The Hardscrabble Frontier of the Stillaguamish
A detailed 1879 survey of the Stillaguamish River valley reveals a diverse community of pioneers, Prussian soldiers, and dreamers attempting to tame the wilderness of the upper valley.
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.
The upper Stillaguamish river, or that part above the jam, is being settled by a hardy group. Residing near Stanwood, settlers describe a rugged, evolving region. Among those who have carved a life here is Samuel Brickhus, the pioneer, who has lived above the jam for over two years. His neighbors include Charles Low, who recently returned from the States with his wife; Frank Guard, William Anderson, and Antone Edstrom. The settlement is remarkably familial, with an unusual proportion of men arriving with their wives and children.
Many settlers, such as the Robb boys, have already cleared frame houses and established significant acreage. Furness has a large orchard and eight acres under cultivation, while others, like the Prussian officer Fredrick Rock, have brought strict military discipline to their homesteading efforts. Rock, who settled here after a stint in Virginia, maintains the formal politeness of a soldier while clearing the dense vine maple. The region is rich with resources, though difficult to harvest; prospectors have found flake gold in every pan, and a four-foot-thick vein of bituminous coal was located by a party of four in 1878, named after Elma Pierce, a child who had passed away just days before the expedition.
“Although he does as much rough work as any of his neighbors... yet he preserves all the formal politeness in his every day intercourse with his fellows that so distinguishes a soldier.”
The transition from an untamed wilderness to a series of distinct homesteads mirrors the recurring tension in Snohomish County’s history: the struggle to define land use between agricultural potential, resource extraction, and the arrival of new families looking for a stake in the region.
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