The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1920-08-26


ing practice was continued. lasting
in fact until there was a church build
ing erected.
In 1856, George Judson, a son OF
Mr.. and Mrs. H. A. Judson. and civ.
il engineer, laid out the town plat OF
Lynden. At first lots were given
away to induce people to come. H
A. Judson embarked in the mercan.
tile business and continued in such
business successfully until the panic
of 1893. which was practically Sc
we're in this still new region.
In 1887 George Judson brought to
Lynden a man who was then a mem
ber of the teaching faculty of the ter
ritorial university, now the Universi-
ty of Washington, j. r. Bradley
Prof. Bradley, as he was called
wanted to establish a normal school
and George Judson induced him to
locate the institution at Lynden; so
came the only institution of higher
ltdl uiuS luC Va
the territorial university. with the
exception of some sectarian schools
established by churches. 1t was
Bradley's ambition to have the state.
when statehood came. take over the
Northwest Normal School" and
make it the state normal school.
That the dream of Bradley and
George Judson was not realized was
due to fuke of politics in the first
state legislature. which met in the
winter of 1SS9-90. The bill had
been introduced, had passed the
house guided by w. r. Moultray.
and was in the senate. Whatcom had
a carpet bag senator known as blue
Jay" Parkinson. Parkinson had an
tagonized the senator from Skagit,
the late Tom Payne. The session was
nearing a close and the normal school
bill was up when Payne moved to
amend by striking out the words
Lynden and Whatcom County and
substituting for them wherever they
occurred the words Bird View and
the mood to appreciate the joke on
Parkinson and passed the amend
ment. Bird View did not want a nor
NAL school and the house would not
have concurred in the amendment if
II had. 1t was thus the Northwest
Normal School died after four years
of struggle to become an institu-
tion of the new state. However, the
school left its impression on the
Northwest, as it enrolled in those
four years some five hundred stu
dents from among the sons and
daughters of the early settlers.
/ The impression of those days, and
particularly the superlative beauty
of the towns setting, will linger al
ways in the memory of the writer.
The forest along a warm ridge over
looking the billowy green bottoms
of the river valley had been cut away
and there fronting the winding Nook
sack and the mountains, over which
lowered the dazzling dome of Baker,
the town was built. The houses clus-
tered among tall frs and cedars, and
back in the deeper woods wound a
creek. The roads were little more
than trails, except the road that led
1 to Whatcom then, as now under the
name of Bellingham. the county seat.
But it was an all days journey to go
to Whatcom. The only ferry was at
THE Crossing g''-now Everson-and
/ thence by the Telegraph Road wag-
ons could proceed to Whatcom. The
Telegraph Road followed the West
ern Union line which followed in its
turn the Cariboo trail of 1858. So
one went to Lynden by this tedious
round about way or else walked, or,
if fortunate, on the back of cayuse.
There was one other means OF travel
the river. Those were the thor
oughfares, and even with them the
town grew The spirit Of the pio-
neer was there. 1t was that spirit
which brought into Lynden the
Northwest Normal School, which re-
moved the log jams in the river and
put on a river steamboat, which op-
ened farms on those fertile flats.
planted orchards and cleared fields
for hay and grain. That spirit kept
the town alive when ii seemed that
it must perish, printed the old Pio-
neer Press on wall paper, when there
was no money to buy print paper. and
steadily overcame the many obstacles
placed in its road by adverse circum-
stances. Through all of its vicissi-
tudes, from 1871 until 1920. there
was one who has never lost courage,
whose brave spirit has never !alter-
ed. and that is Phoebe Judson, now
in her S9th year. still as always the
mother of Lynden. For forty-nine
years she has watched its progress.
She says it is her hope to come back
from the spirit world and watch ov-