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Thousands flocked to Lynden for a massive holiday celebration, proving that a 'dry town' could pull off a rowdy, successful event without a single fight or arrest.
“Lynden demonstrated that a 'dry town' can pull off a 'live' celebration.”
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
“Our diligent deputy sheriff ran in three unfortunates, Saturday, for killing Chinks.”
A look at the origins and daily life of the mission school for Nooksack children, established on a Nooksack River island.
“The greatest hindrance to the development of the Indian is the white man's 'fire water,' a gift of civilization.”
Across Washington state, towns are inflating their populations with ghosts, hobos, and unborn children to secure their status.
“We threw confetti and counted paper statistics, arguing all the time that Uncle Sam had been remiss in his duty.”
A survey of the extraordinary life of a pioneer who navigated the Cherokee Nation, the Fraser River gold rush, and the Methodist circuit.
“In 1858, when the Fraser river mining excitement was at its height and Whatcom was a tent town of 7,000 people, he was deputy sheriff.”
Hundreds gather near Lynden for a traditional gift-giving feast and solemn reburial of ancestors.
“Yellowkanim distributed gifts to the value of hundreds of dollars, and his lavish entertainment of the tribe cost him thousands.”
Business leaders and the city council clash with the Whatcom County Traction Co. over plans to lay tracks through town.
“The Company does not want to comply with this demand of the Council and business men of the city.”
A new franchise agreement promises to connect Lynden via electric rail by next spring.
“The street cars must be in operation by May 9, 1909.”
Seventeen passengers survive a terrifying tumble after a mechanical failure on a stage route.
“Wibner Cruikshank says when they struck the sidewalk he was filling his pipe—he jumped—and he landed in the gulch below, he still had his tobacco pouch in his hand but where his meerschaum pipe went he does not know.”
A dedicated engineer is killed while volunteering his time to maintain local machinery.
“Charles McKettrick, while fixing the machinery around the generator, accidentally formed a short circuit for the full current of the machine, which is 2,300 volts, and was instantly killed.”
Lynden's Pomona Grange convenes to debate cooperative rail lines, nonpartisan judiciaries, and a grand jury to audit county books.
“Demanding that party candidates and committeemen be pledged to aid the welfare of the majority.”
Citizens gathered at the town hall to organize the 'Majority Rule' ticket, pledging to let the public decide the future of the local saloon trade.
“We pledge our nominees for councilmen to use their best efforts to secure an annual expression of the voters of the town on the question of licensing saloons.”
Weary of broken promises from outside promoters, Nooksack Valley farmers move to build and own their own rail line.
“He feels like he would just as leave own the go-cart that is to haul himself and produce to market as to allow the other fellow to own the railway.”
Granges in Ferndale and Custer initiate a cooperative traction railway project, with Lynden and neighboring towns invited to extend the line.
“It is also significant that in all the preliminaries to the formation of the scheme to build, Bellingham, the largest seaport in the county, has not been mentioned as a terminus.”
Over 1,000 hopefuls packed Jamieson’s Opera House for the evangelist's visit, but most were left in the cold.
“He said all Christians were in church but not all churchmen were Christians.”
Community leaders rally to address the tuberculosis epidemic with education and open-air tents.
“Urging the necessity of educating the public on the danger of contagion, and speaking in favor of building an outdoor camp.”
A canoe capsizes while ferrying settlers near the Nooksack River crossing, highlighting the precarious nature of travel in the remote Washington Territory.
“A little Indian girl was drowned, and seven or eight men and women narrowly escaped with their lives.”
Frank W. Bixby, a Lynden attorney, is making waves by refusing to bow to Whatcom County’s political establishment.
“Mr. Bixby is attracting a great deal of attention of late by his open defiance to the machine of this county.”
After a local mill worker suffered a permanent injury, the community and an official inspector weigh in on industrial safety.
“The inspector investigated the plant and relieves the management of any blame for the accident.”
Speculators are scouring the Canadian countryside near Lynden, betting on a new electric railway to Bellingham.
“There is scarcely a day that auto loads of buyers are not scouring the country trying to buy.”
Local news satirizes the convoluted web of political machines, patronage, and special interest groups fighting for influence in Whatcom County.
“As Abe Lincoln said, 'You can fool all of the people part of the time and part of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.'”
After nine months of suffering, a toddler passes away following a household accident.
“Since the time of the fatal accident, everything has been done to relieve the terrible pain in which she has been all the time, and to cure her, but in vain.”
A defense of Governor Henry McBride’s 1903 veto of a local option bill, shifting blame from his personal stance to legislative corruption.
“Its purpose was so crossed that, had it been enacted, it would have become a boomerang in the rumsellers' hands.”
A landslide local election victory mandates the end of licensed saloons in the town for the coming year.
“The Council elected are pledged to abide by the will of the people, and it seems they want a 'dry town' by the majority of votes.”
Over 200 neighbors and friends gathered in a homestead grove to honor General and Mrs. M. A. McPherson on their 50th wedding anniversary.
“While you were doing your part in developing this new country, making it to blossom like the rose—the dross was all burned to ashes, leaving nothing but the pure gold that will live and glow in beauty forever.”
An entomologist from Pullman descends on Lynden to investigate a bizarre fruit-eating worm that defies known science.
“The new pest is remarkable in its feeding habits, for all the other saw-flies whose habits are known feed on leaves, and none are known to attack fruit.”
The local chapter mourns the death of a member killed in a dynamite explosion while processing a report of illness and community updates.
“It was also reported that Mrs. Mallet, a member of our order, met her death by an explosion of dynamite at Cle Elum.”
Twenty-three local boys sprinted 16 miles to beat the Bellingham record, ending in a victory banquet.
“His place was taken by one of the runners that had been picked up, so no time was lost by the incident.”
In a notable outlier for Whatcom County, Lynden voters decide to ban alcohol, prompting a pledge from the council to enforce the new temperance measures.
“It is the will of the majority that rules in our democratic land and we are pleased to know that temperance has carried the day.”
Frank W. Bixby of Lynden emerges as a reform-minded candidate for prosecuting attorney, bucking against established county political machines.
“Vote for him if you are tired of machine rule politics.”
As the local exchange upgrades its equipment, a wave of bad connections and misdirected calls leads to fraying tempers and frustrated operators.
“The things that have been said over the phones to the girls during the past week have melted two-thirds of the rubber transmitters in Lynden.”
A multi-band parade, athletic contests, and the installation of a giant wooden axe are set to draw a massive crowd of excursionists from Bellingham.
“Wednesday night the ponderous wooden ax, the helve of which was made of a 16 foot plank, was suspended over Front street.”
How a local landmark on Fish Trap Creek turned out 121,000 shingles in a single day.
“It has pounded right along, rain or shine, good times or bad, during the whole time.”
A mill worker is lucky to keep his arm after a terrifying accident with a shingle saw.
“The dog that holds the block caught his sleeve and carried his arm into the saw.”
Farmers are fed up with rampant chicken theft and are warning that the next thief might be met with lead.
“Some night these same shiftless night marauders may get their hides filled with lead.”
A festive party in Badger ends in sudden grief as a beloved local woman collapses and passes away.
“Soon after they arrived, Mrs. Axlund became very sick and a doctor sent for. However, he could do no good.”
Sheriff Van Zandt defies local newspaper 'persecutions' to announce his run for reelection on his own terms.
“If my work deserves it I want to be reelected. If it doesn't I deserve to be defeated.”
A runaway gravel car caused a headache for Lynden commuters when it jumped the switch at the local yards.
“Passengers to and from morning and evening trains had to be transported as far as the gravel pit on hand and push cars.”
A heartfelt Fourth of July gathering in Spaan's Grove honored the United States with poetry and song, reconciling ancestral roots with American patriotism.
“But tho we love old Holland still, We love COLUMBIA more.”
A frank admission from the Lynden Tribune editor on why local newspapers are finally charging politicians for their campaign announcements.
“Country editors in the past, and still in many localities, have been properly termed 'easy marks.'”
W. D. Gillen, candidate for county school superintendent, argues that manual training and domestic science must not eclipse core academics.
“I know manual training and domestic science are popular now, but they have not found their accepted places in the school course as yet and like sports may be carried to excess.”
Twenty elderly Civil War veterans observed Memorial Day in Lynden, marching with the local Woman's Relief Corps to honor the fallen.
“The Grand Army of the Republic is fading away. It is appropriate that the little children should lead them.”
Two local men set out on their annual voyage to find coal and adventure among the islands.
“Neither Mr. Randall nor Mr. Cross can refrain from occasionally gratifying their curiosity as to whether all the fish have been hooked from the bay.”
A local entrepreneur transforms Lynden's construction landscape with a new concrete block plant that promises to revolutionize architecture.
“To make artificial stone better, stronger and more serviceable than the genuine article is an achievement of the 19th century and it promises to revolutionize the world of architecture.”
Rev. Alexander LeClaire, a 96-year-old shoemaker and Civil War-era convert to Protestantism, passes away in Lynden.
“His patrons in Lynden will be loath to wear the articles which he has mended for them but will keep them as souvenirs of the old gentleman's fine workmanship.”
The Tribune editor questions whether Lynden's rowdy, carnival-style Independence Day celebrations have lost their patriotic focus, suggesting a more solemn path.
“They cut out the noisy firecrackers and the loud sports. It seems to me that we leaned away from the true celebration, just a bit toward the carnival spirit.”
Facing a heavier, more experienced team from Blaine, Lynden's high school squad played their first-ever rugby game with grit and determination.
“The work of Lynden boys will be commended very highly. They played with grit and marked determination, in the face of heavy odds.”
A clever gardener in Lynden manages to defy the seasons and local birds, producing fresh cherries long after the neighbors' trees were picked clean.
“She made a hood of mosquito netting, which she stretched entirely over it... enabling the fruit to ripen slowly.”
Local gardener V. S. Steinhauer cultivates a hybrid berry developed by the famous botanist Luther Burbank.
“The bushes look very much like blackberry brush but the berries are more like mammoth raspberries. In fact, when ripe they are about two inches in diameter.”
A local factory is revolutionizing building materials by cutting curing times from a month to a week.
“Now they can be placed in the curing room and in 7 days are turned to stone.”
The town pays its final respects to Captain Jarhos O'Neil, a soldier and community leader.
“It makes us sad when we think how short the time is when they all will be gone.”
The local Grange and community mourn the passing of John J. Lay, who returned home to be laid to rest.
“Take at our hands this garland and farewell.”
Lynden mourns the loss of Captain James O'Neil, a Civil War veteran and longtime local resident.
“The bugle call was sounded for another of the brave Boys in Blue.”
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