Skagit County History

A few local factoids. Primarily taken from "Natural Skagit - a journey from mountains to sea" by Tim Robbins and "The North Cascades Highway" by Jack McLeod. 

Natural world, flora & fauna

  • 100 million years ago the coastline was along Idaho. Volcanic islands kept colliding with West coast, adding land. Mountain ranges rose up and gave us what is now Washington state.
  • The Juan de Fuca plate is being consumed under the North American plate. Magnitude 9 earthquake in 1700, will be repeated every 300-500 years. Moves 1-2” per year and will eventually be consumed back into the Earth.
  • Climate: coastal temperature rainforest. Less than 0.2% of land. Otherwise mostly Patagonia and New Zealand.
  • The Skagit River is 160 miles long and drains ten billion gallons of fresh water per day into Salish sea.
  • Skagit Gorge is almost 6000ft high. 1896 road commission said a route over it was not practical.
  • Salmon never ran in the Upper Skagit because of the Skagit Gorge.
  • Salmon provide food to 137 other species, including their own young and 58 bird species.
  • North Cascades feature the pika, a mouse-like animal with high internal temperature and thick fur. Has to live under 50F.
  • Tulips: Mary Brown Stewart imported bulbs in 1906

Infrastructure

  • Dikes added from 1863 to give more arable land amongst the salty marshes.

  • Diablo Dam: 389 feet in 1930. Was tallest dam in the world.
  • Why is Diablo Lake teal? Rock flour - colloidal (suspended) particles of rock ground up by glaciers.
  • Northern State Park (Northern Hospital for the Insane) was designed by the Olmstead brothers, sons of the designer of Central Park
  • Ross Dam: finished in 1956. Was supposed to be another 125ft high - blocked by local opposition which also pretty much ended local dam construction.
  • In 1890s SR20 was expected to go more South. Rather than going to Ross Lake, head pretty well West from Twisp to Marblemount. Considered too steep and avalanche-prone.
  • SR20 remained open all winter in 1976/77 (drought).

People

  • "Skagit" means "wildcat".
  • First permanent (European) Resident: Blanket Bill Jarman (and native Klallam wife) canoed from Port Townsend to Samish Island in 1852.
  • Puget Sound had 75,000 residents in 1890 and 1.1 million in 1910, driven largely by Alaska gold rush. 
  • Concrete came out of a merger between Baker and Cement City in 1909. It now has half the population, given the closure of the cement plant in 1967.
  • Jack Kerouac manned the fire towers on Desolation Peak and Sourdough and Crater mountains.

 

 

This article was updated on April 13, 2025