Winter Blooms on Orcas Island
A mid-winter letter from a settler describes the unexpected beauty of a January garden and the quiet expansion of island life in 1878.
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.
Last evening’s mail brought us a bouquet of flowers plucked in the open air on the 4th of January, on Orcas Island, about seventy-five miles north of Seattle. The following letter accompanied the flowers: 'I have gathered you a bouquet on this the 4th day of January. The flowers grew in the open air unprotected and without any extra care. We have more. Orcas Island is improving in many ways. We have a resident minister, the Rev. Mr. Hewett, and the new county road just opened from north to south beach discovers several good new claims; two have just been settled upon. There is a good water power on this island which we hope to see, some day, utilized. The lords of the Isle seem satisfied and well at ease. So much, so good.'
“The flowers grew in the open air unprotected and without any extra care. We have more.”
Orcas Island remains a place of profound agricultural and aesthetic beauty, though the 'lords of the Isle' mentality has shifted from frontier homesteading to the complex challenges of modern preservation and tourism. This letter captures a moment of optimistic pioneer development, reminding us that even in the darkest months, the San Juan Islands have long provided a sense of sanctuary.
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