Mount Vernon trades on its riverside pride

We would imagine that it was Gilbert LaBerge and/or Fred Barnier who arranged for their Mount Vernon ferry across the Skagit River to be photographed with the burgeoning Skagit County seat on the far shore, except that one of them is cut off at the knees. The ferry proprietors are both listed in the 1889-90 Washington State Gazetteer, as are all three of the Mount Vernon hotels whose signs appear on the far shore.

The original photo in the Skagit Valley Historical Society's research library has a caption scrawled on the border: "Mt. Vernon before the fire of 1891." The fire destroyed most of the business district shown here, and so a new commercial strip was built two blocks to the east, farther from the river. With the arrival also that year of the Seattle and Northern Railroad, the Skagit River and its steamers got competition in moving the valley's produce, lumber and citizens to markets.

Two years later, in 1893, the first bridge across the river — a wooden truss with a drawspan — was built here. Although more convenient, the bridge was still not much faster than the ferry. Signs on either side warned, "$25 fine for riding or driving over this bridge faster than a walk."

The 1889-90 Gazetteer includes an impressive list of Mount Vernon concerns, including two banks, four churches, a skating rink, two music teachers, a cornet band, a sawmill, billiard hall and stores for all the necessities as well as a few luxuries, such as jewelry.

In 1890 the Skagit News (also a book store and job printer) was already 6 years old, and today's Skagit Valley Herald is its descendant.

(For a great illustrated horde of "Northwest Corner" history, check out another publication at www.skagitriverjournal.com.)

Check out Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard's blog at www.pauldorpat.com.