North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: SKAGIT RIVER

Davis (Davis Ranch, Cedar Bar)

Davis homestead being cleared and a cabin under construction, 2 October 1907.
(USFS-Mt. Baker-Sedro Woolley photo file)

A short distance above Goodell's Landing the grand and rugged wilderness of the North Cascades was apparent: "The river . . . passes through the great Box Canyon [site of Diablo Dam today], and there is [sic] no bottom lands at all on either bank. The great towering mountains come right down to the water's edge." [105] Despite this less than hospitable description three homesteads were established along the upper river beyond Dohne's roadhouse between 1885 and 1898. Although all three were "improved" by their owners as required by the June Act -- cabins constructed and land cleared for agricultural use -- only one was ever filed for and declared a valid homestead.

That homestead belonged to Mrs. Lucinda J. Davis and her three children, sons Frank and Glee and daughter Idessa. The family had originally established a homestead along the Cascade River when they arrived in the area in 1890. [106] After the devastating Cascade River flood of 1897 destroyed their home and property, Mrs. Davis relocated her family to the upper Skagit River, to a site eight miles above Goodell's Landing known as Cedar Bar.

To reach Cedar Bar (in the vicinity of Diablo today) the Davis family had to travel on foot, as the river was not navigable beyond Dohne's. Walking along the north bank of the Skagit, they encountered the infamous Goat Trail within four miles of Goodell's Landing. This trail, built in the 1890s, began at Gorge Creek and was notoriously treacherous. [107] Untold numbers of miners followed this narrow and precipitous route to reach the Ruby and Thunder Creek mines.

The Davis family's first house at Cedar Bar, built in 1898.
(Callahan Collection, Seattle)

However dangerous the Goat Trail was to travel, the Davis family's decision in selecting Cedar Bar as a homesite was a shrewd one. Not only was there a perpetual water source nearby (Stetattle Creek) and potentially good soil for a garden, but Cedar Bar was eight miles from Dohne's and a logical place to open another roadhouse. It was a reasonable distance for a traveler to achieve in a day if on foot and carrying a load. It did not take many years for the "Davis Ranch" to become an established stopping place for hundreds of miners and other travelers heading into the North Cascades.

Davis Ranch at Cedar Bar, n.d.
(Callahan Collection, Seattle)

When the Davis family arrived at Cedar Bar in 1898, son Frank built the family's first home (T37N R13E, Section 7). On a small clearing near the Skagit River, Frank erected a cabin of logs and split fir boards, incorporating into it what remained of an old trap house which had been built on the site by Charlie Moses, a Skagit Indian, years before. [108] This house was used by the family seasonally until 1900. Each April they would travel upriver from Mount Vernon where they spent the winter, and stay on the Skagit homestead until early November when winter weather forced them back downriver.

The same year the house was built, Lucinda Davis began a backcountry operation. Recorded in the roadhouse's guest register (still in family hands) are the names of visitors and their home cities and towns. Of the 220 travelers who stopped at the roadhouse between June and November 1898, many were familiar residents of Marblemount and upriver. Hurd, Barrett, Leach, McAllister, Marchand, Bacon, Pettit, and USFS Ranger Calvin Farrar were some of the locals who patronized the Davis place that first year. Others represented more distant communities such as Baker, Hamilton, Mount Vernon, LaConner, Blaine, Bellingham, Everett, and Seattle. Travelers from as far away as Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York City registered at the Davis roadhouse. One visitor, a miner named Melville Curtis, maintained a diary, religiously recording his daily activities from the August day he left his home in Anacortes to the September day he returned. Beginning in 1898, Curtis never failed to stop at the "Cedar Bar Hotel" en route to and from the Slate Creek mining district. [109]

The roadhouse was host to another season of visitors in 1900, including miner Jack Rowley and the well-known Northwest photographer Darius Kinsey. It was also the year two guests burned the house down. Free Hendrickson and Earnest Holdman stopped at the roadhouse to spend the night on October 25, while the Davises were downriver with their stock at William Thornton's ranch. Whether the fire that resulted was accidental or malicious remains uncertain, but the house was destroyed. Lucinda wrote in her diary on October 27 that she had lost $600 worth, "besides things beyond money value."' [110]

So as not to forfeit the next summer s trade, the family built a new house within a year. They constructed a larger building and located it farther back from the Skagit River in a grove of fir and cedar trees. [111] Back in business, the 1901 roadhouse registered 300 guests for that season; in 1902, the Davises remained open until mid-December and had a total of 402 guests that year; in 1903, 414 people had stayed overnight or taken meals at the well-established Davis Ranch.

Lucinda Davis (left) with guests outside her Cedar Bar ranch.
(Callahan Collection, Seattle)

The popularity of the Davis Ranch stemmed from both its prime location along the Skagit River trail and its various services. Throughout the summer Lucinda had fresh milk from their cows, vegetables from the garden, apples from the thriving orchard, and homemade fruit pies, all made available to the hungry visitors. [112] Beds were provided for those needing overnight accommodations. Despite a 1906 USFS ranger's inspection report which painted an unpleasant picture of the roadhouse, the growing number of guests year after year attests to the fact that the ranch was a fine stopping place for clean beds and satisfying meals, a respite from the rigors of mining life and backcountry travel. [113]

In response to their success, the Davises built a third and larger house at Cedar Bar in 1907. This house was a gable-roofed, wood-framed structure, 1-1/2 stories in height, 3 bays wide, with a veranda supported by log posts. A sign above the porch read "Davis Ranch-Meals and Beds," letting those unfamiliar with the place know what they could find there. Years later the roadhouse would be described as "a mecca in a wilderness of gaunt mountain crags, evergreen forests and 'white water.' There are fruit trees, chickens, farm tools, a radio, electric lights, a comfortable farmhouse built of hand-hewn lumber," and there was an air of "thrift and contentment everywhere." [114]

Indeed, the small family homestead had evolved considerably over the years. The house itself grew to 11 rooms by 1917, and was filled with hand crafted furniture. Every board in the house, the outbuildings, the power plant, and the 2,000-foot water flume which irrigated the garden, had all been cut by hand with an ax or draw knife, using timber from Cedar Bar. None of the wood on the ranch had been commercially sawn. Even the kitchen range had been made by hand. Using old iron scraps from an abandoned mining camp on Thunder Creek, Frank connected all the pieces with handmade metal rivets, resulting in a stove Lucinda "wouldn't trade . . . for all the enameled ones I ever saw pictured in the catalogs." [115]

Using their own ingenuity, the Davises supplied power to their wilderness home. Originally they had only gas and kerosene lamps supplying their ranch with light. In the 1920s, however, the family built a log dam on Stetattle Creek, and constructed a wooden flume which carried water from the creek a half mile to a wooden turbine. This turbine ran a generator which supplied the house with direct current. A wood—shaked, gable—roofed structure was built to house the workings of this early power plant. [116]

Besides working diligently to improve life on the homestead, Glee and Frank both sought employment elsewhere to supplement the family income. In 1896 Frank was hired to assist a mining crew in building a dam on Ruby Creek. Frank was also employed for a time by the U.S. Geological Survey, checking water depths in Thunder Creek and the Skagit River at various stream gauging stations. Periodically, the USFS hired the brothers to do trail work and fire fighting. In 1916 Glee Davis built the first fire lookout in the Skagit Ranger District atop Sourdough Mountain, cutting down all the necessary wood at Cedar Bar and packing it up the ridge on horses along a trail he built. In the 1920s Glee worked as a carpenter for Seattle City Light. [117]

When the Forest Homestead Act passed in 1906, the Davises applied for homestead entry on the land they had significantly improved. None of the area surrounding the ranch had been officially surveyed, a prerequisite for filing a claim. Glee Davis undertook the survey of Reflector Bar, part of the original family claim of 100 acres, himself. But the USFS decided the land was needed for a ranger station, and withdrew much of this land from homestead entry in 1908 for use as a ranger station. [118] This left the Davises sixty acres upon which to file a homestead claim. For several years the USFS debated the validity of the Davis claim, sending various rangers to the property to evaluate it. The USFS eventually recommended that the remaining 60 acres be reduced to 43, claiming the other 17 acres were timberlands not eligible under the June Act. Finally, after many heated conversations and much lengthy correspondence between the family and the USFS, the 43-acre Davis claim went to patent in 1910. Final papers giving the Davises full title to their land were not signed until seven years later, in 1917. [119]

The controversy over ownership of their land did not end here for the Davis family. That same year, 1917, was also the year Seattle City Light (SCL) acquired rights to develop a hydroelectric project of immense proportions in the upper Skagit valley. Although SCL's initial operations began at Newhalem, well below the Davis homestead, they continued to expand development. City Light applied for a railroad right-of-way and obtained permits from the USFS to construct additional dams along the Skagit. All this activity for the benefit of Seattle electric customers resulted in City Light's condemnation of the entire Davis Ranch in 1928.

Although mining in the North Cascades had subsided years earlier, the Davis roadhouse had continued rather successfully catering to increasing numbers of tourists and fisherman in the region. The Davises argued with SCL that the ranch was not only their home and farm for almost two decades, but that it had become an established business operation and a valuable asset to their existence. With this argument clearly stated, they sought $40,000 from City Light for damages resulting from the condemnation of their property. [120] In the hearings and condemnation proceedings that followed, the family realized they were no match for the monolithic electric company. In 1929, the last trial was held and, despite Glee's appeal to the State Supreme Court, City Light succeeded in acquiring the Davis homestead for $15,000. [121]

The Davises left their homestead for the last time in 1929 and moved to Sedro Woolley. For many years the Davis Ranch remained intact at Cedar Bar, used by City Light to house employees and guests. The buildings were removed in the 1950s when the dammed waters of the Skagit River finally began to flood the property. City Light did salvage the old Davis power house, moving it to a new location and replacing deteriorated wood in the shake roof and water wheel. [122] It can be seen today in present-day Diablo, enshrined behind a fence, and heralded as the first hydroelectric plant on the Skagit. In actuality, it is the only vestige from the past that evidences the existence of the Davis family homestead on Cedar Bar. Ironically, when Glee Davis was asked later why the family had homesteaded in the remote upper Skagit valley, he responded: "It was the freedom, I guess. We had the run of the mountains. There was nobody much to bother you." [123]