Friends of Heybrook Ridge, the Index Historical Society and the Wild Sky Institute present:

Friends of Heybrook Ridge, the Index
Historical Society and the Wild Sky Institute present this

Press Release

Date: June 9, 2010
Kill date: June 25, 2010

Contact: Louise Lindgren, (360) 793-1534, camlind@richpoor.net
Event: An Evening of Cowboy Poetry and Music
7:00 p.m. June 25 at the River House in Index
Suggested donation at the door: $10
Benefiting the Friends of Heybrook Ridge and the Index Historical Society

Cowboy stories and guitar strumming will fill Outdoor Adventures’ River House in Index on the bank of the Skykomish River, Friday, June 25, at 7:00 p.m.

Cowboy poet Sharon “Silver” Glenn of Yakima, and her cowboy musician husband, George Thomsen will perform, sponsored by Northwest Heritage Resources, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and benefiting the Friends of Heybrook Ridge (creating a trail system at Heybrook Ridge County Park), the Index Historical Society museum, and Wild Sky Institute.

Sharon Glenn was born in the Ellensburg area, daughter of a cowboy father and a homesteader’s daughter. She grew up surrounded by horses and livestock and as a child, helped out with her father’s work. She and her husband George have lived the cowboy life for many years, working for local cattle and sheep outfits. George is a lifetime buckaroo and horse trainer.

Together they perform as the musical duo, Northfork, singing traditional cowboy music and songs of the rural west, as well as original pieces. They have performed at numerous cowboy poetry gatherings in Elko, Nevada; Idaho, and Washington, including the Northwest Folklife Festival.

At the conclusion of their performance Sharon & George will converse with the audience, telling more about their local connection with the Skykomish Valley and of their experiences with noted cowboy poet, Baxter Black.

Updated More Town History Page

We updated the More Town History page to include a photo archive from Lee Pickett, supplied by the University of Washington.

Index Historical Society Schedule Change

The Index Historical Society meeting has been changed due to a conflict caused by Labor Day. With the Town Council moving its meeting to Tuesday September 8, we will shift this month to the following Tuesday, the 15th. Same place: the museum, 510 Avenue A; same time: 7:00 p.m.

Of special interest will be a resident bringing a couple of very interesting artifacts she recently unearthed near the railroad tracks. A mystery here.

David Cameron

IHS Winter 2009 Newsletter

Meetings: Monthly except December, second Tuesdays at the museum, 7:00 p.m.
Contacts: David Cameron, President; Bill Cross, Treasurer Newsletter: David Cameron, editor; David Meier, circulation.

Index Historical Society

P.O. Box 299
Index, WA 98256

A member of the League of Snohomish
County Heritage Organizations

Winter 2009 Newsletter

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Lowlight of the Year

At approximately 2:00 A.M. on January 2, 2009 our venerable Red Men’s Hall fell victim to the winter’s very heavy snows. The roof gave way, blowing out the front wall and demolishing the interior. With no chance of repairing it, the town ordered the owners to clean up their hazard. All that was salvaged were close to two dozen floor joists. These 26′ long 2x12s were donated to the historical society by the demolition company, which loaded and hauled them over to the museum. From there a small crew of volunteers lugged the heavy timbers through the snow from the street for storage behind our building. Remarked secretary Bob Hubbard the next day, “I think I’m two inches shorter!”

We would appreciate your thoughts on how best to utilize the wood in a way befitting the heritage of the hall. The pieces are of fine grained old growth fir, generally intact, and rough sawn without too many nails, splits, or cracked ends.

The century old hall was on the National Register of Historic Places, but that designation provides no protection should the property owner decide to ignore or wreck it. After decades of use by the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) and Red Men, maintenance of the popular community gathering place was more than the Daughters of Pocahontas, the Red Men’s women’s auxiliary, could support. Title was turned over to the Everett Red Men’s branch for $1.00. In 1999 the Everett group decided to sell the property. When they approached the town their asking price was well over $100,000, far more than we could afford. Without consulting us, they settled for $20,000 in a deal with a son of one of their board members. His announced intention was to raze the building and place an RV on the site. Without needed roof repairs, nature took it down. Co incidentally, the board member died just days before that happened.

Of Additional Concern: The Bush House Hotel, 1898-?

Another absentee landowner continues to allow the historic Bush House to deteriorate and concern town officials that it might also collapse or be burned. Abandoned for a decade, this winter’s snow broke its second floor outside walkway before being cleared off, a tricky job. Difficulties have arisen for everyone attempting to purchase it, and at present the hapless building appears to be off the market. Vandalism, weather, and invasive plants all continue to cause further decay. The business was a mainstay of the local economy and a popular attraction for tourists, as well as a community social center.

There Are Major Highlights as Well!

Topping the good news is the successful purchase of the W.B. Foresters’ property on Heybrook Ridge across from town. With cooperation between the company and our Friends of Heybrook Ridge, assisted by The Cascade Land Conservancy and the Snohomish County Council led by councilman Dave Somers, the land will become the county’s newest park (and only one in this area). Congratulations to everyone concerned! This was a major focus of historical society members for the last two years. In conjunction with the county parks department the Friends now are focusing on the tasks of interpretation, trail building, and environmental education projects to make the ridge a major asset to our community. In October the biggest town party in recent memory celebrated its success.

Another key piece of land preservation was creation of the Wild Sky Wilderness Area late this spring. The 106,000 acre National Forest designation was strongly supported by the community as well as Senator Patty Murray and Representative Rick Larsen. A celebratory dedication was held across the river from town for a long process which again involved a number of our members and townsfolk.

Two summer events also were memorable, the annual Index Arts Festival in August and the Fourth of July parade and potluck in the park. The latter was so much fun the parade kept going down to the far end of town and back, no one wanting to quit despite the threat of rain. In a small town with Mayor Bruce Albert leading, you can get away with things like that! Despite three attempts to have a flood in the fall, we also escaped with no serious damage, and only a few small structures failed in the December/January snow. For that, we are thankful.

News from Our Neighbors

Winner of the 2008 Malstrom Award for an outstanding contribution to county history was the Stanwood Area Historical Society for its innovative collaboration with the SnoIsle Library system. Together they had the community and students read and discuss Thomas Mullen’s novel The Last Town on Earth, set in our county during the turbulent year of 1918. Skykomish celebrates its centennial this year and will be having two new paperback books available. One by Nancy Cleveland and Anne Sekor is a very interesting collection of memories of the town and its surroundings, and the second (due out this spring) features photos of the upper Skykomish Valley, including some of early Index, by Warren Carlson. Check their website, www.skykomishhistoricalsociety.org. We cooperated on all these projects and expect to have both Sky books for sale in our museum shop.

From the journals of R.F. “Frank” Niles: 1899 — Establishing The Index Miner

“Index was then having a big mining boom and [Charles] Gorham decided about the middle of July to start a paper there. I went up to work for him – he was not a printer. We built the shops, doing a large part of the work ourselves. We had the shop in front with a kitchen and bedroom at the rear. Both of us had done some backing and cooking was no problem. The shop was across the railroad track from the main part of town. The track was on a grade about four feet high and shop was level with the track. A sidewalk was later built on the shop level though the street was not graded. The rear of our lot ran to the North Fork of the Skykomish river. The only roads were one to a quarry a mile west of town and one running to Galena, a ghost town from a former boom. Only a hotel remained and this was abandoned and went to ruin later. Another ghost town was Mineral City, four miles from Galena up Silver Creek. It had once boasted a newspaper, an assay office and other business houses. Now all were deserted and going to ruin.

Index was in the throes of a wild mining boom. The town was crowded with prospectors, men working on some of the mines being opened up and the usual riff-raff and promoters and grafters. Sleeping accommodations were hard to find. The one hotel had men sleeping in the hallways and wherever there was a chance to lie down. There was one small lodging house where we secured a room while building the shop. The town was over run by hoboes traveling the Great Northern. Some time after the shop was opened I had an experience with hoboes that gave me a bad few minutes. Just [indecipherable] dark, I was working with my back to one wall, the side wall of the building at my right and type rack in front, the space being about three by six feet. Two husky hoboes came in and asked for money to buy bread. We had some blocks of wood that I had sawed from a large log at the back of the shop and I told them I would give them some money if they would split the blocks. They refused because they had two partners and had some meat they wanted to cook, and it was raining and getting dark. I fully expected them to jump me, and I would not hope to attract any attention from people on the other side of the railroad and we had the only building near the track on our side at that time. The men left, but I expected them back with their two companions. I immediately got a revolver and placed it under the case in front of me, but they did not come back.” (To be continued.)

Memberships: New and Renewals

Please join us for our year’s news and activities! We appreciate your interest and support in helping increase our knowledge and materials relating to our past. In addition to your membership, we especially need photos, printed materials, and artifacts which are from the 1930s to the present for our collection. As with most historical museums in the Pacific Northwest, we are strong on the early years and have much less from our own times, because those things are much more likely to be around us and familiar. Twenty years from now, though, these will be the “good old days”!

Our Error on David Cameron

Throughout the site at IndexWa.org you may notice a lot of information from David Cameron.  He has a lot of knowledge about the Town of Index as well as knowledge about the valley in general (heck, he wrote a book which by the way is introduced on IndexWa.org).  If you are interested in the book, contact us and we will forward your information to David.

We have inadvertently introduced David Cameron, PhD. as “THE” Town Historian.  We stand corrected as of this post.  David Cameron is “A” Town Historian.

That in mind, David IS The President of The Historical Society for The Town of Index.

We apologize for the error.

Weather Information From David Cameron, PhD.

I had asked some questions in the February ’09 newsletter that went out this morning and got a prompt answer from a Town Historian, David Cameron, PhD. Thanks David. You are always a great source of information.

Following are the answers.
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On snow and weather: I keep track of the weather for my own use, as my instruments are not sophisticated electronic ones but rather of the backyard type. Our total precipitation for 2008 was 99.915″ approximately: 20.21″ in our always-wettest month of November and 13.305″ for for December. Your results may vary, obviously. November is our normal flooding month in the western Cascades. Normally I forget to total the numbers at the end of the month and year, but Louise asked for an article she’s writing.

Index Avenue is 100′ wide, but that’s the exception and we’ve been told to include room for an anticipated railway branch line off the GN right-of-way up the north side of the North Fork Sky. It never was constructed, as the Index-Galena logging railroad went up the south side instead from its mill, also on the south side across the bridge. You can check the other street widths on the townsite plat map in Town Hall if interested.

On the Redmen’s Hall sorry collapse: The demolition company gave to the Index Historical Society a number of the floor joists, rather than hauling them off with the rest of the smashed up debris. They are 2″x12″ fir, most of them 26′ long, and in pretty good shape. Those of us who volunteered on very short notice to lug them off the street and through the snow for storage still are feeling the aches and pains — at least I am.

Bob Hubbard joked the next day that he was feeling “two inches shorter.”
So now the question is, what do we do with them that best will honor the memory of the missing hall?

Suggestions have ranged from creating new picnic tables to replace the rotted out ones on the museum grounds to constructing a stage in the park (perhaps) for arts festival performances to creating an outline of the building somewhere so that people can retain a feeling of how large it was. We really would like folks to share their thoughts and let the historical society members know. (They also can volunteer to pull nails!)

Index Historical Society – The Index Eagle January 1992 by David Cameron

This article is from the Index Eagle, January 1992 and authored by David Cameron. He has given us permission to reprint his articles but PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. This article may not be reproduced without the express written permission of IndexWa.org and/or David Cameron, PhD.
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A new year has begun, witnessing the end to ‘91. Talk shows, sports commentators, news pundits, and supermarket tabloids fill their spaces between commercials and advertisements with prediction of what the new year will bring, based on what has happened before cyclical behaviors, and what might increase the audience. However, “It is happy for man that he does not know what the morrow is to bring forth; but, unaware of this great blessing, he has, in all ages of the world, presumptuously endeavored to trace the events of unborn centuries, and anticipate the march of time.” So wrote Charles Mackay in 1852 in his “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.”

History, on the other hand, deals with the past and tries to study events in order to ascertain some universal truths from them – assuming there are such things! It would be interesting if we could read what future historians will write of the events of 1991. We are too close to them and know too little of motives, causes, and as yet undecided outcomes to know those things ourselves. Was the Gulf War a major turning point for the Middle East or but a passing blip – George Bush a statesman or one who knew how to manipulate the emotions of his people? Did democracy sweep away authoritarian rule in the former USSR, or did we enter a new age of ethnic, religious and national strife extending from Croatia through Central Asia? Was this a recession or the beginning of a depression? Did the growing social chasm between rich and poor start to reverse its self , or did the middle class continue to dwindle away? At this point, we cannot tell.

We can look back at our community, though, and trace changes which would have been equally hard to decipher then and perhaps draw some conclusions. Seventy five years ago the town had a much different look about it: it has shrunk in population to only 23% of what it was then and now is fifth smallest ‘in the state (ahead of Krupp, Lamont, Marcus, and Waverly). Mining, lumber mill, granite quarry, shingles all “exports in 1916, are but memories and overgrown clearings, scars on the rock. All were based on the extraction and processing of natural resources. Fishing and health resorts also are endangered species, judging by the steelhead derby results posted at the Index General Store and the extensive damage after the 1990 floods to what little remains up at Garland. The Scenic Hot Springs Hotel was destroyed to make way for the Cascade Tunnel. The forests, however, are more beautiful now, with major logging scars grown over around the town, and the place is far quieter and cleaner place to live: no mills and steam locomotives.

To help us better understand our local past so we can make more informed decisions toward the future – as with the growth management plan – why not join with us this year to share, listen, and learn more about our community? Meetings in ‘92 will be the second Tuesday (January 14 is next) at the Sportsmen’s Hall at 7:30 every month but December. Dues are inexpensive too, only $10.00 and mailable to P.O. Box 252. The impact of the railroad will be our theme for the year, looking forward to the Great Northern Railroad Historical Society’s national convention in Everett this July, the centennial of the G.N.’s completion a year from this month, and a summer museum display featuring local railroading. Come and join us!

David Cameron, President

Index Historical Society Vol. 12 – Issue 11 From The Index Eagle 1995

This item is reproduced from the Index Eagle under the Index Historical Society section, November 1995 with permission.

Copyright © Dr. David A. Cameron. Reproduction prohibited without express written permission from the author.
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Yesterday as I walked down the street to the store to pick up my mail I heard a slowly moving automobile coming up behind me, gradually slowing down and then edging along side with a couple of men inside rolling the window down.  They had the advantage, as I was staring into the morning sun low over Heybrook Ridge, and they also obviously were flatlanders, having a new, clean car in Index.

The passenger spoke with a German accent, and I had visions of both a bad imitation of “Casablanca” and the summer spent working on the Department of Natural Resources fire crew out of Sultan. There the locals used to pull that trick and then speed off after depositing a quarter stick of dynamite. Something about out of town guys stealing all the available girls.

These fellows asked me, “Is the tunnel closed?” Not the usual, “Where are the Satan worshippers?” or “What do people do for a living around here?” It took a while before I unraveled that they actually were wondering about the old Cascade Tunnel of the Great Northern Railway or the more recent (1929) one still in use, not the highway tunnel at Money
Creek with its construction area or the Robe Canyon railway tunnels where I recently had been working. But, being a good emissary for the town, I managed to give them relatively straight answers and send them on their way to find out more about the Iron Goat Trail.

Thinking about the incident on the way home, I realized that really we do not build many tunnels anymore. We tend to blast mountain sides apart and create sweeping curves capable of 70 mile an hour speeds instead. Trains and cars and the routes they run really have changed a lot in the last 50 to 70 years. The same is true of other machinery once powered by steam or hand.

All the timber around this town was felled by crosscut saws, yet now they are museum pieces or painted with mountain scenes to hang above fireplaces, replaced by heavy gasoline-powered drag saws such as Wes Smith proudly maintains, and then by later generations of chain saws. This summer 1 had to use a crosscut while working with the Volunteers for Outdoor Washington on the Robe Canyon trail, making a difficult undercut in a log under stress on a steep slope as well as the routine bucking. It was a time warp, half an hour and a lot of sweat when the Stihl could have roared its way through in a couple of minutes. Steam-powered logging donkeys and old tractors still can be seen working through the efforts of President Jerry Senner’s antique tractor club in the Monroe area, but not on today’s farms or logging shows.

A couple of months ago while putting on a program for the Marysville Rotary Club at a motel on the reservation I happened to see a gleaming Model A Ford in their restaurant lobby. For only 30-odd thousand I could drive it home, although the price did not include a gas cap or a minor cosmetic repair to a scratch on the side. Actually I would be
afraid to drive it for fear one of the Alpine gravel trucks might give me a flying ding and cost me a few thousand. Fortunately, given the state of my wallet, that was not going to be a problem.

It does come to mind, though, as I am looking through a 1930 Western Auto Supply Co. illustrated catalogue. Their local outlet was at 2718 Colby in downtown Everett, a store I remember from my youth. The catalogue has a winged radiator cap for a Model T for only forty five cents (same price for Chevies up to 1928), one that looks like the “Mercury” hat on a dime. But next to it is a real classic, an “Aeroplane
Radiator Ornament” with black enameled motor cylinders of a radial engine with a real propeller in chromium plate. The lighted model cost only $2.85. What a deal! A crummy Daisy gas cap model cost only fifteen cents. Wimpy. The Senior Flying Lady (chrome plated) was a buck forty five. Choices.  When is the last time you had a car with a great looking
radiator cap up front to lead you down the highway?

A few other items also seem to be passé. Here is a standard flower vase for smaller, closed cars for ninety five cents. A metal hand signal (yes, a pivoting black enamel painted metal arm with a red painted metal hand) to attach to the side of the cab is only $3.25. A new rubber cloth roof for your roadster is as low as $3.75, $2.65 for a closed car model.  Rumble seats still were in vogue, and an elderly female friend recently exclaimed to me, “Why, people don’t even know what mad money means anymore!” For those of tender years and
limited experience, think of what might happen in a rumble seat and why a good girl might need an extra dollar in her . purse at the close of a date.

Hand grind your own valves, scrape your bearings, shim your spokes, and don’t break your arm on the crank when it backfires. I think I’ll stick with the rumble seat!  Who said history and a good imagination can’t be fun?

Index Historical Society Vol. 14 – Issue 06

This item is reproduced from the Index Eagle under the Index Historical Society section, June 1997 with permission.

Copyright © Dr. David A. Cameron. Reproduction prohibited without express written permission from the author.
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In poking through the census records for Snohomish County for the year 1870, I was struck by the number of women in the list. Actually, it was the number of Indian woman! White man couples and the total lack of single, adult White women in the county.

Total population was around a thousand, but half those were living on the Tulalip Reservation and therefore excluded. I counted 24 adult White females listed as “keeping house”. The number of Indian women was 53! There also were another four women who were classified as half Indian.

Among the leading families, over half were of mixed race. These included Jacob and Mary Fowler of Mukilteo. He was listed as a merchant and was the co-founder of the town. in Lowell the oldest settler was Reuben Lowe, whose wife was Kitty. Listed as “saloon keeper”, his actual talent lay in running the county’s only bordello — stocked with Indian women.

George Preston and his wife Peggy ran the store at the mouth of the Snohomish River where Everett later would develop. John and Susan Elwell pioneered between Monroe and Sultan. Salem Woods and Adelaide are founders of the Woods Creek and prairie area. James Hatt and Susan gave their name to the slough where the Stillaguamish River now enters the Sound, while Gardiner and Polly Goodrich dominated the Warm Beach to Stanwood area. Polly drove off a group of her fellow tribesfolk and defended her husband after he logged and burned the Indians’ cemetery on his land claim. Goodrich later set her aside and married a White woman, as did some others.

Women definitely were scarce on this frontier, as travel was extremely difficult until the coming of the railroads to Tacoma in the middle of the next decade. Eldridge Morse wrote in his 1876 centennial history of the county that only three White women ever had died in the county: Mrs. A. Peden accidentally drowning at the head of Ebey Slough, Mrs. M. W. Packard the previous December, and his own wife, who passed away in March.

Overwhelmingly, the population of the county off the reservation was White, male, and single. Most were farmers, loggers, and laborers, with another 14 working in the Sultan area as gold miners. Three men were Chinese, all cooks. The Hudson’s Bay Company had employed Iroquois Indians, Hawaiians, and French Canadians, but there never had been a post here, and the only veteran of the company to claim land had been Peter Goutre. That was at Tulalip before the treaty in 1855, so he moved over to Hat Island. There he was murdered in a crime never solved.
It was the Indian custom to marry outside one’s home village, with prestige gained for the family by finding wealthy and powerful mates. So, the number of interracial couples perhaps is not all that surprising. Yet it also points out the fact that very many people of native ancestry did not live on the reservation, even among the tribal groups which signed the Treaty of Point Elliott.

When more women came from the East and the Indians became totally overwhelmed economically by the growth of cities and industry in the county, then the separation and minimalization of Indian folks became common and accepted. Perhaps awareness of their existence is growing only due to the resurgence in economic power brought on by Tulalip gambling and cigarettes. If so, that leaves a lot more for people to learn about our original neighbors.