The Boom Town of La Conner
A report from 1878 highlights the explosive agricultural potential and rapid development of the Skagit Valley's 'thrifty little town.'
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.
We received a call from one of our prominent citizens who recently obtained interesting information concerning the thrifty little town of La Conner and country adjacent. He speaks quite enthusiastically of the prospects of our neighboring country generally, and claims that it is destined to be one of the best farming sections in the state. Large quantities of grain will be shipped from there this season. The yield will be nearly double that of last year. Neil Keaveney estimates that there will be over 20,000 sacks of oats shipped at the end of the harvest. As an evidence of the wonderful productiveness, he states that he saw on a piece of dyked land of 18 acres, which the owners broke up two years ago, the best field of grain in the state. It has yielded 700 bushels to the acre. Everything looks bright and encouraging, and the little town of La Conner soon promises to assume important proportions. During the past season, seven new buildings have been erected there, and next season there will probably be many more.
“Everything looks bright and encouraging, and the little town of La Conner soon promises to assume important proportions.”
In the late 1870s, La Conner was a frontier boom town pinned on agricultural output and dyked land. Today, it remains a vital, albeit transformed, regional hub where the historical struggle for land development and agricultural stability continues to resonate in the face of modern environmental challenges and tourism pressures.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.