North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: SKAGIT RIVER

Petit

Beyond Bacon Creek to the northeast (and into the national park) were other individuals who settled along the river, but little is known about them. While it is possible that most applied for homestead entry, only a few ever gained full title to the land. Their names do not appear on early survey maps or on subsequent maps issued by the USFS. The information that is available comes from oral histories by former upper Skagit residents.

Jackson was one such homesteader who lived on the south side of the Skagit River just below Alma Creek. Above Alma Creek was Charlie D. Petit's place, approximately two miles upriver from Bacon Creek, on the river's west bank (T36N R11E, Section 15). This was the first homestead reached after Bacon's place. Petit did apply for and receive a patented homestead in 1899. [83] Continuing upriver, two Indian brothers, John and Sam Enick (Enig?) had a place west of Damnation Creek, followed by a white settler named Benson. Benson lived directly below the Whatcom County line, along the Skagit River. No above-ground remains of these various homesteads are known to exist today. [84]