The Frontier Prospect: Surveying the Skagit River's Hidden Wealth
An 1872 exploration report charts the potential for settlement, steam navigation, and resource extraction along the Skagit River, framing the 'great jam' of timber as a challenge to be conquered by modern commerce.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Messrs. Hill and Sweeny, on behalf of the Skagit River Company, having made a thorough exploration of that region, report that the Skagit River contains at least 200,000 acres of land suitable for agricultural and grazing purposes. The 'Jam,' a massive accumulation of drift timber spanning the river, has heretofore been the great barrier to settlement. While an appropriation of $10,000 might not remove the obstruction, a wagon road around it could allow for a portage of freight. We believe that steam navigation on the river would be a great missionary of civilization; so soon as a steamer runs on that route, business would offer, and claims would be taken up by actual settlers. Regarding the resources of this region, gold and silver have been found on the Baker River, and we must infer that the Cascades hold districts rich in precious minerals, as well as coal and iron. We conclude that when labor, time, art, and taste have developed these latent beauties, there may not be found on the whole Pacific Coast a more healthful or desirable place of residence.
“Steam is a great missionary of civilization. So soon as it should be known that a steamer was to run on that route, business would offer.”
This report captures the mid-19th-century 'pioneer' mentality that viewed wilderness primarily as land for agricultural development and industrial extraction. Today, the Skagit River is a protected corridor crucial for salmon recovery, contrasting sharply with the 1872 ambition of clear-cutting the valley to build a town at the river's forks.
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