Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-12-01
Up skAGIT RIyEE.
EDrros PosT-ISrKLLIsKScxs:

H-DAtos FoSI-lSTEL1I&ESCER.
One has to actually 90 over tAis So1sd
country to get fair conception OF the
different parts of il. Ii 10 80 cot Up With
Islands and waterways as to make its
geography most confusing to one not
personally acquainted With the ground.
Your humble servant has Just spent a
week raRbolsting along the banks Of
the Sk2git. Ii has tvo mouths s.me
six miles apart, and at high tide the in
tervening space is largely under water
The two forks of the stream come to-
9sther between Skagit City and Mount
vernon, some eight miles above. Three
miles above the outlet OF the south fork
Is Mann's Landing. the postoffice being
named Fir. Ii has two good hotels and
well stocked store. The country for a
consider able distance back on both aides
OF the river Is almost a dead level, and
so low that large dikss are necessary to
guard against overflow at high tides.
y Almost every winter the heavy rains on
the upper river de- snbmerge more or
less Of 1t. Much of it is .imbered, but
the owners are gradually getting Il into
grass Along Gear the shores on either
side more or less land has been cleared,
and there 10 a residence on An average
OF every half niIe. The inhabitants
seem to have prospefed fairly we'll, and
not many of them want to 60 away.
After a few more years Of clearing and
development all the soil in that quarter
will be quite valuable.
Three miles above Fir. on the left side,
is Skagit City, which boasts q store, ho-
tel. two churches and half a dozen fam
ilies, and IL quiet, pleasant place. Had
the right kind Of enterprise been used,
1t might nov have been the most im-
portant place in the county; but its op
portRnity is past, and 1t will perhaps
always remain village.
Four miles higher up is Mount Yer
non, the ooanty seat. Ii has hotels and
saloons in abundance, is growing some,
and hopes 10 outstrip every other town
In the county. The ocean tides run up
the river some five miles above that
point. The steamers Glide and City of
Qaincy each make two trips week
from Seattle TO that place, and can 90
necessary.
The logging business has been the
main support of that county, but agri
culture asd stock raising are gradually
coming into vogue. IL has proved
kSea Ackteas o1s shc RVSftS
are not stuck after the business.
Two miles from Mount Vernon, on
bluff overlooking the river, is the nioe
residence and magnificent $4,000 barn
of b. N. l.. Davis, As most Of ysur
readers know, be has recently brought
from the East some bleoded imported |
Holstein cattle and English stations. |
| went TO see them, and found them 10 |
be beauties. In few years their vsln |
able progeny will be scattered all
around. Mr.. Davis has Just brought |
from Oregon fsrty half Durham COWS, |
and will 90 extensively into the dairyinR
business. He has thousand acre farm |
and has ths means, the energy and the |
pride to make 1t a model stock ranch.
From Mount Vernon | footed 1t on up |
the river to Avon and Sterling. each Of |
which has store, postoffice, a few dwell |
inRs and some good undeveloped coun-
try to back it.
A dozen miles higher up the stream is |
Lyman, and twenty miles beyond that |
is Birdsview, both surrounded by many /
new settlers, who will in course of time |
develop the fertile soil about them. |
There are coal and iron mines in that |
region. and some day they will become |
quite valuable.
At different points / met various ia
teresting characters, not the least OF |
which was an old dog called BANNER,
who, when he gets tired staying at home,
boards q steamboat and goes to Seattle, |
and then to any other port, as the notion |
takes him. He has been at least twice |
10 San Francisco, and often to other |
places. The steamboat men all know |
hummer, and he Is q fsverite among |
them. l guess be is the only fellow on |
the Sound that can travel by steamer |
wherever he pleases without dollar or
even q pass. W. A. WASH.