This series highlights locations in Skagit County. These communities were formed in the early 1870's remaining up until the 1920's. Many of the names still appear on maps. A few have buildings remaining in use today. These communities and many others can be found on https:/www.skagitcounty.net/Maps/iMap/?mapjs=hist
The town of Ehrlich was built on land homesteaded in 1886 by Joseph and Anna Theiler from Switzerland. It lay in the valley between Lake McMurray and Big Lake and was reached only by a trail from Mount Vernon. Albert Fisher, also from Switzerland, came in 1897, the Wepplers from the Finn Settlement in 1895, and the Charles McInnes family in 1901.
During the period immediately after the building of the railway, the station was known as Theiler's Spur. The name was changed to Ehrlich when Frank Ehrlich of Seattle built a shingle mill there about 1900. The L. Houghton Company logged in the area and the Nelson Neal Lumber Company had a camp at Ehrlich. In 1902 a school was built, the number of students depending on the work in the mills and the camps.
The actual location was about 800 feet east of the cache on property owned by Skagit Aggregates.
More information available at Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner.