North Cascades

MARKETING THE WILDERNESS: DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

TRAPPING AND THE FUR TRADE

West Side

A number of individuals trapped on the west side of the Cascades, along tributaries of the Skagit River. John McMillan, a miner who settled on Big Beaver Creek, was one of the first to run trap lines in the winter along that drainage and along the Skagit River in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. [12] McMillan built a log cabin on Little Beaver Creek between today's Perry and Stillwell hiker camps. [13] After McMillan died in 1922, friends continued to live on his ranch. One was Miles Garrett, who attempted to box-trap marten there for two to three years; his venture proved unsuccessful. [14] Frank Oakes was a homesteader along Bacon Creek who trapped for a living up that drainage. He too had a trapping cabin which was built farther up Bacon Creek. Other individuals known to be seasonal trappers in the early days included Jack Durand, who trapped Thunder Creek and the Cascade River; Gilbert Landre; Isaac La Rush, who trapped Thunder Creek extensively for several winters; and Milt Hickerson. [15]

In the 1930s only one or two people were trapping in the upper Skagit valley. A man named Frank O'Brien trapped in the vicinity of Hozomeen Creek and Lightning Creek during this time. [22] More than likely Seattle City Light (SCL) personnel working on the Skagit hydroelectric project trapped along the upper Skagit periodically. This area was once known to contain many beaver but in later years poachers decimated the animal population. The State Game Department made an effort to revive the lost beaver population by live-trapping beaver (in other areas) and transplanting them. At an earlier time beaver had been transplanted from the east side of the mountains in Canyon Creek (near Slate Creek) and made their way down into Ruby Creek. [23]