The Fight for a New County: Skagit vs. Whatcom
Legislative debate over splitting Whatcom County highlights the perennial struggle of managing geography and infrastructure in the growing Washington Territory.
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.
Power presented a petition for a division of Whatcom county, the new counties to be named Whatcom and Skagit. The petition set forth that the county was now 60 by 100 miles in size, and the state of travel was such that it was a great source of bother and expense for people to reach the county seat. The petition asks that the dividing line be drawn between sections 36 and 37, or the Chuckanut range of mountains. This bill promises to bring on a lively fight; but as there seems to be justice in the request, it looks very strongly as though the division would be made. This fight has been going on for ten years, and to an outsider it would look as though two harmonious counties are much better than one in which there is constant dissension and strife.
“Better have two small, harmonious families than one large, ungainly, discordant household.”
The creation of Skagit County from Whatcom in the 1880s mirrors current civic debates regarding the division of municipal districts to better serve expanding populations. It highlights the recurring tension between established county seats and the needs of rural residents to have local access to government services.
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