Forum Index > Pacific NW History > Where was 1880's Skagit Pass?
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Snowbrushy
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PostSun Dec 25, 2005 5:52 pm 
This 1880 article in The Yakama Record refer's to Skagit Pass in the third papagraph. Does anyone know where that is? Hart's Pass? http://www.rootsweb.com/~wakcgs/yak_rec_02071880.html And the 6th paragraph here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wakcgs/yak_rec_07101880.html

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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Snowbrushy
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PostSun Dec 25, 2005 7:11 pm 
SKAGIT PASS?
Rainy Pass? I believe they are refering to the Ruby Creek gold rush.

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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Quark
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PostSun Dec 25, 2005 10:11 pm 
I wonder if it's Cascade Pass? If the article is from Kittitas Co, I think the way to get there would have been up through Chelan and over - but I think Cascade Pass was always refered to as Cascade Pass. I have a book on the history of Hwy 20 which discusses the various previous routes, Cascade Pass being the first choice at the time. I'll check it out, nless Mike Collins chimes in. He knows everything.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Newt
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PostSun Dec 25, 2005 10:24 pm 
Check out this PDF on pg 4 as it makes mention of it.

It's pretty safe to say that if we take all of man kinds accumulated knowledge, we still don't know everything. So, I hope you understand why I don't believe you know everything. But then again, maybe you do.
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Jake
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PostSun Dec 25, 2005 10:54 pm 
Early name for Park Creek Pass used by miners heading from the dry country to the Ruby Creek and Thunder Creek mines. Reference: North Cascades Highway by one of my favorite ladies, Joann Roe. See the map on pages 32 and 33. You need to look close near the top of the pages and from the right to see it plainly.

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Quark
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PostMon Dec 26, 2005 10:44 am 
Yo, Jake. That's the book I was going to crack open but can't find. Ms. Roe does some killer in-depth research, and writes her findings very clearly.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Barron Brown
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PostMon Dec 26, 2005 6:55 pm 
I think it is probably Cascade Pass. There was no single well-established passes into the Skagit drainage as of 1880, so far as I can tell, but Cascade Pass was probably the best established. Rainy Pass had not yet been discovered by whites in 1880; it appears not to have been used by Indians either at that date. Beckey's Range of Glaciers covers, in exhaustive detail, the exploration of almost every pass in the Washington Cascades. The Skagit watershed was one of the last to be explored by white men. Daniel Linsley, leader of a Northern Pacific survey in 1870, ventured up the Skagit as far as the Sauk; there his Indian guides informed him that there was "no prospect of finding any pass through the mountains to Lake Chelan." In spite of this warning, his party successfully explored several passes in the next few months:"Kaiwhat Pass", between Glacier and Dome Peaks and the Sauk/Stehekin drainages, and Linsley's and Indian Passes, between the Sauk and Lake Wenatchee. Later that summer, Linsley's party also explored the Cascade Pass region from the Chelan side. Weather was particularly awful for this portion of the survey. Beckey comments, "Linsley, probably discouraged by the incessant rain and formidable mountain precipices blocking the routes[remember, they were scouting for a railroad line], made no comments on what is today considered a spellbinding alpine wilderness." Unless I skipped a reference in Beckey, the first complete crossings of the Cascades in the Skagit region were made by the US Army. Four Army surveys took place on the East side of the range in 1882 and 1883; only one of these actually crossed the range, at Cascade Pass. The party which explored the Methow drainage went far enough to see the Early Winter Spires, but strangely enough made no mention of them; they did not discover the later Washington/Rainy Pass route that Hwy 20 eventually followed. A hiker of the 21st Century would have no trouble sympathizing with the miseries of these early parties. Here is one excerpt, penned at Pelton Basin, just east of Cascade Pass, in the month of August: "During the night the sleet became snow, and what with the weirdlike darkness, the thunder of falling masses of ice [off Johannesburg Mountain] into the neighboring canyons, the ceaseless roar of the torrents, and the howling of the wind, the situation was dismal beyond description."

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polarbear
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PostMon Dec 26, 2005 11:50 pm 
Here is a reference to a party making the second confirmed Euro-American crossing of Cascade Pass in 1877.
Quote:
With sixty-pound packs on their backs and rifles in place, the party set out along an old Indian trail... ....The party spent the next two days recreating and fishing in Lake Chelan while Klement and fellow traveler Joe Seaam sought to replenish their provisions, traveling downlake in canoes found at the head of the lake. Supposedly these canoes were owned and kept hidden by Skagit Indians who frequently crossed Cascade Pass as a trade route
Hmmmm....60 lb packs and no Cascade River Road... hmmm.gif I had the good fortune a few years ago to incidentally join up with a couple members of the Skagit tribe that were attempting to reestablish their old trading route. I still remember the dried clams they gave me. Very tasty!

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Quark
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PostTue Dec 27, 2005 9:32 am 
With all due respect to Norman Clyde, I found my JoAnn Roe book and the map Jake refers to. Indeed Skagit Pass is listed where today's Park Creek Pass is located.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Timber Cruiser
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PostTue Dec 27, 2005 10:33 pm 
Park Creek Pass
Looking through Park Creek Pass from miner's cabin.  June 30,1931
Looking through Park Creek Pass from miner's cabin. June 30,1931
I was going to do some research on Park Creek Pass this winter to put together some retracement hikes next year. This shot was from a 65 mile hike my grandparents did in '31. They must have spent the night in the cabin because on the back of the photo they made a reference to the "packrat incident". I hiked much of the future route of Highway 20, forty years ago next summer (I was very young!). I'll have to download the report from Newt's link and check out some of the references others have mentioned. Tom, My first attempt at using Flickr, so I hope I got the file size right.

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Quark
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PostTue Dec 27, 2005 11:38 pm 
Wow, TC, you're my new hero! What a great photo. I'm pretty confident in speaking for many of us that we'd love to hear about your hike along the Hwy 20 route, and any stories your grandfolks told you about their trips. You should have a party and invite us over (well at least me) and tell us all about it! I can't ever get enough of the Hwy 20 route stories and the early days of recreational hiking. This revelation of yours and the photo beats just about any cool thing I can think of; it certainly makes changing-color Silly Putty seem downright useless and frivolous. wow!

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Snowbrushy
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PostWed Dec 28, 2005 6:46 am 
CONFUSED AS HELL
I'm very confused because some thing's are contradictory: Clearly there were at least two Skagit Pass's. I suspect that Twisp Pass had something to do with the route. http://www.rootsweb.com/~wakcgs/yak_rec_07101880.html In this article a Mr. Danskin say's that a wagon road goes almost all the way to the mines in 1880. Route over Twisp Pass? And then a wagon road over Park Creek Pass or Cascade Pass? Doubtful. What about the PCT route up Bridge Creek? I wonder exactly which 1880 "Skagit" mine they are refering too? Jake, if you are who I think you are you are an authority who will know all about that... Quark, what year is your map from? I hate being confused, and I think I'll go back to bed. Thank's for helping me figure this mystery out - I'll sleep much better. redface.gif

Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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Quark
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PostWed Dec 28, 2005 9:10 am 
Unclear if your doubt is that there was a wagon road over Cascde Pass? (there was). What I always try to remember when reading old timey articles about mines is the sensationalism and the marketing behind them. It could be that this articles about the mines on this thread are intentionally misleading folks ot think is easy to get to ("come one, come all, there's plenty of gold up in them thar hills! Enough for everyone!" Manifest Destiny style of writing. For instsance, if you read news articles about the Alaska Gold rush, you'd think it was on Easy Street in Eden. IMy map is the same Jake refered to, in Jo Ann Roe's account of Rte. 20. I'll check the date when I get home, unless Jake has his book handy.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Snowbrushy
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PostWed Dec 28, 2005 9:17 am 
Joseph
This photo taken on the shore of Lake Chelan in 1889. Was this at "Camp Chelan" along the old wagon road to Skagit Pass?
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Oh Pilot of the storm who leaves no trace Like thoughts inside a dream Heed the path that led me to that place Yellow desert stream.
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Jake
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PostWed Dec 28, 2005 8:45 pm 
In those days the term "road" could be taken very lightly. Any thought you may have of comparing the Cascade Mountain roads with the wagon roads we see on television westerns can be quickly forgotten. On the Naches Pass route (then as now called a trail) there were eighty some crossings of the river (fording, no bridges) and at one point they had to unhitch the teams and lower the wagons over a steep cliff with rawhide ropes. At Harts Pass the road was so narrow they had to cut the width of the wagons down the middle just to use them to supply the mines. When the Ballards brought in motorized trucks they also had to be cut down to twentyeight inches in width. Considering the above, one can only imagin what a wagon road over Cascade or Skagit (Park Creek Pass) would have been like. The map in Joann Roe's fine book does not have a date on it or it was cut out in editing. I have a couple old maps of the area during it's hayday but none show any Skagit Pass. The map Joann used came from Canada. It is not unusual to see names change over time and some names are multiple. Try counting all the Cady Passes in the state. I've come accross five so far without looking. Anyway...enough of my rambling for now, but before I go I'll say that Joann's map is old and would have been made during the gold rush. And one should remember that miners going to Ruby Creek or Thunder Creek would have likely gone over Skagit Pass (Park Creek) early on while miners headed in to the Cascade River area would have used the Cascade Pass route from the east side. For sure before the famous Goat Trail was made more traveler friendly.

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