INDEX EAGLE & ALL ABOUT TOWN

August 25, 2008

Leigh Christianson dropped of a bundle or a boxful of  the old Index Eagle's and we are getting ready to post them on a month to month basis.  For a sampling read the following:

From the Index Eagle - Index Historical Society Vol. 14 - Issue 06 - © Dr. David A. Cameron

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.

The complete article may be read on our blog under the category the Index Eagle. >>click here