North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: SKAGIT RIVER

Bacon

Bacon Creek marks the entrance to the national park complex along the Skagit River corridor. The creek's name commemorates a prospector and early homesteader of the upper Skagit, Albert Bacon, who came in 1879 to placer mine Ruby Creek. Like so many others, he stayed on after the mining rush subsided and established himself as an expert canoeman on the upper river. Bacon s homestead was located approximately 1/7 mile upstream of Bacon Creek; Huey Bacon (relationship unknown) had a place across the creek to the east. [77] The actual location of either Bacon claim and the extent of their improvements is not known. Albert Bacon died in 1897 when the canoe he was guiding along the Skagit tipped, spilling its occupants into the water. Bacon drowned while trying to save the lives of the other travelers. [78]