Log Rafts Choke the Stillaguamish, and the Steamboats Can’t Get Through
Residents along the river complain that booms of logs are sealing off navigation at the mouth; a federal engineer threatens prosecution if the loggers do not clear the way.
PORTLAND, April 12.—Renewed complaints have been received by Captain Symons, United States engineers, from residents along the Stillaguamish river, Wash., in regard to the stoppage of steamboat navigation in that river by the rafts of logs at the mouth. This matter was examined into some time since and Captain Symons thought he had arranged matters between the steamboat men and the loggers so that there would be no further trouble. He will send a man to look after the loggers once more, and if the trouble is not put an end to at once he will place the case in the hands of the United States attorney for prosecution under the law.
“if the trouble is not put an end to at once he will place the case in the hands of the United States attorney for prosecution under the law.”
The Stillaguamish was a working river, and log rafts were both livelihood and obstacle. Today the same tension between industry and public access plays out on Washington’s waterways, where logjams, dikes and development still decide who can use the river.
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