The Forgotten 'Thousand Isles' of the San Juans
An 1888 dispatch captures a fleeting moment when the San Juan Islands were poised to become the Pacific Coast’s premiere summer resort, complete with massive lime kilns and romantic orchards.
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.
Tourists who visit Puget Sound miss, from lack of facilities, the most beautiful and romantic portion of the country. Once let a passenger steamer thoroughly open up this group of islands to travelers, and it will be one of the sights which none will miss seeing; more than this, it would immediately become the favorite summer resort of the Pacific Coast, and large numbers of people from California, Oregon and Washington would build here their summer residences. Outside of the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence there is not in the whole of the states so beautiful and romantic a spot. The mountainous island is Orcas, and from the top of its highest mountain, 2,400 feet, can be had a magnificent bird's-eye view not only of the Sound country, but also of the mountains of British Columbia. On San Juan island there are historical and romantic spots well worth a visit, where the American and English armies held joint occupation of the island, pending the settlement of the dispute as to ownership. The English camp was situated on a most lovely bay on the northwest side, and many of the old buildings still stand. Throughout the archipelago land is cheap; uncleared lands in tracts of 10 or 20 acres near landings are being sold at $10 per acre. Cleared and cultivated lands fetch from $40 to $80 per acre.
“Outside of the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence there is not in the whole of the states so beautiful and romantic a spot.”
In 1888, the San Juan Islands were being pitched as a high-density 'summer residence' playground for the wealthy. Today, the struggle persists over how to balance the islands' natural beauty and local agricultural heritage against the relentless pressure of second-home development and tourism.
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