Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.
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This Week Then
6/12/2025
The Brink of War
In 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain, an act that would greatly affect the burgeoning fur trade in the Pacific Northwest. After that war ended, Britain and the United States agreed to peacefully coexist in the region. The joint occupation lasted until Britain ceded its claims on June 15, 1846, when the Treaty of Oregon established the 49th parallel as the international boundary on the mainland and awarded Vancouver Island to the British. However, the treaty ignored the existence of the San Juan Islands, leaving it unclear how the archipelago would be divided between the United Kingdom and its former colonies.
Amid rising tensions in the islands, on June 15, 1859, a wayward pig owned by the British Hudson's Bay Company wandered into an American garden on San Juan Island, which was jointly occupied by British subjects and American citizens. When farmer Lyman Cutlar discovered the boar digging around in his potato patch, he promptly shot it. The HBC demanded legal restitution, reheating a simmering dispute over the island's nationality that quickly escalated into a tense military standoff.
British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar. U.S. soldiers from Fort Bellingham were dispatched to the islands under the command of Captain George Pickett, who later became a Confederate general in the Civil War. Accompanying Pickett's infantry company was Edward Warbass, Fort Bellingham's sutler. He opened a company store near San Juan Town after his arrival and soon was elected to the territorial legislature as a representative from Whatcom County (to which the disputed San Juan Islands were assigned by the legislature.)
Meanwhile, the stalemate between Great Britain and the United States lasted 13 years without a shot being fired in combat by either side. Eventually, diplomacy prevailed when Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm arbitrated the matter, and in 1872 he granted the San Juan Islands to the United States. That same year, Warbass – who had left the island in 1864 to buy some sheep, but got waylaid in a series of adventures – returned just as the boundary dispute was being resolved. Seizing the moment, he successfully petitioned the territorial legislature to create San Juan County, with Friday Harbor as the county seat.
Farewell, Linda
HistoryLink.org is saddened this week by the death of our dear friend, Linda Holden Givens, who we have had the pleasure of working with for the past 10 years. Linda always had a positive outlook, a passion for history, and a delightful sense of humor. She was a constant joy to be around and we will truly miss her.
Linda was the granddaughter of Oscar Holden, the "Patriarch of Seattle Jazz," and her family included other musical luminaries such as her aunt, Grace Holden, her uncle Ron Holden, and her father, Dave Holden. In 2009, she wrote Holden on to Family Roots, which documented the work she did on family genealogy. Linda herself had a background in tech work and business analysis, and she also taught yoga, most recently for the Veterans Yoga Project.
On June 13, 1908, a group of Swedish Americans led by Dr. Nils A. Johanson incorporated Seattle's Swedish Hospital. Now known as Swedish Medical Center, it has since expanded to become one of the largest hospitals in the state.
On June 14, 1940, Native Americans throughout the Northwest gathered at Kettle Falls for a "Ceremony of Tears" to mourn the loss of their ancestral fishing grounds to waters rising behind Grand Coulee Dam. Work on the dam had begun in 1934, and by 1939 a vast reservoir – Lake Roosevelt -- took shape, submerging towns and landmarks as it grew.
Father's Day
In 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd sat in a Spokane church listening to a sermon about motherhood. Having been raised with five younger brothers by her widowed father, Dodd felt that fatherhood also deserved a "place in the sun," and she took it upon herself to advocate a special day for dads. After receiving an enthusiastic endorsement from the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the YMCA, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane on June 19, 1910. The concept spread, and by the 1920s Father's Day was commonly observed throughout the country.
Disarray
On June 13, 1942, the ground opened up in downtown Seattle when a water main burst, sending passersby into a flooded sinkhole. Exactly one year later, residents looked to the skies as bombers flew overhead in an attack on Husky Stadium. Fortunately, the mock air raid was all part of a civil-defense demonstration.
Twenty-five years ago this week, on June 15, 2000, the Miss Freei broke the hydroplane world-speed record on Lake Washington, hitting 205.494 mph.
Quote of the Week
"This being United States territory, no laws, other than those of the United States, nor courts, except such as are held by virtue of said laws, will be recognized or allowed on this island."
