Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1948-07-01
The Early Swedish Settlements
Of Washington

become known.
Very likely Swedes took part in
the movement of peoples trekking
westward to Seattle on the Pa
cific Coast in the 1840s to COS.
There were not many, however,
for the numbers migrating from
Sweden to the United States were
not yet large, and most Swedish
immigrants preferred to stay in
the central states.
1t was after the years of ia
mine in Sweden that the great en-
igration began. Larger and larger
numbers joined the caravans,
which moved westward over the
endless prairies, through huge for
ests, and over lefty mountains,
which lay in their path. Most Of
them came through safely, never
theless, to the territory in the
northwest corner of the great re-.
public 1t was the Puget Sound
country which especially attracted
their attention, and this became
the goal of the long trek.
Upon their arrival, they found
that part of the most fertile
ground was already claimed by
those who had come few years
earlier. Yet thousands of acres
were still to be found to choose
from. Many of the Swedish set
tiers secured part of the choicest
ground.
In 1871, Olof Poison, a native of
Halland, took up claims to Che
hundred sixty acres of land six
miles from La Conner. The follow
ing year Peter Olson, another Hal
lander, settled quite close to Pol
son. A third man from the same
province to take up a homestead
was Carl Johan Chilberg, who was
born near Halmstad in 1913. With
his family, he emigrated in 1846,
stayed in Iowa for a while, came
to the Oregon Territory in 1869,
returned to Iowa shortly after,
but came west again in 1871, and
settled near La Conner. j. 0. Ru-
dine was another Swede to come
to the vicinity of La Conner. In
1876 he rented farm, and earned
so much from this that five years
later he was able to buy $50 acres
of land at a price of $4,000.
During the following years,
many SWedes came to the Skagit
Valley which became largest
Scandinavian settlement in the
state of Washington. On a hill n
few miles from the Skagit River
lies a large Swedish colony. Cedar
home. The first one to take up
homestead here was John And
erson. who settled in the great
primeval forest in 1879. Bergquist,
August Andersen, Rosander, Gust
Peterson. Nelson, P. o. Norman,
and others came the following
year.
The valleys through which the
Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Snohom-
ish, Duwamish, Puyallup, and Che
nails Rivers flow received their
destined share of Swedish settlers,
who streamed here by the thous-
ands after the completion of the
Northern Pacific Railway to Ia
coma in 1887. The immigrants
no longer needed to travel by sea
from San Francisco or by the diff
ficult land routes from Portland,
which had a railroad as early as
1882. The pioneer caravans over
the Oregon Trail were forever
ended.
MANY of the frs; ) d e s in
Washington settled on island in
Puget Sound or by some of its
bays Anon these was A. j.
Schold, who, in 1885, took up
homestead north of Silverdale in
Kitsap County and was the first
white man to move with his family
to this part of the county ]. P.
johnson, a native of Angerman-
land, ecame a II e ig h b or of
Schold's in 1888, when he took up
homestead. In time his land be-
came a model farm, with beauti-
full fields, a large garden, fine resi-