North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

EARLY SETTLEMENT IN WASHINGTON STATE: WEST SLOPE

Settlement trends on the west slope of the North Cascades reflect the early settlers' need to find accessible, suitable farm land, coupled with a desire to profit from the region's natural resources. From Puget Sound they headed inland, traveling east along the Nooksack and Skagit Rivers, penetrating the unknown country in search of opportunity.

Responding to an increasing population, the territorial government began dividing the state into counties. Whatcom County was established in 1857 and included 4300 square miles. As late as 1876, however, only 110 square miles of this land had been surveyed by the government for homesteading purposes. Although boosted by the gold fever of the 1850s, the population of Whatcom County remained small; in 1860, 352 white people lived in the county; by 1870, 534. [4] In the late 1870s there were still few white families living in Whatcom County. Rather, an assortment of vivid characters prevailed:

. . . the population heretofore being mostly adventurers, miners, etc. of all nationalities. This class of people would squat down on some of the numerous inlets along the Sound, build a cabin and plant a small patch of potatoes; logging some occasionally to get money to buy whiskey; a large portion of their time being spent in card playing and carousing . . . [5]

Settlement along the county's major waterway, the Nooksack River, occurred as early as the 1850s in areas near Puget Sound, but settlers did not reach the upper Nooksack region until the 1890s. [6]

Created from southern Whatcom County, the area that is today Skagit County (established in 1883) was slow in attracting settlers. There was a lack of government surveyed lands and, more significantly, an enormous natural log jam near the mouth of the Skagit River prohibited access and travel upstream. Settlers were forced to locate homesteads in the dense timber along the river banks below the jam. Not many did, and in 1876 it was noted that:

. . . settlement [was] confined to the bank of the river below the jam; two settlers had made locations eight miles above, where the bottoms appeared less liable to overflow . . . . Although there is known to be better locations further back [beyond the jam, to the east], the immigrant usually takes the first he comes to or the easiest to get at. There being no roads in this section (back into the interior) makes it rather expensive for a poor man to cut a road in . . . and . . . The only way at present to approach this section is by water . . . [7]

Once the log jam was cleared in the late 1870s, pioneers quickly moved up river, establishing the patterns of settlement still evident today along the Skagit. [8]

Primary settlement within the North Cascades followed three major watersheds: the Skagit and Cascade Rivers on the west side of the mountains, and the Stehekin River on the east. The greatest development occurred along the banks of the Skagit, with homesteads and towns, including Mount Vernon, Sedro Woolley, Lyman, Hamilton, Birdsview, Concrete, and Rockport, stretching from Puget Sound eastward into the foothills of the North Cascades.

Marblemount, established in the 1880s at the confluence of the Skagit and Cascade Rivers, was the easternmost of those communities. It first served as a supply base for miners arriving in the area, and eventually grew to support a larger community. [14] Homesteaders followed in the 1880s-90s mainly to service the supply needs of miners, but some with thoughts of filing a mineral claim or two themselves. Similar patterns occurred on the east side of the mountains, with Stehekin serving as the supply center for miners and homesteaders, it being the only easy access point to civilization in an otherwise remote wilderness.