The History of Little Mountain Park

Little Mountain Park is one of those unexpected perks of living in Mount Vernon, WA. Even on a cold, misty, foggy morning escaping onto the well-maintained trails and ascending to one of the lookouts provides a much needed solace. Thanks to the Trail Builders Association that is constantly expanding and maintaining hiking and biking trails throughout the park, it is one of the gems of the town. For me, it has always been a favorite place for trail running with my girlfriends, mountain biking with my husband and hiking with our kids.

But until working on our book about the history of Mount Vernon, those giant cedar stumps were mere scenery; not clues into the history of our town. Now, however, I look at the area differently. I speculate about the exact location of English Lumber Company's Camp 5. I wonder where the giant trellises were built and what it would be like to cut down a giant cedar tree with a misery whip saw (although a piece of equipment dubbed "misery" is probably something I would want to avoid).


Back in May of this year we were asked to help gather some information relating to the history of the park for signs to be placed on Little Mountain with some photos for the parks department. With our mission clear, Jessica and I both assumed our now-traditional roles; I went to look for some photos and Jessica started digging around for information.

Here is what we found...

When Mount Vernon was created in 1877, it was in the middle of a vast forest and the idea of city parks would have seemed ludicrous. But when the popular Carpenter’s Creek area was logged off and subsequently devastated, it was obvious that some land required preservation. On January 16, 1924, citizens of Mount Vernon voted overwhelmingly (547 of 648 votes cast) that the city should purchase a park site.

Meanwhile, that same year, the English Logging Company, owned by town co-founder Edward G. English, donated 240-acres of land on and around Little Mountain to be preserved as park land. Unfortunately, it was discovered that the land had unpaid taxes of almost $1100 due. The City Council let Skagit County take over the land for unpaid taxes, hoping to buy it back at a tax sale for less than $1100. There is no record that the city ever paid the County any money for that land, but it is speculated that the Civic Club and other women’s groups in the city raised the money to get the land back on behalf of the city.

For over four years, Mr. Thomas K Chambers, his wife Nellie G. Chambers and the Women’s Club (of which Mrs. Chambers was president) worked toward not only securing the donated land for the park, but also arranging further adjacent land donations and purchases that eventually led to a 480-acre park. Some of the money was raised by salvaging huge cedar stumps from the shores of Carpenter’s Creek and selling the resulting cedar shingles. On March 20th, 1929, Mrs. Chambers presented the deed to the additional 240-acres to the City Council and was paid one dollar in return. She requested that the park be named “English Park”.

Thanks to Joan Fox, I was able to tap into the Roger Fox collection once again.

Camp 5 on the East Side.

One of those trellises we think on the south side of the mountain.

A steam donkey at Camp 5.

And the area is just as picturesque today...

How cool is this table in the new section acessible from the new East entrance?

Mushroom hunting and gathering anyone?

History in the Making

Last night we were both fortunate enough to be sitting safely at home when news came on the television that the I-5 Bridge had collapsed. Wow! If we were still working on the book we would have to include an image like this:

Thank goodness there were no fatalities!

But of course that isn’t the first bridge collapse in the area. Our thoughts drifted to the Great Northern freight train crash in 1903, just east of the current I-5. This photo was shared by Ed Marlow and can be found on page 39 of Mount Vernon:

An earlier derailment of a car transporting logs had weakened the bridge (kind of like a large truck apparently hit the I-5 Bridge and weakened that). The locomotive in the picture had just reached the south bank when the bridge collapsed and the cars pulled it back into the river. We love how this photo from yesterday mirrors the photo above:

When we were doing research for the book, we can’t tell you how many stories we heard about the rebuilding of the West Side Bridge in the 1950s (the current bridge was opened on November 4, 1954). There were tales of the long, circuitous route people had to take to simply get to the other side of town. Well we are pretty sure we are headed for an extended period of our own traffic troubles. Getting across the river to the shopping mecca of Burlington will be no small feat.

But for now we are simply grateful. Grateful that this was not a bigger tragedy. Grateful for the beautiful Skagit Valley. And grateful for the Riverside Bridge that will serve as our new link to the north.

Wait… What Month Is It?

How can it be MAY? Did we really not post for the entire month of April? Well, yes. But in our defense, April is a busy month around here. There was the tulip festival, our presentation at the library (which went great thank you very much), and two days of book signings during the Street Fair. Added to everything else in our lives, the blog got neglected once again.

As an apology, allow us to post a couple of photographs. These two images were taken by Bill Forman (courtesy of Mark Iverson), and they fall into our “mystery” category. All we know is that they are from 1946 and were labeled “County Engineers”. Where this is, and what this is, we do not have a clue! If anyone does know, we sure would love to hear from you.

We especially liked this up-close image, but without any information we couldn’t include this great shot in the book. It was so sad. Maybe in volume two...

I Bet You Would Have Said “Tulip”

We love old newspapers! We aren’t quite as fond of microfilm. Unfortunately, most of our journalistic research happens via the dreaded microfilm. But either way, film or paper, browsing through old newspapers is guaranteed entertainment!

Now that we are on the radar as “local historians”, we have gotten some other research opportunities to keep us busy (as if we needed help keeping busy). One current project involves a Mount Vernon park. We have a few key dates that we wanted to research; one was a town meeting in 1924 where the citizens voted to even HAVE parks. Can you imagine having a raging debate about whether to have parks or not? In the Argus the week before the meeting, we found notice of the meeting. But that wasn’t the main part of the article, the main article was talking about the town voting on an official flower. We found this particularly hilarious: “Come vote for an official flower! And while you’re there, we’ll talk about parks…” Don’t worry; those quotes are our paraphrasing, not anything actually written in the Arugs.

The next week (1/17/24) there was a front page article about, “A Big Vote for City Park Site”. The story stated: “A popular straw vote Saturday afternoon, selected the park site offered to the City of Mount Vernon by J.C. MacGinnitie and as the city council took this means of making a selection of a site, it is believed the proper steps will be taken to acquire this site.” Six hundred thirty votes were cast on the matter making it “one of the largest ever cast in the city.”

But what of the important flower issue? Well, if we asked you, we bet you might say “tulip!”. But remember, this was years before the tulip was cultivated heavily in the valley. No, the vote went to the calendula—167 of the 318 votes cast on the matter.

Do you know what a calendula is? Jessica will admit to having to google it (she is not a gardener), and felt it looked a little on the weedy side. Other contenders were the marigold (48 votes) and the Shasta Daisy (44 votes).

So congratulations calendula! Hold your head high while thousands of people come to town next month to visit the tulips instead.

Pineapples--More Than Tropical

Today we are proud to present a post by guest blogger and local photographer Beth Toberer. Welcome to the Mount Vernon History Project Beth!

Between bursts of torrential downpours are you fantasizing of a tropical getaway? So were the original architects of downtown Mount Vernon, who strategically placed a pineapple on the corner of 1st and Gates Streets in the early 1900s. Through the years, this fruit has attracted customers to shop at successful businesses that included a men’s clothing store, dress shop, ski shop, and more.

A century later, this architectural motif remains a symbol of hospitality and friendship in our town. It’s not a wonder that this corner building with two pineapple pillars houses successful businesses with hospitality at heart: Annie Mae Antiques Gifts and Collectibles, eccosDesign, Good Vibes Body Art, and Dilly Dally Antiques and Collectibles.

The pineapple is known as the “King of Colonial Fruits” (Levins 2004) and represents an era where social elements of culture revolved around entertainment in well-to-do homes with a focus on creative food display. The pineapple trade brought the fruit up from the Caribbean Islands into the American colonies in the 1800s. The success of this long journey, delivering fresh, ripe pineapples created status for families who could afford them and showcase them in their homes.

Pineapples are not native to the Caribbean, but were transported there by indigenous migratory cultures that brought them up from Central and South America for cultivation around the world. Symbolic representations of the pineapple have been found all the way back in pre-Inca ruins (Herbst 2001). Aside from their architectural, historic, and cultural significance, pineapples are a symbol of nature as they require hummingbirds for pollination.

The structure of Mount Vernon is being physically revitalized with a new open vision as it enters construction of Skagit River Walk Phase II. This great change comes with memories, symbols, and motifs of the past which will form new meaning as we engage in new experiences as a community. It’s too cold to grow pineapples here, but we can still buy them for just a few dollars and glancing at our local architecture is absolutely free. Moreover, the original symbolic meaning of the pineapple flows strong through the heart of Skagit County. We are abundant with hummingbirds, blooming native wildflowers, and still have wild salmon populations migrating right through our town. Above all, our sense of community continues to be built on the relationships that form through the hospitable nature of our residents, sharing of food, and resultant cultural blending that so naturally makes us human.

References:
Pineapple. 2008, April 2. New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:53, February 18, 2013 from: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Pineapple&oldid=682322.

Social History of the Pineapple. 2004. Levins, H. Retrieved February 18, 2013 from: http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html

The New Food Lover's Companion: Comprehensive Definitions of Nearly 6,000 Food, Drink, and Culinary Terms. Barron's Cooking Guide. Herbst, S. T. 2001. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 0764112589.

First Sighting!

We promise we will get back to posting interesting historical content…once we finish tooting our own horn. What can we say, we are excited! Today was our first sighting.

You can probably guess the location looking at the wonderful surroundings.

But for those of you who are not locals, it is Tri Dee Arts downtown.

Where In the World is Mount Vernon?

Well, we still don’t have our shipment yet, but a representative from Arcadia Publishing has been pounding the pavement looking for places to sell Mount Vernon. We are thrilled to announce that the book can currently be purchased at the following locations:

Ace Hardware
Tri-Dee Arts
Red Apple
Good Old Days Antiques
The Tattered Page
Skagit Valley Food Co-Op

We would like to thank all of these businesses for their support! Meanwhile, we are trying to get the book in a few other locations (some businesses have a longer approval process than others), so keep your eyes open!