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Snohomish Tidbits
Snohomish is located on the north bank of the Snohomish River in Snohomish County. The population of the community is about 9,000 people. The name Snohomish was first used on the plat that joined the eastern and western claims at Union Avenue in 1871. In 1859, pioneers filed claims on both sides of the river believing that the traffic on a new military road would pay a considerable amount for a ferry crossing service. However, a steady increase in steamship service brought supplies and the loggers to the camps all along the river, and family farmers followed. Snohomish served as the county seat for 36 years and grew to become the cultural and economic center of the county. A 26 long block of Snohomish has been listed on the National Register of historic places since 1973.
The first white pioneers in the region were three man named Edson Cady, Heil Barnes, and Egbert Tucker. These men made the 12-mile trek up the dark river that were parted by the thick forests of giant western red and Douglas-fir trees. Their mutual objective was to get to the mouth of the Pilchuck River, with the goal of staking claims on either side of the Snohomish River. This destination was determined by reading rudimentary maps when they were in the southern settlement of Steilacoom. Steilacoom was established in 1847 and was the location of the oldest military fort of the territory.
For some unknown reason, Edson Cady elected to establish a landing many miles downstream either because this new location was better for a ferry crossing or because of the Indian camp that was already established there. Mr. Cady applied for a post office permit in the name of Cadyville, which is currently known as Cady Landing. Mr. Cady also established a trail that headed east, and eventually crossed North Cascade Mountain Range at a location that is currently known as Cady Pass.
During this same period of time, Heil Barnes staked a claim for a man named Emory Ferguson next to Cady's claim to the west, where, on a high bank that faced the river, he assembled a small, prefabricated cottage, close to where it is currently located as a handsomely restored private home. In the meantime, across the river, Mr. Tucker sold his claim to an Englishman named John Harvey. In 1861, the Civil War began and the Regular Army abandoned both Forts Bellingham and Steilacoom and the government funds for the military road stopped, which left only a muddy trail through the woods and stopped at the edge of the river on the southern bank.
In 1841, Snohomish County was established. The population was no women and only 49 men. In 1865, Mr. Ferguson built and opened his Blue Eagle Saloon. By then the Cady clam was sold to Woodbury and Mary Sinclair who built a store that sold logging supplies across the steep path to the river. River travelers settled this place. In early Snohomish, there weren't any roads, only muddy, winding paths that had been cut through the woods.
Mr. Ferguson married a woman named Lucetta Morgan in 1868. In 1871, they platted their claim, and named the streets that ran north and south a letter and the streets that ran east and west a number. Then in 1872 Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, renamed the avenues of their eastern claim after trees. Mr. Sinclair died later that year and left Mrs. Sinclair to raise two children whose estate was now half owned by the recently named community. As guardian of the estate, her first official act was to donate three acres along the border of the Pilchuck River for the first cemetery that was formally governed by an association.
Mrs. Sinclair is considered to be the mother of the Snohomish School system, for donating property for the first public school and opening her home as the first classroom. Mrs. Sinclair became proficient in the indigenous dialects and languages because so many of the children that attended school in her home were of mixed marriages.
A man named Isaac Cathcart probably arrived in the settlement by following a footpath as opposed to arriving by steamship. Mr. Cathcart was a large Irishman, who immigrated in 1864 and was recently from Michigan. Mr. Cathcart worked in the county from 1869, and felled trees in the isolated logging camps. He arrived in the settlement in 1873 with sufficient funding to save the Exchange Hotel at the western end of the community. The hotel was located across the street from the unfinished Athenaeum building, which he eventually bought from the suddenly bankrupt society, and renamed it the Cathcart Opera House. Mr. Cathcart owned several large farms, a store, and a logging business by 1890. Eventually he became the wealthiest man in the county and also served as county treasurer.
The three Blackman brothers named Hyrcanus, Elhanan, and Alanson migrated to the west with their wives, named Francis, Ella, and Elizabeth to the fertile Snohomish River Valley after they had filed for bankruptcy in Bradley, Maine. There were numerous giant trees. They established their first logging camp on Stillaguamish Lake in 1875. Their first mill was located at an easy walk from their lakeside camp on the river, west of Avenue D.
By this time, Mr. Elhanan had invented a tripper shingle machine, which they used to start cutting shingles. This mill was producing ten million shingles every year within two years. The brothers introduced the first drying kiln, which was used to reduce the weight of the lumber.
The youngest brother, Hyrcanus, involved himself with the Civic affairs of the new settlement and also kept the books. In 1890 he won the first election for mayor of the newly incorporated community.
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