other boats may have been dear to the hearts of the pioneers, but there was for Snohomish people no other boat quite like the Nellie. In her they felt a proprietory interest and there was hardly a man, woman or child in the county who was not at some time a passenger on this little steamer. It was with a glow of genuine home pride that the Northern Star announced the building of this boat in its issue of April 15, 1876, as follows:

"We intimated last week that there was a prospect of a new boat designed expressly for this river being built this summer. The arrangements are now all perfected and we have been kindly furnished with the following particulars: The boat is to be 80 feet in length; 19 feet 4 inches in breadth of beam; 4 feet 9 inches in depth of hold, and will be furnished with a pair of 10 inch engines, 3 feet stroke with fire box boiler, capable of carrying 140 pounds of steam. The timbers are to be all natural curves, fore and aft. Her house will be flush with the deck, being furnished with a 314-foot guard rail on the outside. She will hail from this place and her owners are confident she will exceed the Zephyr's best speed by 144 knots. Her owners are J. R. Robbins of Seattle, Capt. Thos. A. Wright of the Zephyr, and Benj. Stretch of this county. They promise to have her ready for use by the middle of June and jf the stage of the water will permit to take her to Snoqualmie Falls the first trip. 'To the farmers, loggers and all the settlers in the Snohomish, Ebey Slough, Skyhomish and Snoqualmie valleys a great want long felt by us all is about to be supplied. Not a resident of this portion of the county but has felt the need of a light draft steamer to navigate our streams. Such a boat will be in active service before the month of June next ends, there can be no doubt. The men who will build the boat are reliable. Farmers may now plant and sow, confident that they will have transportation, at reduced rates, to markets not only in this place but in all Sound ports and San Francisco. None need hesitate. Put your hands to the plough; do something besides raise hay and vegetables, in short, everything that will mature in this climate. We have been sapped and drained by the importation of breadstuff, feed and meats long enough. We ought to be selfsustaining. Indeed, if our producers will go to work with a will, with energy and intelligence, we can in twelve months' time, with a steamer passing every rancher's door, and ready and willing to take on freight, at fair rates, wherever a landing can safely be made, export far more than we import and thus have the balance of trade in our favor. Do not hesitate to put in grain. The importation of flour and feed is what is impoverishing us. Parties are already building a grist mill. If they who have it in hand fail or do not push their work with commendable energy, others will take hold and have a mill running before fall. The farmers now have a chance to show what they are made of. Quick transportation is almost equivalent to a market at home. Remember, nothing can be put in the ground that has a value anywhere but can be shipped, when we have a boat that can run up the Snoqualmie River. We have waited long and impatiently, but relief is at hand. Up and be doing, and make our valley blossom like the rose."

Can anything be more illuminating than this news-editorial comment and exhortation? J. J. Hill and the Great Northern received no warmer welcome to the Snohomish Valley, and the coming of that railroad was of no greater relative importance to the people than was the building of the Nellie.

Nellie Launched At Seattle

The Nellie was launched July 22, 1876, at Seattle, according to the Star, which said: "Mr. Stretch and others from Snohomish, wishing to see her go into the water, reached that place on the Fanny Lake about half an hour after she had been launched. Her machinery is on hand and she will be running between here and Seattle and up the Snoqualmie as soon as the machinery can be put into her. She now draws ten inches of water without the machinery. Her model is very beautiful. It is estimated that she will draw less than twenty inches with machinery in and loaded; she is regarded by Messrs. Robbins, Wright and Stretch as a success." The issue of September 2, 1876, tells of the first trips of the Nellie to Snohomish

City, as follows: "The Nellie has been here twice this week, she appears to be a great favorite with the traveling public. And why not? Her time will compare with the best boats on the Sound; her spark catcher relieves the weary traveler of - a continual shower of soot and ashes, her officers and men are always ready and willing to accommodate the public. She will make two regular trips a week to this place, arriving Mondays and Thursdays; she will remain over night each time, and depart for Seattle as near 8 o'clock as possible on the following morning." The above may smack of press-agency, but it nevertheless gives a picture of the times and of the great importance of this twice-a-week boat to Seattle. On her trial run, from Olympia to Seattle, August 26, 1876, the Nellie made the sixty miles in four hours and forty minutes.

Nellie Accorded Reception

On the occasion of her first arrival at Snohomish, in August, there was a grand reception, the "Riverside Hotel being crowded with ladies and gentlemen to honor the resident owner of the handsome little stern-wheeler expressly built for Snohomish trade." The exultant Star continued: "This means a new era in transportation and we hope the beautiful Nellie is but the forerunner of a fleet of steamers. We have had steam communication with Sound ports six times this week, and yet we are not happy. Four years ago when the little Black Diamond paid her respects to Snohomish once in three or four weeks bringing the mails, freight, etc., the people were satisfied; their wants were few; but with increasing population and development we require increased facilities to keep up with the requirements of trade. On Sunday the Zephyr made her last regular trip, and were it not for the fact that her place is to be filled by the Nellie, we would look upon her departure from this route with regret. The Nellie arrived here on her first trip soon after the Fanny Lake on Tuesday, bringing quite a number of excursionists ; on nearing the wharf she was received with vociferous cheers by the crowd which had assembled to witness her arrival. We were also visited on Tuesday by the Black Diamond, commanded by Capt. Chas. Low, and again on Thursday by the Nellie, Capt. T. S. Wright in command."

The appearance of the Nellie forced the Fanny Lake to make improvements, and she was replaced temporarily by the Otter, but she reappeared on the river in October, rebuilt so that she was "'as fast as the Zephyr", and making weekly trips not only up the Snohomish but up the Stillaguamish and Skagit rivers as well.

River Incidents

But the course of the river boats never ran smoothly very long at a time. In spite of her 20-inch draft, the Nellie had been on the river but a few months before she was reported "high and dry" a few miles above Snohomish City. Men on a raft failed to get her off and when the Zephyr went to her aid that vessel struck a snag and the Nellie was forced to wait for high water. These mishaps were common; the Yakima, Captain Olney, struck a snag in January, occasioning the loss of freight for Ferguson, Packard & Jackson and Blackman Bros. The Nellie had the honor of beating the Libby, but in spite of all her perfections she was forced to go to the docks for repairs by January, 1877, at which time she was also improved by having her cabin remodeled and extended the full length of the main deck. Benjamin Stretch was purser at this time and Capt. David Hill was in command. Newspaper favor was a fickle thing as was shown by the fact that less than a year after the fulsome praise of the Nellie, the Star proclaimed: "The Yakima is the largest and finest fitted up boat that runs here. Capt. Olney is a great favorite and a most popular steamboat man." Other river notes tell that "Captain Levany of the old Chehalis, one of the first stern wheel boats that ever made regular trips to the river, now resides at Blakeley and is sheriff of Kitsap County." Another item tells that "Capt. Rodgers, formerly mate on the Nellie, has a berth on the Zephyr, which is making her first regular trip from Snohomish to Seattle with shingles." The next report of the Zephyr is on July 21, 1877, to the effect that she "hits a snag in the Skagit and sinks."

Wharves Built

This extensive increase in shipping stimulated the building of wharves at Snohomish. Walliam) Romines received a permit from the county commissioners to build a wharf at East Snohomish and wharfage rates were fixed at 50 cents per ton; storage 25 cents per ton, per week; single packages 25 cents; landing canoes, per day, 25 cents; but it was provided that all boats and canoes might load and discharge free and that there was to be no charge for passengers and baggage. A permit was also issued to E. C. Ferguson to enlarge the west wharf and to Packard and Jackson. 'Trafhe declined during the hard times which were prevalent all over the coast during the late seventies, and Benjamin Stretch sold his interest in the Nellie in 1878 and it was put on the Stikeen River trade in British Columbia, while the Fanny Lake withdrew from the Snohomish River run in 1879.

Seattle Boat Directory In 1877

The "Steamboat Directory" of Seattle, in February, 1877, gives a good general idea of the shipping along the Sound. From Victoria there was the steamer North Pacific. Clancy, master; twice a week. From Olympia, the Messenger, Parker, master, and the Zephyr, Wright, master, providing daily service. For Whatcom and way points, the Libby, Brannon, master, twice a week. For Snohomish, the Nellie, Hill, master, three times a week. For Skagit and La Conner, the Fanny Lake, Hill, master, twice a week. For Port Townsend, the San Juan islands, Semiahmoo and Whatcom, the Dispatch, Monroe, master, weekly. For Freeport and Blakeley, the Success, Nugent, master, daily. For Tacoma, en route to Portland, the Alida, Browner, master, daily. From San Francisco, Pacific Mail steamers, three times a month. There were other boats in the carrying trade, but the above would appear to represent the entire schedule of regular sailings from Seattle and it was upon these vessels that the entire transportation system of the lower Sound depended for mail and freight and passengers.

Up-River On The Nellie

The story of transportation on the Snohomish during the seventies cannot be better rounded out than by quoting the Northern Star's description of a trip up the river on the Nellie in January, 1877. While somewhat verbose, it gives a good idea of conditions at that time and it is filled with a fine optimism which time has fully vindicated. It reads as follows:

"Through the courtesy of Capt. Hill and Purser Stretch of the Nellie, we took a trip up-river last week as far as the camp of Clark & Wilbur, remaining all night at the farm of Mr. F. Duvall, fifteen miles above here. Four years ago we went up to the Falls, and we must say that at that time we did not find settlements any too often. Now, however, things have changed for the better. We do not know how it would be following the trail, but by the river there is a settler on nearly every quarter section between this place and the Falls. In many places the mere shanty, the necessity of every newcomer, has given place to larger and more comfortable dwellings. The area of forest that girts these dwellings about, often extending their long, mossy branches over the humble roof, has been in many instances very much lessened, the unsightly stumps are everywhere disappearing, patches of grain and vegetables can be seen where only a short time since the nettle grew among the tangled vine maple. At almost every farm we failed not to recognize some added improvement since our last trip. We believe the settlers on the Snoqualmie are wide awake, industrious and permanently located. They are not waiting for 'something to turn up,' or a chance to 'sell out,' but are bent on making for themselves pleasant homes; and in time they will ornament and beautify them with 'fruit and flower,' so that the passengers up and down the tranquil river will envy the owners their possessions. We passed several logging claims, though at present they give employment to but few men. We also took note of the vast bodies of timber that can find a market through no other channel than the Snohomish River. Settlers are daily coming in. Already they are compelled to go back from the river bank for timber or agricultural lands. In a few years more the valley of the Snoqualmie will be settled from its mouth to the Falls, and from foothill to foothill. The forests will gradually melt away, except choice selections that will dot the valley in places, the same as can at the present time be seen in New England, New York and Pennsylvania. Already are these hardy settlers - most of them came empty handed - looking out for the rising generation by establishing schools ; and the church, the workshop and the mill and factory are sure to follow."

The Alki On Upper River

As predicted by the Star, the settlements up the river increased rapidly and the mineral discoveries in the vicinity of Sultan attracted many newcomers and much trade. The next development therefore in river transportation was small boats of very light draft, designed to navigate these streams as far up as possible. The Alki, owned by Brown & McCall, was one of the first of these new boats and was designed for freighting and log running on the Snohomish. She made her first trip up the river April 7, 1882, but the report stated that she "was stuck on the riffle at Greenwood's place." The Alki was the chief and perhaps the only boat making regular trips above Snohomish in 1883. Every trip was fraught with uncertainty and no little danger; on one trip she hit a sunken pile; on another, on account of low water, she failed to get beyond the riffle at "Paddy Doyle's place'. In July, 1883, in spite of the low water, the Alki reached Fall City. The passage of Stretch's riffle was accomplished with great difficulty; twice a 1,000-foot line was put out and the boat was pulled through with aid of the capstan; the same process was used near Entwhistle's place, the passengers assisting, and with these arduous labors Captain McCall and Engineer Charles Niemeyer were able to get the Alki up to Tolt.

The Nellie was purchased in April, 1882, by Capt. Charles H. Low, a son of J. N. Low, the pioneer hotel keeper of Snohomish. The Nellie had what may literally be called her "ups and downs", for during this same month she hit a snag and sank in eight feet of water and had to be raised and taken to Seattle for repairs. During the summer of 1882 the steamer Mabel, Capt. Henry Bailey, ran in opposition to the Nellie, but the Nellie retained the bulk of the business on account of superior speed and accommodations. In August, 1883, the W. K. Merwin appeared as a rival to the Nellie for the Snohomish-Seattle trade. The Merwin was put on a tri-weekly schedule and prices were cut to $2 for passenger fares and $2 per ton for freight. The Nellie met this competition and a keen war of rates and service resulted. William Whitfield was purser of the Nellie at this time.

River Improvements Slow

The Federal Government was very niggardly with appropriations for rivers and harbors of Washington Territory. The Territorial Legislature memorialized Congress time after time and the different delegates from Washington undoubtedly did their best, but Washington had no vote in Congress and no votes in the electoral college, and was thus given but little consideration by the politicians. The first mention of government work on the river in a Snohomish paper was in October, 1883, when it was reported that William Hedges, a government employee, was blasting snags from the river at Clark's bend. Captain Pratt of the United States Survey, completed the survey of the Snohomish River in the summer of 1885, but while something was done on the Nooksack and Skagit rivers, practically nothing was done by the Government on the Snohomish. There was then but little aid to navigation by the hand of man and transportation was wholly dependent upon the weather and the stage of water. This resulted in numerous accidents and in the stoppage of navigation; as when in 1883 it was said that the river was the lowest ever known and that it would be hard for a canoe to go above Snohomish City; or in 1884, when Snohomish went without butter or potatoes for a week; or still later, in 1888, when the steamer Monroe brought the first freight for three weeks, part of the cargo being 100 cases of coal oi! which saved the city from utter darkness.

River Accidents Many

Canoeing and rafting were especially dangerous. In October, 1882, Thos. Mac- Intosh, R. B. Rae, Jas. Gannon, G. R. Proctor, Wm. Boyle and W. S. Austin were prospecting on the upper river when their raft struck a snag. All of the party clung to the snag except Proctor, who was carried down stream and finally reached shore where he was lost all night in the woods before he was able to give the alarm and secure help at the home of John Elwell, Jr. All of the party were rescued except MacIntosh, who attempted to swim ashore but was carried down by the current.

It was in January, 1883, that nine were killed and seven wounded by a boiler explosion on the Josephine, in Port Gardner Bay, the wreck being found, bottom up, off Hatt island, four miles south of the scene of the accident, and towed into Tulalip Bay. The Indians thrived on the wreckage for some time. Again, in 1887, a large canoe struck a log in the river during a fog and Jesse Dutcher was drowned ; this was on the same spot where Dan O'Neil was drowned in December, 1885.

"The first steamer up the river in seventeen days," said the Eye, January 10, 1885, "was the City of Quincy. As the result of a chinook the river is up fourteen feet; the most sudden rise ever known. The noise of the breaking ice could be heard for a long distance. The Nellie had a narrow escape. The gorge formed by logs at Ebey Slough is five miles long. The Skykomish ferry has been carried to sea. The crest of the flood is but two feet lower than that of the great flood of 1871." In 1885 the Gazelle burned while grounded on a bar on the Stillaguamish, above Stanwood. In 1886, the Fanny Lake was blown ashore near Sullivan's Slough, where the tide left her high and dry and a canal had to be cut to float her. In 1887, the Alki sank at Utsalady but was recovered, repaired, and put on the Skagit run.

Gleaner And May Queen

Reese and Ables of Snohomish built a small steamer to run up to Falls City, the citizens contributing more than $600, in 1884. The May Queen was put on the upper river by Captain Gove in 1887, and made its trial trip successfully carrying fifty tons of freight for the store at the hop ranch on the Snoqualmie. The Gleaner was the first steamer, May, 1887, to ascend the Skykomish above Park place, reaching but one and a half miles below Sultan. The traffic to the mines, or rather to the prospectors in the vicinity of Sultan, had become important and both Gleaner and the May Queen entered this service.

Capt. Charles H. Low

In April, 1886, Capt. Charles Low bought the steamer Monroe for $8,000 to run alternately with the Nellie, in opposition to the Cascade, a new rival which had appeared in the Snohomish River trade. Captain Low was at this time the most popular and successful captain and ship owner on the river, and it was a shock to the entire community when his sudden death, caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in his head, was reported from Seattle, June 12, 1887. Captain Low was born in Thurston County, Washington, in 1855, and came to Snohomish with his parents, J. N. and Lydia Low, when but a lad. He began steamboating as a deck hand in 1874 and became the owner of both the Nellie and the Monroe. He was married in 1879. He was famed throughout the region as a skillful navigator, a genial frfend, and a good business man. Seventy citizens of Snohomish went to Seattle on the steamer Monroe to attend his funeral, and the crews of the two boats acted as pallbearers. He was said to be a man without an enemy. A sidelight on his popularity is shown by the fact that one Dr. D. J. Stansbury, a slate writer medium at Snohomish, claimed to have received a spirit message from Captain Low shortly after his death, the signature of which was claimed to be a facsimile of the captain's well known handwriting.

Steamboat Amenities

The later history of the Nellie is interesting and full of incident. Captain Brooks succeeded Captain Low as master of this boat and he was the hero of the occasion when the Nellie struck a snag and stove a ragged hole in her hull. Captain Brooks dived and succeeded in stuffing a quilt into the hole which so stopped the leak that the crew was able to pump the water out, although it rose to within three inches of the deck. The Nellie seems to have fallen into disrepute after this, for in January, 1888, Snohomish business men ordered Seattle wholesalers not to ship on the Nellie, as she was unseaworthy. The following March the Snohomish Transportation Company was formed, and chartered the Merwin as a mail boat, put the Monroe on a regular run, also, and consigned the Nellie to the jobbing trade. This was done to crowd out a new boat, the Glide. The rivalry between the Nellie and the Glide grew intense and bitter. There was a famous race between the two boats from Lowell to Snohomish which the Glide won by one length. Captain Brooks had been succeeded on the Nellie by Captain Merrifield and was in command of the Glide. After the race the two captains met, a fight ensued from which Merrifield emerged with two black eyes and Brooks with his ear bitten off. After twelve years' service on the river the Nellie was offered for sale, in June, 1888, and Mrs. Low soon succeeded in selling her two-thirds interest in both the Nellie and the Monroe to Capt. C. D. Brownfield and John Olney. They had owned the Nellie but a few months when she hit a sand bar in a fog off Steamboat Slough and was badly wrecked. In December, the Nellie was sold at Seattle for $925 for the benefit of creditors, and was thereafter unknown to the Snohomish River trade. FIRST BOAT REACHES SULTAN

The May Queen and the Mame, built by Captain McMillan in 1887, were the chief boats operating above Snohomish City during this period. The Mame was a stern wheeler, seventy-five feet long, and of very light draft. In January, 1888, she reached Sultan and went up the river three miles higher than had ever been reached before by a steamer.

Officers Duties Many

The captain or purser on these pioneer boats had a number of errands to perform each trip. He would be hailed by some settler along the river bank to get him a box of cartridges. Another would order a pair of No. 10 shoes, not being able to get them at the village store - or the saloonkeepers, of whom there were several along the route, would order more liquid refreshment, business having been better than expected ; or, some woman would want a piece of cloth matched at Seattle, not having quite enough to finish her dress; or a settler would require some hardware or paint for the new building. Many of the settlers made hand-shaved shingles which they sold to get supplies, and this made freight for the boats on the return trip as well. The popularity of the boats depended largely upon the attitude of the officers in taking care of these numerous errands, as they formed a considerable source of revenue for the freight service.

The Mabel and the Monroe were the chief boats on the river below Snohomish in 1890, the Mabel carrying the mail. The Greyhound and the State of Washington went after the trade between Seattle and the new town called Everett and there were exciting races, with fares reduced to 15 cents.

Up-River Traffic In 1891

In 1891, the upper river traffic again became important as Sultan and up-river points filled rapidly with prospectors and railroaders, In August, J. H. Vincent built a new light steamer to operate on the upper Snoqualmie, 75 feet long, 18 foot beam and pipe boilers, the latter being an innovation. This boat was called the Monte Cristo and the Almy boiler with which it was provided was one of the first used on the Sound and consisted of extra strong wrought-iron pipe, passing back and forth on the bottom and the upper part of the furnace. This coil system obviated the necessity of the large, heavy boiler, made the vessel of lighter draft and enabled steam to be raised in twenty minutes. Capt. George Hill, an expert pilot, was the master. The Minnie M. was the rival of the Monte Cristo for up-river traffic. It was said of the Minnie M., in May, 1892, that "Snohomish was thought to be at the head of navigation until the Minnie M. went to Sultan." The Monte Cristo had a daily, round trip, schedule between Snohomish and Sultan and the Minnie M. made the round trip three times a week.

Steamboat Races

The Florence Henry was in this trade and the race between that boat and the Monte Cristo on May 22, 1892, was one of the famous ones in the annals of the river. The Florence Henry left Snohomish first and was in the lead until within two and one-half miles of Sultan, when the Monte Cristo overtook her. The race at Elwell's riffle and for the remainder of the distance to Sultan, was "'neck and neck," the Monte Cristo winning "by a nose". Captain McMillan was at the wheel for the Florence Henry and Captain Hill piloted the Monte Cristo. These steamboat races were as exciting and almost an dangerous as the automobile races of a later day. Speed limits and safety regulations were forgotten. Everything inflammable was stuffed into the firebox, and as the indicator swung round past the 125- pound limit of the law, and up to 150 pounds and on to the danger point, no one gave thought to any fear; save the fear of losing the race. It is told that in a race with the Greyhound, between Seattle and Tacoma, the Bailey Gatzert threw her furniture into the firebox in a vain attempt to win. The Mabel, racing with the Nellie, sacrificed the maple rails which Blackman Bros. were shipping with one of their patent logging railroad outfits, chopping them up to feed the flames. All of these boats were wood burners, and the quality of the fuel had much to do with the speed.

River Traffic Statistics

The steamboat directory of Snohomish, in September, 1892, was as follows: Minnie M. Snohomish to Sultan three times weekly Monte Cristo Snohomish to Sultan daily, fare $1.00 May Queen Snohomish to Portages (connecting with N. P. trains) Mabel Snohomish, Lowell, Seattle three times weekly

Snohomish-Everett Traffic Big

A little later the Everett boom was at its height, but the Great Northern overland railroad extended no farther than Snohomish. The new city at the mouth of the river was filled with hundreds, even thousands of city builders, speculators and adventurers. This gave rise to tremendous river traffic; traffic such as the river had never known before and was never to know again. The Cascade was one of the boats attracted by this trade and the Monte Cristo found it more profitable than the up-river run. The competition was so keen that the Cascade reduced the fare to 5 cents from Snohomish to Lowell, and it was in this manner that the last golden harvest of the river boat was wasted.

The Mikado, the Milton, and a little later the Aquilla were among the boats attracted by this heavy passenger traffic from Snohomish to Everett. The Milton and the Mikado were great rivals and persistent racers. Their methods were not always strictly ethical. Both boats left the Ferguson wharf one day at noon; in attempting to get out ahead the Milton tried to cross the Mikado's bow and a collision ensued in which the Milton's steering gear was disabled and she ran hard aground on the south bend of the river, while the Mikado steamed gallantly down stream, its passengers lining the decks and jeering at the unfortunates on board the Milton. The result of this over-competition, and of a strike growing out of a misunderstanding between the engineers and the officers which tied up all boats save the Herbie and the City of Snohomish, was to drive many craft from the service, until by the close of 1892, the Cascade, which was called the speediest boat on the river after its victory over the City of Quincy, was practically alone on the Snohomish-Lowell route. The Cascade and the Milton, which were under the same ownership, did not prosper, however, and both were libelled by employees for unpaid wages and were also seized by the Government and fined for violation of maritime regulations. They were sold, in June, 1893, but the proceeds were not sufficient to pay the fines and the libel against them. Even after the advent of the railroads the boats held their popularity; a newspaper comment in August, 1893, being to the effect that while there were two railroads between Snohomish and Everett the steamers Mikado and Katharine got the bulk of the trade. During 1893. Captain Pinkerton bought the Mame for up-river traffic on the Snoqualmie and the E. W. Purdy was placed on the Snohomish-Seattle run, making three trips a week.

Decline Of River Traffic

But with the coming of the railroads and the opening of highways, the glory of the river was gone and the coming of the automobile drove the last spike in the coffin of the proud little steamers whose comings and goings played such an important part in the lives of the early settlers. Boats still pass up and down the river, but their passage is unnoted, save by some impatient driver waiting for the draw to close. Traffic above Snohomish was the last to die. In 1894 it was mentioned that the Echo took the machinery for a new shingle mill and a load of merchandise up to Sultan and that it was the only steamer up that far since August, 1892. A few months later it was stated that low water had stopped the Mame and the Lily and that the Echo was the only boat making the up-river run.

The end of one of the old-time favorites came in June, 1896, when the Monroe was wrecked in the Skagit River. While towing a boom of logs she became un- manageable a short distance above the Great Northern Bridge and drifted against the span. The boom forced the steamer under the bridge and completely wrecked her, the crew having a narrow escape. There is more shipping today at the port of Everett than ever before in its history save possibly during war days; many of the old boats once famed upon the Snohomish are still in service, but the river ports know them no more.

University Of Washington

Snohomish, the mother city of civilization in all that fernied region between Bellingham Bay and Seattle, has more than kept pace with the decades of modern change and progress featuring three-fourths of a century, and is today as bright and attractive and up-to-date a city as one nught find in a day's flight by airplane. The "mother city" easily maintains its position as the second in the county, the 1920 census giving it a population of 3,250, and in some desirable achievements its citizens still retain leadership, the latter being particularly true of its cultured women, organized to promote enlightenment, civic beauty and community welfare. The city government has consistently manifested sympathetic interest and cooperation in these forward movements, the present city officers, elected in 1924 for twoyear terms, being: E. H. Lincoln, mayor; L. S. Gilbertson, J. H. Porter, S. J. Holcomb, C. H. Bakeman, C. J. Kelleher, Thos. A. Cleveland and F. D. Wisman, councilmen; FE. Thistlewaite, clerk; S. Vestal, treasurer; M. C. Hazen, attorney; O. D. Morse, chief of police; Edward Hinkley, fire chief; J. A. Durrant, health officer, and E. C. Stevens, street commissioner and water superintendent. During the last twenty-eight years it has remained a non-partisan city government.

Water And Fire Protection

The city itself established the present gravity city water system in 1911, replacing the old Blackman lake supply of the Snohomish Water Co., owned by Blackman & Missimer. The present system originally cost $110,000, the intake being sixteen miles distant up the Pilchuck River and at an altitude of 451 feet above the lower levels of the city. The supply comes down through a fourteen-inch wooden stave main for a distance of 8,000 feet and a twelve-inch main the rest of the way to the great cement distributing reservoir, situated a mile north of the business center at an altitude of 225.5 feet, this storage capacity being increased by the construction of an adjoining emergency reservoir, the intake supply main delivering to the two reservoirs 1,500,000 gallons daily. This maintains a gravity pressure along the main business thoroughfare, First Street, the lowest level in the city, of eighty pounds per inch. With such abundant ammunition the Snohomish Fire Department has become a quite effective establishment, the most recent demonstration having been the conflagration in July, 1926, when fire destroyed several frame business buildings on First Street, including the store building occupied by the Snohomish Mercantile Co. and owned by Mrs. G. L. Turner, Mrs. Lampey's store building, the building occupied by B. I. lay's meat market and owned by T. E. Marks, and the structure occupied by Dr. R. R. Bradley, the optician. This big fire threatened the destruction of the entire block and menaced the whole business district; the local firemen were mainly aided in saving the affected block and the neighboring business establishments by a fire-protection wall built some years before, and by the Everett Fire Department, which rushed in at a critical time with a pumper and a number of firemen and soon had the fire confined and under control. The present department numbers sixteen trained firemen, headed by Chief Edward Hinkley; the central fire station is at the corner of Avenue A and Second Street, and the equipment includes three pumpers, one of which is a triple combination Stutz added in 1923, one chemical engine and a 125-horsepower sixcylinder motor hose truck, also a Mack truck for hydrant service and an old-time steam engine in first class condition. In the city budget for 1927 a $17,000 modern central fire station and a $10,000 new city hall are provided for, to be financed by a bond issue. The fire station 1s to replace the present station at the same location, plans having been prepared by Architect C. Ferris White of Seattle, and which provide sleeping quarters for eight men.

Lighting System

The original city electric lighting system was established in 1889 by the Snohomish Electric Light, Power & Gas Co. It was a steam plant, located on the Pilchuck, and soon afterward the boiler exploded, killing one man and badly injuring another, the latter, however, recovering and being now employed by the city on road work. The property was taken over by the Puget Sound Gas Co., which operates a gas plant at Riverside, Everett, and supplies Snohomish and Monroe with gas, and Snohomish with a complete electric lighting service, procuring its electric power from the Puget Sound Power & Light Co.

Ferguson Park

Ferguson Park, bordering the south shore of Blackman's Lake, two miles from the business center, embraces twelve acres of lake shore and natural woodland, the finest of the original trees having been preserved in the scheme of development. Ten acres of this park was donated to the city by E. C. Ferguson and the city then purchased two additional acres. Its improvement and development began in 1920, when a program of park improvement was launched and a committee solicited the merchants to close the stores and have everybody join in a voluntary effort to improve and beautify the park, to which the merchants all responded, and while the men worked the members of the Cosmopolitan Club and other ladies provided lunches and acted as hostesses. In following years merchants contributed the service of a clerk, or equivalent in cash. Small community houses have been erected, as well as a community camp kitchen and other accommodations for camping tourists, and plans are under way to provide desirable equipment of bathing facilities in 1927, improving the beach with fine gravel furnished by the county highway department. The present city park board is composed of Philip McKee, Kern S. Stockton and Frank C. Baird.

Public Library

Snohomish has a handsome public library building of reinforced cement, a donation of the Carnegie Foundation, built in 1909 upon a spacious and attractive site on Cedar Street, the site embracing half a block, extending from First to Pearl streets with the building at the center. At the present time the library has more than 3,400 bound and listed volumes, the institution being added to and maintained by taxation. The Woman's Book Club originated the public library and by its own efforts purchased a desirable site and building, mortgaged the property, and in July, 1901, T. E. Skaggs cancelled the mortgage, taxes were adjusted, and Snohomish had "a good library building in an exclusive location,' the Woman's Book Club a week later transferring the public library property to the city council, Hon. C. W. Gorham making the presentation speech, Mayor G. L. Turner the response and acceptance, followed by remarks by Rev. C. L. Mears. In September, 1901, the Library Trust Association was formed, with W. O. Dolsen as president, James Burton, secretary, and Mrs. Dr. Thompson, treasurer. The first librarian was Mrs. Mary Mitchell (now Mrs. George Westgate), whose home at 702 First Street was also the first library building; Mrs. Mitchell served fifteen years as librarian, at the close of which she was succeeded by her daughter, Miss Doris Mitchell, who was in charge for two years, being then succeeded by the present librarian, Miss Katherine McMurchy, who has conducted the library the past three years. The present city library board is composed of Orrin Hodgins, president ; Wilson M. McNeill, clerk; Mrs. E. S. Payne, Mrs. P. A. Wright and Homer Hodge.

Postal Service

Snohomish post office was established March 13, 1863, under the administration of President Lincoln in the second year of the Civil War. Free mail delivery service in the city was initiated May 1, 1911, with two letter carriers, and on September 18 of the same year the office became a depository for postal savings accounts. Mail transportation services include the Northern Pacific, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Great Northern railways. Stamp sales receipts for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, aggregated $18,000, and the office manages the service of four rural free delivery mail routes, the longest route covering forty-two miles, and the rural route service making daily deliveries and collections from a total of 1,138 private mail boxes, each accommodating from one to five families. Postmaster Edward Hinkley, commissioned postmaster by the late President Warren G. Harding, February 24, 1923, for the current four-year term, has already served over a period of fifteen years as postmaster and assistant postmaster and is heartily devoted to the service.

The city has a complete heating service system, serving the entire business and urban residential district, established and maintained under city charter by Lester Servis, in 1923, and considerably developed and extended since.

Public Schools

consolidated high school district, No. 300, which includes the old Riverview district and extends to a distance half way to Three Lakes and half way to Fobes, five thirty-five-passenger buses being used to bring more than 120 students residing outside the city to and from school. The school census of 1926 showed 1,420 children of school age in the district. The high school enrollment was 420 students, and the faculty numbered fourteen, including Principal Forrest Breakey, while twenty-four teachers were employed in the grade schools. There are two principal grade school buildings, the handsome brick Emerson school in the city proper and the Riverview building on the south side, the latter being a community center structure, having an auditorium easily seating 200 persons. The Snohomish High School establishment and grounds are by many regarded as the finest in the county, while its science department is ranked with the very best in the state. The high school building site and campus embraces an area of eight acres, and through the persistent and artistic efforts of the Cosmopolitan Club women has been made the arboreal show place of the city, with a wealth of flowering shrub and luxurious tree growth, unique in its wonderful rhododendrons, Japanese azaleas and honey locust trees. Originally the central section of the high school building was the old Snohomish County courthouse, and later the memorable Puget Sound Academy, though it was entirely remodeled for school purposes, and in 1923-24 was extended and developed into the present imposing edifice, 285 feet in length, erected at a cost of $110,000, including the modern gym, cafeteria and several class rooms in the old building, financed in part by bonding the district for $90,000. The entire building is of brick construction, designed by Stevens & Stevens of Seattle, and among its features 1s an auditorium seating 800, and having a large, fully equipped stage, with scenery loft, and a fireproof motion picture booth. The cafeteria serves 300 children at noon daily, the food being provided at cost by the home economics department of the school. The outdoor auxiliary facilities of the gymnasium include black-stained cement double tennis courts and an athletic field with a one-quartermile circular running track. Close to the main building is the well-equipped manual training structure, and the shop in which all branches of automechanics are taught in practical operation also adjoins the main building. W.C. Hodge, now superintendent of the Port Angeles, Wash., schools, was superintendent of the Snohomish schools in their earlier days for eighteen years; he was succeeded by E. C. Howard, who served in that capacity from 1922 until the end of the school year 1924-25, he having previously served as principal of the high school under Superintendent Hodge the preceding sixteen years. Prof. P. A. Wright, the present city superintendent, who took charge in 1925, had previously served as superintendent of the Lynden, Whatcom County, schools, seven years and since then for a number of years in Yakima, Eastern Washington. James Burton, who had served as director and clerk of the district for twenty years, retired from the board in 1921. The board of directors in 1926 are: M. T. Hokenstad, chairman; George Dubuque, clerk, and Frank Killien.

Cosmopolitan Club

Probably no other combination of elective or voluntary kindred spirits has ever linked its record of service more intimately with the progress and cultural development of its community than has the Cosmopolitan Club of Snohomish throughout the past quarter century. Its direct background extends back to 1897, although an organization had previously been formed and provided a semi-public kindergarten for little children, whether their parents could pay tuition or not, and the women maintained this kindergarten until 1901, when the equipment was donated to the primary grade of Central School and a private kindergarten, and the women formed the Mothers' Child Study Club, making an intensive study of child welfare in general in the community. In 1901, to expand the scope of the progressive women, this club was reorganized and became the Cosmopolitan Club, dedicated to literature, child welfare, civic progress and social culture, and the first act of the club was to attack the unsightly cemeteries and persuade the city council to buy a cemetery tract north of the town for $5 per acre, but it was later sold because the owners of existing cemeteries satisfactorily improved them. In 1903 the Cosmopolitan and Hiu Wa Wa clubs organized the Library Association and initiated the idea of procuring a Carnegie library donation, and with the personal help of United. States Senator S. H. Piles they eventually received a donation of $10,000. After nine years of persistent and successful effort the Library Association disbanded and turned into the library treasury $2,880.49 cash and all the books, etc., it had accumulated. Since 1912 the Cosmopolitan Club has contributed to the library more than $1,100, besides subscribing for periodicals for many years for use in the library reading rooms. In 1905 the club established the domestic science department in the high school and its members taught the students the first year. Private lawn improvement and the removal of fences around them were improvements inspired by the club, and in the next year the club achieved the clearing and preparation of the present high school athletic field, followed by the complete development of the present campus. This club in 1910 originated Ferguson Park and inspired the ten-acre gift from the founder of the town, and led the movement for its development, at the same time organizing the Junior Civic League of grade school children pledged to keep the city clear of rubbish and protect trees, shrubs and birds; it installed street waste receptacles and drinking fountains, initiated clean-up week, home gardening for children, and on November 24, 1911, issued the twenty-six-page Cosmopolitan Club special edition of the Snohomish County Tribune, which was sold to club women all over the state and netted $400 in cash for the projected Cosmopolitan clubhouse. In 1912 the club was incorporated, and in 1915 purchased and later improved what is known as Cosmopolitan Park, on Avenues D and E and Second Street, the Avenue E lots having later been used for the tennis courts of the Snohomish Tennis Club, and the whole area comprising one of the beauty shrines of Snohomish. Up to the present time this club has earned and expended for the advancement of the community between $15,000 and $20,000, has originated, campaigned for and participated in almost countless progressive and cultural enterprises, besides organizing the Parent-Teacher League, Benevolent Society, Junior Civic League and other beneficial associations, and has filled out twenty-eight years of noteworthy constructive activities along the lines of public welfare and advancement. Mrs. N. S. McCready, president of the club during its first four years, has since maintained state-wide recognition among the leaders of the State Federation, in which she has served in several positions and was president from June, 1917, to June, 1919, the World war years, was a director in the National Federation, 1920-22, and has served as president of the local club seven years in all. Other officers of the initial year, 1901, were: Mrs. U. K. Loose, Mrs. Chas. Bakeman, vice presidents; Mrs. Wm. Stevens, secretary; Mrs. J. L. Boyle, corresponding secretary; Mrs. F. M. Evans, treasurer. The original membership was twenty-three, the present membership sixty, though at times of great activity the membership reached 100. The club recently purchased a giant fir tree in Snoqualmie pass, Sunset Highway, for $100, for permanent preservation, the Washington Federation of Women's Clubs thus financing the purchase of eighty acres of mighty forest area in that theater of natural grandeur, six miles west of the summit. Officers of the Cosmopolitan Club in 1926 are: Mrs. B. O. Hall, president; Mrs. Robert H. Pfeil, Miss Lottie Johnson, vice presidents; Mrs. T. H. Dobbs, recording secretary; Mrs. Homer Hodge, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Frank Nickerman, treasurer; Mrs. W. D. Wright, auditor; Mrs. S. S. Green, Mrs. Geo. Fairchild, directors.

At the beginning of the Puget Sound boom year, 1889, Snohomish boasted a population of 1,000, but maintained only two churches and one grade school, although there were twenty saloons in the principal business district, no pavements, a few board sidewalks, all homes fenced in, stumps and down-timber everywhere and live stock roaming at large, while the county and city jail occupied a central place on the main street. Now there are at least half a dozen well-supported churches, each with a creditable house of worship, as well as the Lutheran parochial school which has an enrollment of 100 pupils, employs two teachers, has a record of eighteen years' continuous operation and is an accredited auxiliary of the public school system. The German Lutheran Church, at the corner of Avenue A and Fourth Street, Rev. F. Schoknecht, pastor, is a large structure of excellent architecture. Rev. Father De Walle, pastor of the Roman Catholic Church, situated at the corner of Avenue B and Third Street, is the dean of the local clergy, having served his parish here the past eighteen years. The First Methodist Church, on an opposite corner, Rev. L. C. Shultz, pastor, is a pioneer and popular house of worship, maintaining an orchestra and having a large Sunday School, superintended by C. W. Fenton. Rev. W. G. Horn is rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, one of the features of which is a graded school for persons of all ages held every Sunday morning. Rev. Z. O. Doward of Indianapolis is the latest Christian minister in this field, taking charge of the Christian Church on Cedar Street early in October, 1926. The First Presbyterian Church, Rev. L. H. Pedersen, pastor, maintains senior and junior Christian Endeavor organizations, which often minister to the spiritual wants of invalids at Aldercrest Sanitarium. The Baptist Church has for many years remained a moral and spiritual power in the community, and is at this time conducted by Rev. L. L. Daily, with A. O. Wright superintendent of the Sunday School. One of the upbuilding clergymen of past vears was Rev. B. S. Winchester, who largely inspired the formation of the Mothers' Child Study Club, progenitor of the Cosmopolitan Club, in 1897. Another was Rev. Father P. Van Holderbeke of the Catholic Church for many years, who was badly injured early in 1898 by falling from the gallery of the church, and who was the recipient of a well-filled purse from his grateful parish and other residents when he was transferred to Aberdeen, Wash., in 1900.

Fraternal Orders

Most of the leading fraternal organizations 'are strongly represented in the city, particularly the Masons, Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, while the American Legion post is most vigorous and active. Earl Winehart Post, No.

96, American Legion, in September, 1926, took over the old rooms of the Snohomish Commercial Club; officers elected September 28, 1926, are: Paul H. Hodge, commander; Fred Martell, first vice commander; Ted Beckmeyer, second vice commander; Percy Woodruff, adjutant; MacLean Snyder, finance officer; L. L. Daily, chaplain; Norman Lenfest, sergeant at arms; John Spada, historian. Snohomish Lodge No. 12, I. O. O. F., was organized and instituted April 23, 1878, with only five charter members - W. H. Ward, Chas. F. Thompson, W. F. Brown, H. J. Andrus and W. H. White. In 1886 the present Odd Fellows hall was erected at the corner of Avenue C and Second Street, and with the large addition built at the rear in 1900, is a comfortable lodge home, having a value of more than $4,000 at this time. During the past sixteen years the lodge has also maintained a lodge and public cemetery of ten acres, and at the present time there are 191 active members in good standing, with the following named officers: H. H. Bagley, N. G.; Chas. Siman, V. G.; J. L. Lysons, secretary; E. G. Hamilton, financial secretary ; J. A. Winston, treasurer. Snohomish Encampment No. 25, I. O. O. F., was instituted May 4, 1892, with fourteen charter members, increased to thirty-eight within the first year, and to 232 by 1926. The present officers are: Henry Fryer, chief patriarch; Fred Dutcher, senior warden; C. McIntyre, J. W.; C. Winston, high priest; Geo. Kamberger, scribe; C. Inos, financial scribe; Chas. Crippen, treasurer.

Eagle Hall

Snohomish Aerie No. 195, Fraternal Order of Eagles, received its charter January 12, 1902, with eighty-three members, being instituted by Everett Aerie No. 13 and Deputy Grand President J. C. Mitchell. The first officers were: M. J. McGinnis, past president; Fred S. Anderson, president; Wm. Powers, vice president ; Geo. Richardson, chaplain; Frank M. Evans, secretary; John Connelly, treasurer; Allan MacDonald, conductor; Geo. Batterton, I. G.; John T. Ore, O. G.; Dr. N. 5. McCready, physician; F. J. Edwards, H. F. Spurrell, trustees. On July 1, 1926, the membership of this Aerie in good standing aggregated 1,773, and for a number of years this Aerie has maintained the largest membership in the United States, in proportion to relative population, and the estimated value of its property is $47,773, the three-story Aerie building alone, erected in 1905 and fronting on First, Union and Cedar streets, having a cost value of $26,000, including the real estate, which extends from the intersection of First and Union to Cedar. The banquet hall in the basement accommodates 300 diners; the lodge room and dance floor of hard maple, on the top floor, is 60 by 80 feet, and has been used for large affairs, and on December 28, 1910, when the membership was up to 1,128, was the scene of the mortgage-burning banquet, with 600 diners seated, including offcers and members of many visiting Aeries, the ceremony of burning the $7,000 mortgage, as well as the entertainment being conducted by Worthy President William Mero. It is now the eleventh largest Aerie in existence, although Snohomish has a population less than 4,000. The present officers are: T. W. Leach, past president ; C. J. Kelleher, president; John T. Ore, vice president; Peter J. Moran, chaplain; M. J. Engeln, conductor; Percy R. Trubshaw, secretary; E. H. Lincoln, treasurer; Mark Campbell, I. G.; W. E. Webster, O. G.; Dr. C. E. M. Tuohy, physician; T. W. Leach, N. P. Hansen, C. H. Bakeman, trustees.

charter members in 1876, built its original Masonic Temple in 1877, but this pioneer fraternal home was razed in August, 1901, to make way for the new Masonic Temple, at the corner of Second Street and Avenue C, directly across the street from Odd Fellows hall. Forest Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen, was organized in 1882, with E. C. Ferguson as master workman and a charter membership of thirty-four.

Industrially Snohomish and its immediate tributary territory are rapidly growing in development and population, and the city is the logical and permanent trade and transportation center, having three main-line railroads and steamboat transportation on the Snohomish River, being situated only nine miles from the mouth of that singular stream, which is unique in this country in that it is but twenty miles in length up to the forks, where it loses its name and becomes the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers.

Snohomish industries include the sawmill and lumber finishing plant of the Cascade Lumber & Shingle Co., E. M. Stephens, president and manager; two creameries, milk condensery, fruit and vegetable cannery, cigar factory and minor industrial units. It has an hourly auto stage service to Everett and eight times a day to Monroe, and two main paved highways to Seattle, twenty-eight miles, also served by rail and water lines. The city has a bright future and is sure to enjoy steady, substantial growth.

The city has one of the largest meat-packing plants in the state and two creameries making over 300,000 pounds of butter annually. The city is headquarters and shipping center of the Snohomish County Fruit Growers' Association, which maintains a membership of 700 producers, and the two Snohomish banks have for a number of years showed combined deposits averaging more than $1,500,000.

Oil Prospects

Petroleum oil seepages and other recognized evidences confirmed by eminent geologists and experts have long been common in the immediate vicinity of the city, and in 1925 the Sol Duc Oil Co., Marcus E. Howard, president, began drilling with a rig capable of going down 6,000 feet; in July, 1926, the drill reached a depth of more than 3,200 feet, and the drilling was then temporarily suspended while a test hole is being drilled near the main hole, the company being confident that oil will be uncovered in commercial quantity. In August, 1926, the Machias Development Co., capital $23,000, contracted for a test well to be drilled at a point three miles east of Snohomish. Success in any of these projects would doubtless revolutionize industrial conditions in this part of Snohomish County, and, indeed, it would be difficult to find a city of its size with a more cheering present prosperity or a more assuring future outlook.

Everett Beginnings

NEW ERA COMES WITH EVERETT- - -PORT GARDNER PIONEERS - HABOLUM - WESTERN NEW YORK - DENNIS BRIGHAM FIRST - FIRST STORE AND SHIPYARD- - -EUGENE D. SMITH FOUNDS LOWELL - THE CITY OF DESTINY - THE GREAT GAMBLE - RUCKER BROTHERS ARRIVE - SWALWELL HOMESTEADS~ - RUCKERS' PLAT OF PORT GARDNER - HENRY HEWITT, JR., APPEARS - "THE FATHER OF EVERETT" - - -FATEFUL ALASKA VOYAGE - JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER INTERESTED - HEWITT AND RUCKERS UNITE - RUCKERS PROVE FAR-SIGHTED - GREAT INDUSTRIES PLEDGED - PAPER MILL TO LOWELL - PLANS CAMOUFLAGED - GREAT NEWS ANNOUNCED - RUSH TO EVERETT BEGINS - -EVERETT EXCITEMENT GROWS - FIRST SWALWELL ADDITION - WILD REAL ESTATE SPECULATION - EVERETT LAND COMPANY BEGINS SALES - "IT LOOKS LIKE BUSINESS' - RIVALS RIDICULE NEW CITY - SOLID PROGRESS MADE - WEYERHAEUSER'S FIRST VISIT - -BARGE WORKS LOCATES - WETMORE'S ILLFATED VOYAGE - PEN PICTURE OF CAPTAIN McDOUGALL - DESCRIPTION OF EARLY EVERETT - THE WETMORE TOWED TO ASTORIA - SAILORS' ACCOUNT OF VOYAGE - PAPER MILL BOOMS LOWELL - EVERETT'S MAGIC GROWTH - FIRST SCHOOL BOARD - PALATIAL HOTEL ERECTED - HEWITT AVENUE OPENED - COFFINS FOR COTS.

Like the Christian calendar, the history of Snohomish County divides itself into two periods - Before Everett and After Everett. The era Before Everett was a day of small things, limited undertakings, patient toil to make a home and earn a living. There can be no reflection upon the pioneers of the pre-Everett period in making this statement. They did the very best possible with the resources at hand and but for them it is quite possible that Everett would not have been. It is no wonder also that the old residents of the county were stunned as well as dazzled by this magic city which arose so quickly on the logged-over land on the narrow strip between the Snohomish River and the Sound, which few had thought worth while owning, and which had remained almost untouched save for the woodsman's axe while the rest of the county was growing and developing and bustling with the excitement attendant upon the coming of the railroads.

The miracle of Everett grows, too, as one considers the competition it had to face. Seattle, Tacoma, Whatcom, Fairhaven, Anacortes - every possible port along Puget Sound was bending all its efforts to secure even a part of that which came to the shores of old Port Gardner. No wonder there were heart-burnings and envy and derision for the "upstart" town. So must have felt the sisters of Cinderella when the Prince fitted the crystal slipper on her dainty foot. But let it be said to the credit of Snohomish County that for the most part Everett was made welcome and helped and applauded by the old-timers and that many of them joined to build the city, and stayed by it through thick and thin and are among its most honored citizens today.

Port Gardner Pioneers

There were a number of activities which clustered around Port Gardner in the early days. The store and hotel, and later the cannery and the deep-water harbor at Mukilteo may well be considered a part of Everett's beginning. The activities of the loggers centered at Priest Point, just across the river. Eugene D. Smith made Lowell his headquarters, but his logging camps were scattered over the peninsula. Dr. H. A. Smith had his home on an island at the mouth of the river and there held forth as the first physician in Snohomish County.

Preston Bros. had a store on the point on the Everett side of the Snohomish, this being called Habolum by the Indians and in the county records. The telegraph office, for years in charge of E. D. Kromer, was on the hill above the bay near where now stands the Weyerhaeuser Mill A. But during all these years, little or no attention was paid to the fact that Port Gardner had an almost perfect deepwater harbor. People who traveled' by canoe were more fond of shallow than of deep water, and the only craft which plied the Sound, save those which landed at Mukilteo, were the tiny boats that could navigate the river and thus reach the center of population at Snohomish.

Western New York

The very first man who seems to have had any conception of Port Gardner as a harbor for seagoing ships or as a center of possible commercial iniportance, was Jacob Livingston, who built the first steam sawmill in Snohomish County on Port Gardner, and on July 8, 1872, filed a plat of '""Western New York" which included the present location of the Great Northern oil tanks. There were thirteen blocks in this plat, but there is no record that any of the lots were sold, and the plat was vacated. The name "Western New York" is proof, however, that Livingston was a man with vision and that he must have foreseen the splendid city of today, although the time was not ripe and he had no means of making his dreams come true.

Dennis Brigham First

The first known settler on the site of what is now Everett was Dennis Brigham. Huis name appears in the census of Snohomish County taken in 1862, as then being fifty-five years old, one of the three oldest men in the county, and coming from Waster County, Massachusetts. He was unmarried throughout his life, and had his bachelor home at what is now the foot of California Street, near the Great Northern station. Some of the old fruit trees which he planted may still be seen there. The date of his homestead entry was November 3, 1876. One of his neighbors, from whom he borrowed money as the mortgage records show, was Erskine D. Kromer, who took a claim just to the south. Kromer came as operator and lineman for the around the world telegraph line which was built through into

Birdseye View Of Everett Townsite Office Of Brown Engineering Company

British Columbia, the extension of which was abandoned in 1867, but which remained in operation for a number of years. He died at Portland, leaving a wife and four children, August 31, 1885. His estate consisted of a cow, a horse, $129 in cash, notes and mortgages amounting to $1,975, and 147.55 acres of land in the heart of Everett, which was valued by J. H. Plaskett, the executor, at $900. The Neil Spithill claim was along the Snohomish River,; John A. Davis was located at Blackman's point, near the old Preston store; John King, who is said to have become deranged, owned the claim where the Robinson mill was later located; Ezra Hatch was near the site of the Great Northern tunnel, on Hewitt Avenue; Clark and Shears were two others who held squatters' claims upon portions of the Everett townsite.

First Store And Shipyard

John H. Hilton, who worked at Brown & Foster's camp, midway between Everett and Lowell, in 1865, homesteaded on Everett peninsula in 1872, starting with a frying pan and a coffee pot as his only possessions; but in December, 1873, he was married at the old Blue Eagle Hotel at Snohomish, to Susie, a daughter of John Elwell. Hilton was one of the landowners on the peninsula before the boom.

When the county was organized, the region about the mouth of the Snohomish was included in Mukilteo precinct, from which it was cut off to be included in Ebey precinct in 1865; the polling place being at the hotel kept by H. L. Bagley and J. D. Tullis. This establishment of hotel, store and bar was first opened by Bagley and H. A. Taylor at the mouth of the river, in 1863. Taylor sold his interest to Robert H. Lawrence in 1864, the name "Habolum" being used in the description, but Taylor remained in possession. Bagley sold his interest to Tullis, September, 1865, for $1,000, including hotel, storehouse and one dwelling; land for a shipyard, and one dwelling being leased to Bagley. It thus appears that the Habolum trading post was the first business establishment and the Bagley "shipyard" was the first manufacturing enterprise on the Everett townsite. Tullis sold to Paron C. and C. H. Preston, for whom the point was named. Benjamin Young took a claim, in 1868, on the main river where the Great Northern shops were located, and George Sines' claim covered the present site of the Eclipse lumber mill. Sines made but few improvements and devoted most of his time to making shingles. This fact was the basis for the later contest of the Sines claim, but the court held that he was clearing his land of the cedar from which he shaved his shingles. H. J. McCord was another shingle maker, whose claim was next to the Sines claim.

The above includes practically all the white inhabitants of the Everett peninsula prior to 1870, except the floating population of men employed in logging camps. Ebey Slough precinct was discontinued, being divided between the new precincts of Lowell and Packwood, the latter becoming Marysville precinct.

Eugene D. Smith Founds Lowell

Early records and early newspapers tell almost nothing of changes or acttvities in the Everett vicinity for many years. Travelers and excursionists down the river landed at Marysville or Mukilteo or Lowell, as there was nothing to attract them to the wooded peninsula. According to an affidavit filed some years later by E. C. Ferguson, Dennis Brigham sold his claim ta Eugene D. Smith, April 11,