Graves in the Valley
A reflection on the scarcity of white settlements in Snohomish County, marked by the arrival of the first tombstones for a pioneer family.
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.
How recent some of the settlements are on the Sound, and how healthful is the climate, may be readily seen upon looking for the cemeteries, usually found elsewhere to contain a greater number than are found among the living in the same communities. Around the Sound, we see very few cemeteries. Only three white women's graves are found in Snohomish county. Reflections of this nature were awakened a few days since by a conversation with Joseph Link, one of the oldest settlers of the Skagit valley. In February 1874, he lost an infant daughter, Marie C. Link, while in May 1876, his boy Joseph DeLink died. When we met Mr. Link, he was on his way from Seattle, where he had procured two very neat and appropriate tombstones to mark their last resting places; we believe them to be the first tombstones brought to the Skagit river.
“Only three white women's graves are found in Snohomish county.”
This piece offers a rare, somber look at the high infant mortality rates and the transience of life among early white settlers in the territory. It also serves as a sharp reminder of the settler-colonial context: the 'scarcity' of graves in the county is presented as a sign of progress and health, deliberately ignoring the presence and history of the Indigenous populations who had occupied the region for millennia.
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