North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: SKAGIT RIVER

Marblemount

In 1891 the Marblemount column of the Washington Farmer declared:

. . . shut in as we are on four sides by the lofty peaks of the Cascade range, the sun never shines full upon us until he has reached his meridian -- yet such is the desireability [sic] of land in this favored region that almost every day brings its immigrants seeking homes. [54]

Much of this home-seeking activity initially centered around Marblemount because of its favored position at what was the portals of two developing mining districts and its location at the end of the Skagit River trail until the 1890s. Above Marblemount to the north, settlement along the Skagit became increasingly scattered. GLO maps from the 1890s reveal the names and locations of homesteaders, as well as other cultural and natural features. But the ruggedness of the terrain beyond the banks of the river left much of the land "mountainous and unsurveyed." Government surveyors were instructed not to map any township and range sections too difficult to traverse or unfit for cultivation. [55] Consequently, the area along the Skagit River north and east of Newhalem (T37N R12E Section 21) was never mapped by early surveyors and information regarding homesites in that area is scarce. Often, the name of a creek is the only evidence that a pioneer once lived nearby.

These early survey efforts by the government included some of the first detailed descriptions of the upper Skagit region. In 1895 Lew A. Wilson, U.S. Deputy Surveyor for the GLO, examined the Skagit above Marblemount (T35N R11E) and noted that it was

a well timbered and well watered township. The valleys along Skagit River-Bacon Creek and Diobsud (Creek) are very fertile - though generally very narrow. As fire has swept through the Bottoms a large portion of the valuable timber has been destroyed. [56]

A small portion of the land included within today's park was mapped in 1906, in conjunction with the Forest Homestead Act and the efforts to stop the indiscriminate settlement of government land. A surveyor's 1906 observation of the western boundary of today's park remains accurate eight decades later:

The region . . . is very rough and mountainous; consisting of deep, impassable gorges, lofty divides and snow capped peaks. It is the foothills of Mount Shuksan, a region of perpetual snow, traversed by great ice fields and glaciers. There is not an acre adapted to agriculture. [57]

During this same time, the Skagit River was surveyed between Thornton Creek and Newhalem (T37N R12E), but again, three quarters of the township and range were recorded as "mountainous-unsurveyed." [58]

Of the ten known homesteaders who settled along the upper Skagit River corridor and within the boundaries of the present-day park, all but three filed homestead claims between 1899 and 1910 in order to obtain full title to their land. Only a few were actually declared legitimate homesteads under the requirements of the June Act. Over time the squatters abandoned their efforts, reluctantly returning their land to the federal government. The USFS firmly exercised its right to administer the law, which included the removal of illegal squatters from the national forests. On one occasion in 1918, Ranger Tommy Thompson accompanied a U.S. Marshal who boarded over windows and "fastened up"' a house on an illegal claim, posting signs warning trespassers to keep their distance. [59] It is unlikely that such drastic measures became common occurrence in the upper Skagit region. The USFS did, however, generally regard settlers on forest lands as potential problems. In interpreting the homestead laws and determining which homesteads were valid under these laws, the USFS was strict and rarely offered leniency of any kind. Perhaps this attitude toward homesteaders explains why patented acreage recorded in the Skagit drainage between 1906 and 1913 totaled only 500. [60]

Ferry crossing Skagit River at Marblemount, n.d.
(Callahan Collection, Seattle)

Settlement on the upper Skagit River was confined to its banks and principally along the north side where the only trail to penetrate the trackless wilderness had been located by early miners. Beginning at the confluence of the Cascade and Skagit Rivers, the 1894 GLO map shows the homesite of "J. Russner" (John), a miner who worked claims on Thunder Creek, and to the north, the town of "Marble Mount'" is indicated by a house and store. [61] Across the Skagit, William Barrett (also spelled Barratt) owned a sizable piece of land that was bounded by both rivers. In 1891 Barrett planned to open a hotel ''for the accommodation of prospectors and mining men. " [62] The large, wood frame building Barrett built on this site is standing today and known locally as the Boarding House. [63]

There were other individuals in the vicinity of Marblemount attracted more to the mining opportunities than to homesteading possibilities. Renny Durand (also known as Remi and Jack), Jack Jackman, and Joe Cozier were all associated with mining developments in the North Cascades. In 1891, Jackman and Cozier built a large hotel on ground they purchased from Renny Durand, ". . . in anticipation of the lively times expected in the Cascade mining district the coming prospecting season." [64] Its location is not known. Durand also planned a townsite in 1891 but this site and whether it was ever platted remains unknown. He did file a homestead entry on land just west of Marblemount (T35N R10E, Section 12) which was patented in 1891. [65] Durand was a well-known and well-liked miner, trapper, and hunter who worked the Colonial Mine on Colonial Creek, and elsewhere along Thunder Creek for over two decades. Years after his untimely death in 1915 he is still remembered through his association with two log structures: Log Cabin Inn, still standing in Marblemount, built in 1889 by Durand and Henry Martin, and a backcountry log cabin he constructed along Thunder Creek in the 1890s. Known locally as Middle Cabin, this structure was situated along the old mining trail and was used over the years by prospectors and hikers for shelter until it was razed in the 1970s by the National Park Service. Today, the site of Durand's cabin goes unnoticed by the general passerby; it has become a study section for the park's revegetation program and only the keenest eye can detect the cabin's former location. [66]