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Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
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A bitter dispute over character defamation concludes in a double shooting and a frantic manhunt in the woods near Ferndale.
“Guildy had the young man arrested for assault and battery... Guildy was very angry, and said to ex-Sheriff Leckie and others that as he could not get justice under the law he would have to shoot the Mayfield family down like dogs.”
After months of anonymity, the murder victim discovered on the Ferndale Diagonal road has been identified as Samuel McCauley, a family man and Mason from Barniston Island.
“The excitement had all died away and it was supposed that the unfortunate man would, like so many others, be buried unknown.”
A routine land-office inquiry near Ferndale revived the story of John Guildy, who shot two members of the Mayfield family and was then hunted down and killed by a nine-man posse.
“Every one of the nine pursuers then fired at Guildy, and he fell back fairly cut to pieces.”
N. V. Sheffer, Whatcom County’s oldest living pioneer, brought his donkey cart to Ferndale’s old-settlers’ reunion—and told why he stopped speaking in public in 1854.
“Since that time Mr. Sheffer has always declined to talk in public for fear of another eruption.”
After a bitter divorce and years of estrangement, a near-fatal mining accident brings an elderly couple back together.
“The knot severed by the courts was retied and the happy old couple have returned to the quiet little home.”
A bungled opium bust and a wild chase through the woods turned an everyday commuter trip into a farce.
“He then demanded a free ride as compensation for the fun he had afforded and was much disgusted when the request was refused.”
84-year-old pioneer N.V. Sheffer sets off on a donkey-drawn cart to reunite with his childhood rival, Ezra Meeker, at the Ferndale settlers' picnic.
“Ezra had the reputation in spelling, but Sheffer could put it all over him in a fist fight, and he believes he can do it yet.”
W. N. Roberts was planning how to bring down a hung tree when it fell on him—a sudden death in the woods north of Ferndale.
“One of the projecting branches struck him, producing death almost instantly.”
A peaceful encounter between a child and a wild animal in the forests near Ferndale highlights the proximity of wilderness to the early settlements.
“She threw it to the beast; it ate the bread, took another look at the child and quietly disappeared.”
A Ferndale doctor's experiments convince the federal government that Puget Sound can out-produce Europe's linen fields — and New York capital starts paying attention.
“Whatcom county can lay claim to having raised the first flax crop in the state of Washington.”
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