The Changing Tides of the Snohomish
High water, booming mills, and the social transformation of a riverside community in 1877.
The river is very low, near the foot of the hill. The rain has begun to refill it, but the increasing in violence of the wind and the weather is discouraging. The logs are beginning to go up the Snohomish to our mills. Mr. Alverson and family have moved to Snohomish City. Logger fires are burning in every direction. Our party for the Falls will start to work next week. The full moon still prevails at night. It is rumored that certain parties have been to Snohomish to secure logs for the Snohomish. Morgan’s mill is running night and day. They are pulling in a substantial dividend. Young lovers have been charmed by the moonlight concerts this past week. Mr. Romaines has sold his wharf property in town and purchased a farm on the Snohomish in the mouth of the Skykomish. The sloop, with excursionists, which left here week before last, returned last Tuesday. All the participants are morally changed; they are not half so naughty as they were before they left.
“The sloop, with excursionists, which left here week before last, returned last Tuesday. All the participants are morally changed; they are not half so naughty as they were before they left.”
This snapshot of 1877 Snohomish captures the transition from a wilderness logging outpost to a permanent community. Today, the town remains tied to the ebb and flow of the Snohomish River, though the 'moral transformation' of excursionists has been replaced by the modern tourism and real estate shifts that characterize the valley’s changing character.
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