Flood of Nov. 11, 1896
The Great Flood: the Skagit on a big tear
Skagit County Times, Nov. 19, 1896, vol. 6, #43. Masthead reads: Sedro and Woolley. Published every Saturday by Gillis Brothers, editors and publishers. [Ed. note: Read more about the Gillis brothers in the review elsewhere in the Journal.] Post Office as second-class matter. Subscriptions $1 for year. 50 cents for 6 months. News as of Thursday, Nov. 19. Notes and excerpts follow:
On Wednesday of last week [Nov. 11] the wind began to blow from the southeast and, before evening, had developed into a chinook gale. Unfortunately for the river bottom settlers of the Skagit valley, this warm wind continued until about 4 p.m. Sunday.
On Friday the Skagit began to rise rapidly and continued rising at an average rate of 3 inches an hour until Sunday morning when it began to abate. In the afternoon of that day, the river had risen [above] all previous high water marks [until old-] Sedro was one foot, 7 inches under water.
Hamilton was totally inundated, one brick building having caved in and several frame [buildings] torn from their foundations. The county bridges recently constructed were destroyed and the improved roads that had become the pride of the upper valley became an easy prey to the devastating waters.
Lower Sedro [what we call [old-Sedro, by the river] suffered heavily. A large number of cattle and small stock perished and buildings, ruthlessly torn from their foundations, were cast hap-hazard amid the heaps of debris.
We are indebted to Larry Kunzler, a friend since 1992, for his expertise about floods. He and his son Josef have assembled a terrific website about the history of the Skagit river itself. They have shared their exceptionally deep research by posting dozens of pages of excerpts from the Concrete Herald about the river, attempts to corral it plus many more subjects.
Mortimer Cook's store that has weathered 15 years [actually 12] rose with the eddyin
waters and turned half way round before lodging against some trees and stumps.
Fruitvale and Sterling, between Sedro-Woolley & Burlington, were completely inundated. Two barns stored with hay and feed were wrenched from their foundations and rushed down with the torrent, until striking the Great Northern railway bridge at Burlington, they were shattered and their contents strewn upon the waters, wended their hurried way oceanward. The large orchards of this district were badly damaged by logs and stumps that bent and broke the trees like pipestems.
[Ed. note: The word Sedro-Woolley is in bold because this article is the earliest instance we have seen of the hyphenation. This was two years before the merger of the towns in December 1898. Was the hyphenated name already being floated about back then as a suggested compromise between the respective stubborn forces of Sedro and Woolley? We ask because the Times was bankrolled by Junius Brutus Alexander, one of the bulwarks of the Twin Cities Business League, which was lobbying heavily for the merger of the towns as the county climbed out of the mid-'90s Depression.
Geocache was based off of Beach Bum Doggies cache nearby. Information was provided by the Skagit River Journal.