The Ghost of Utsalady
A bustling milling hub on Camano Island faces a judicial reckoning as its sawmill property is set for auction.
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.
While at this place recently, we could not help but observe some of the many natural advantages presented by the place for the location of a town, as well as for its present use as a site for a steam saw mill. Formerly, Utsalady was a great meeting ground for Indians; hundreds living there congregated from all the surrounding country. Messrs. Cranney, Chisholm and others built up the mill there and did a good business for a number of years, until meeting with heavy losses, they became financially embarrassed. Shortly after the death of Colin Chisholm by the sinking of the ill-fated Pacific, the mill and everything connected therewith was placed under the control of the Court at Port Townsend, and the parties owning the mill and town site were declared bankrupt. It is expected that in a few weeks everything there will be sold under orders of the District Court, and business will again start up in the hands of parties we hope able to use for the public good all the natural advantages presented by this place.
“Formerly Utsalady was a great meeting ground for Indians; hundreds living there congregated from all the surrounding country.”
Once a critical industrial hub for the timber trade, Utsalady was largely forgotten as the regional economy shifted. Today, it remains a quiet, scenic area on Camano Island, with little evidence of the massive sawmill that once dictated the lives of hundreds of workers.
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