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!

Random Picture Day

There was such positive response to last week’s photo that we decided to post another totally random shot. This was the first one to jump out at us:

The selection might be a subliminal message, after all this weekend IS Saint Patrick’s Day…

Today is Sunny, But is It Warm Enough for Ice-cream?

Anyone recognize this establishment?

It is the Dari Delite on Second Street. This photo was taken back in 1950!

Anyone else starting to crave a milkshake?

Pre-Order Your Mount Vernon Book Now!

More excitement today as we placed our first order from Arcadia Publishing! We can’t wait to get our books. And we are thinking/hoping some of you can’t wait either. Since we are pretty sure we know all twenty of the people who have been following our little blog here, we are even going to offer signed copies and personal delivery (don’t go crazy, we’re only talking Mount Vernon or Burlington customers). That’s right, no shipping AND authors bringing a book right to your door.

You know we would love to give everyone a killer discount, but we are contractually obligated to charge the cover price of $21.99. Add the 8.2% tax rate and your total will be $23.79 per book. We should have books ready to distribute on March 18th.

Starting to Feel Like Real Authors!

With the upcoming release of our book, we have turned to thoughts of events. We have officially booked our first gig! We will do a book signing at the Tattered Page during the Tulip Festival Street Fair (April 19-21). Exact dates and times still have to be nailed down, but you know we will pass along all the details as soon as we have the. Right now we are simply giddy over merely talking about “signings”. We are very excited and grateful to the Tattered Page for having us.

Oh Yes, It Is Real!

Today had a happy surprise in the mail—the first copies of OUR BOOK! We didn’t even know they were coming, and they aren’t set for release for almost three weeks, so it was a total shock. Taking a photo of the cover simply looked like the same old image we’ve been looking at for months, so Hunter helpfully modeled for us to prove that, look it is a real book you can hold in your hands.

Wow!

It was such a great feeling to see one, what is it going to feel like when we see piles and piles of them?

Famous Folks From Our Town

When we first approached this project, there were a million ideas running through our brains about what to include in the book. We were all over the map. But ultimately the photographs steered the project, regardless of all our grand plans. One of our first ideas was to include some famous residents. But then who do you include, who do you leave out, how do you define “famous”? Eventually we decided that wasn’t a road we wanted to travel, and we needed the space for other things anyway. But, once again, blog to the rescue! This is a place we can profile some of those famous folks, no problem.

This week, in honor of winter and ski season, we would like to talk about Craig Kelly. Don’t know Kelly? Then you probably aren’t a snowboarder. In the late 1970s, Fulton’s Schwinn Cyclery in Mount Vernon attempted to sell snowboards. They did not sell. Eventually they were turned into rentals. They were not rented. Finally the owner’s son, Jeff Fulton, commandeered the four boards and headed to Mount Baker with three other friends. Fulton, Dan Donnelly, Eric Swanson and Craig Kelly, all from Mount Vernon, were the first to snowboard at Mount Baker Ski Area. They were on the forefront of an amazing new sport.

Kelly was a natural talent on a snowboard. He was already an accomplished BMX racer and a chemical engineering student at the University of Washington before becoming a world champion snowboarder. He was one of the first sponsored, professional snowboarders. During his fifteen-year professional career he won four world championships and three U.S. championships. He also won the Mount Baker Banked Slalom three times. As the sport became more popular he was featured in several commercials and appeared in seven Warren Miller films.

Eventually he retired from his professional career to devote himself to backcountry riding and guiding. He also continued to work with his old sponsor, Burton Snowboards, on design and development. According to owner Jake Burton, “When I started listening to Craig that was when my company became successful and really took off.… when the rest of the industry listened to Craig, that was when the sport really took off.” In 2011 Burton dedicated its prototype facility in Kelly’s name.

Kelly died on January 20, 2003 in an avalanche near Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada while guiding two groups of backcountry adventurers who were heli-skiing on a glacier.

If you want to learn more about this boarding legend, or just see a little video, check out this preview to “Let It Ride: The Craig Kelly Story”.

Scenes

Recently we have been revisiting our scanned photographs. There are so many fabulous images! While the images in the book hold a special place in our hearts, there are so many others we didn’t include—it is enough to make us want to write another book! Sadly, lack of information was often a cause of an image not making the book. Of course if we had had unlimited information, choosing what to include and what to leave out would have been a Herculean task! Perhaps we should be grateful…

Here is a gem we know nothing about:

We scanned this from John Kamb Jr.'s collection. We simply adore the composition; the “slice of life” vibe from people who don’t know they are in the camera’s eye. Sadly, we didn’t know much about it so it was left behind.

And in this so-far-snowless winter (for us anyway), Big Snow pictures are catching our eye. There was a massive snowstorm that hit Mount Vernon back in 1916, and the book has a few photographs from then (can you image ice-skating on Skagit River?!?); this one didn’t make it.

It is still great, but we had to make an executive decision.

Never fear photos, we love you all! 

The Taft Connection

Mount Vernon has a small connection with our Nation’s 27th President. In October of 1911, William Howard Taft paid a visit to the town. On page 52 of the book you will see a photograph of him giving a speech near the train station. In addition to that, downtown’s largest hotel (at a whopping five stories tall!) was renamed The President in honor of the fact that Taft stayed there during his visit.

We also mention the rumor, which was repeated to us by several sources, that Taft got stuck in a bathtub while at, what was then, the Windsor.

Imagine our surprise when we came across this article today! Apparently the bathtub rumor was a national urban legend. It is not surprising, after the passage of about a hundred years, that this legend was given a little home town spin. We would venture that many places across the country thought that rumor was all about them.

And Taft seems to be everywhere these days (we’re such trendsetters!). Just the other night ESPN was reporting about Taft being the newest President to join the National’s Presidents’ Race. Interestingly, he does have some ties to baseball. In 1910 he threw out the first-ever ceremonial first pitch. And he is often credited with starting the seventh inning stretch. It seems like a good choice for the Nationals, but we feel kind of bad for the person that will have to run around in that extra-giant head…

Celebrate!

After many iterations of reading, rereading, correcting and approving, today Senior Production Editor Ryan Easterling wrote to us:

...I have completed all my final checks regarding the book and have prepared it for the printer. You can consider this your official “you are done” email. Congratulations!...

YEAH!!! It is a huge relief to finally be in the printing stage. It seemed like this day wound never come. And now, here it is! We almost don’t know what to do with ourselves. Now what?

Hopefully, since all our deadlines were met, the book should be released on the originally planned date of March 18th. It is going to feel phenomenal to hold the finished product in our hands.

Do You Know Legson Kayira?

We did not. We were introduced to the saga of this amazing man by a librarian at Skagit Valley College. His story is remarkable and, unfortunately, not part of our book. To begin with, we did not have a photograph, but we didn’t put much effort into finding one because there is no way in the world we could have done justice to his story in a mere caption.

A quick Google search will lead to the article “Legson Kayira, the first Malawian novelist, has died”, he recently passed away at the age of 70. But being a famous novelist isn’t the best part of his story. No the best part was his struggle to reach the United States. He worked and walked his way 2500 miles across Africa, from his native village of Mpale in Nyasaland (now Mawali).

In October of 1958, Kayira set out on foot with only the clothes on his back, a few handfuls of flour, a Bible and a copy of “Pilgrim’s Progress”. By January 1960, he had reached Kampala, Uganda. There he learned about an “American free library” (the United States Information Service). He went there almost daily and one day discovered a directory of American colleges and universities. Opening the book at random, the first name that caught his eye was Skagit Valley College. He airmailed a letter of application to the junior college, hoping for the best. “I had no idea where the state of Washington was,” he said, “but I said to myself, ‘If this college does not answer, I shall try another.’” Two weeks later he got a response. Not only was he admitted, but he was also eligible for a scholarship and the college would help find him a job.

Unfortunately there was still the matter of getting to the United States. He would also have to secures a passport and visas—a difficult task for a boy who did not have any official papers. Luckily he was aided by a former mission teacher and obtained a Nyasaland passport before continuing his journey on September 1, 1960. On September 26, 1960, he walked into the U.S. embassy in Khartoum, Sudan and applied for a visa. The U.S. Vice-Counsel, Emmett M. Coxson explained that U.S. law required foreign students to have either financial means or sponsors. He wrote to Skagit Valley College:

“Mr. Kayira is walking and hitchhiking from his home to the college—approximately halfway around the world. So far he has traveled about 2500 miles, and he appears undaunted by the prospect that his journey has barely begun. My first reaction was that I should tell him to go back home. After seeing what he has done, however, my conscience will not allow me to drop the affair without first satisfying myself that there is indeed no hope.”

The community of Mount Vernon rallied. Students and townspeople raised funds (eventually $1700) to bring Kayira to the United States. William and Martha Atwood of Mount Vernon airmailed an invitation for Kayira to live in their home as long as he studied at Skagit. On December 20, 1960, he arrived at the Skagit Valley College campus.

Initially he majored in physics, but switched to political science, earning his associates degree from Skagit Valley College in 1963. From there he went on to get a B.A. in political science from the University of Washington in 1965. Then he went to England on a two-year scholarship for graduate studies at St. Catherine’s College of Cambridge University. Kayira wrote several novels, but one of his best-selling works was his 1965 autobiography, “I Will Try”.

Tricksy History

Here is another photograph we simply love:

But, luckily as it turns out, it is not in the book. We excluded it based on a hunch. Once we had some free time on our hands we researched the matter further and breathed a heavy sigh of relief that we listened to our nagging feeling of doubt…

What you will find in the book are mentions of Mount Vernon’s Pioneer Flag. Again, it is a story that couldn’t be explained fully in the confines of captions, but we manage to cover the most important points about this amazing piece of history. If you haven’t seen it, take a trip to the courthouse. After walking in the front door and through security, take a sharp left and you will see a huge display case on the left wall holding this treasure. The display box covers most of the wall. And the flag is so massive that you can only see a small section of it—the rest is folded behind what is visable.

On the opposite wall are two framed write-ups about the flag. One in particular has some great historical details:

Almost half a century ago the one hundredth anniversary celebration of our National Birthday was approaching. The settlers, about seventy-five in number, who lived in and near Mount Vernon, the pioneer village on the banks of the Skagit River, were planning a celebration. John Lorenzy said to Ed English that it would be the first Fourth of July he had ever celebrated without a flag. They decided there must be a flag but there was none to buy. So the Clothier-English store ordered the bunting at a cost of about seventy-five dollars, for a large flag that was to be 24x36 feet with stripes 18 inches wides. Charles Towne cut out the stars, and for several days all the ladies of the neighborhood gathered in the parlors of the Hotel, the old Ruby House. Mrs. McNamara and Mrs. Papin served the lunches to the following who sewed: Mrs. Minerva Kimble, Mrs. Clarinda Gates, Mrs. Dennis Storrs, Mrs. George A. Hartson, Mrs. J. F. Dwelley and Mrs. Schott. They used the first sewing machine in the community to do the stitching. To celebrate the completion of the making of the flag, they and their friends held a picnic in the spruce grove on the Kimball farm just south of Mount Vernon.

According to local historian Dick Fallis, “One problem with this account is that the Ruby House did not come into existence until 1879, concurrent with the gold excitement at Ruby Creek, some distance up the Skagit River beyond the jam that had not yet been cleared away by the earlier date.” (from Bridgeside: Selected Stories of Dick Fallis Skagit County Historian, available at the Skagit County Historical Museum.)

Now, the flag in the photograph above clearly has the 48-star pattern that did not exist until July 4, 1912. A flag made in 1876 would have had a 37 or 38-star pattern. Since the flag was not put away until 1914, it is possible that they might have updated the stars. Did people do that? Good question. That put the first seed of doubt in our minds. The other thing is that big flags were a big deal back then—it seems like every community had one. Therefore this could have easily been some other community’s flag. Even though we were told this was Mount Vernon's Pioneer Flag, we decided to err on the side of caution and omit the picture.

Interestingly, the document quoted above isn’t referenced, but seems to have been written shortly after the flag was placed in its permanent display case (Armistice Day, November 11, 1924). But it does state that “The last star sewed on the flag represents the admission of Colorado as a state.” Clearly that would eliminate the flag shown above, but there is still a mystery...

Once Colorado was admitted, the U.S. flag had a 38-star pattern, like this:

Looking at the flag in the courthouse, it is possible to see only the lower two rows of stars. There are seven in each row and they are offset from one another (pardon the lack of a photo, but the glass case and dark hallway aren’t conducive to good photography). That would indicate a 43-star pattern like the one seen here:

And that would make since—add the star for your home state! So perhaps the stars were updated. But that does contradict the document posted across the hall from the flag. Even the most seemingly cut and dried history can turn up some mysteries! Now what we wouldn’t give to see a good photo of the flag before it was put on display...

Crunch!

That would be a time crunch! But first off, welcome back! It has been far too long since we’ve posted. We apologize, but it was a lethal combination of busy lives and not much action on the book-front. Once everything was shipped off and we started getting distracted by other things, the blog suffered.

Then why now? Because on Wednesday we got our book proofs from Arcadia!

Wow! How fantastic to see everything put together and laid out in one book-like package. It truly was mind-blowing. It was also a very proud moment. We created this!

But quickly we had to snap back to reality and get to work. We only have seven days to correct and return the proofs. There was some frantic research and lots of reading and rereading and discussing. It was also nice to read through the entire manuscript after not working on it for such a long time. We had been able to put everything behind us at the end of September. It was good to read and think about how we would make improvements and what little words or phrases we simply didn’t like. It was refreshing and we feel like the book is now even better. Yes, it has been a hectic week with lots of unexpected work (we didn’t know when we were getting our proofs, they simply appeared one day), but we are excited to get everything returned and see the final approval set in the near future.

We are also going to get better about blogging. Promise. We have to do something to help vent our excitement about our upcoming book release!