Prosperity tempered by stuggles with fire & race

By JON BAUER
American staff writer

Anacortes started the 1900s having already accepted its loss in the race to become the metropolis of the West.

But that didn't mean that Anacortes had to accept a future of a backwards town with no prosperity to offer its residents. Anacortes boosters, including the owners of the American, showed no shame in promoting Anacortes and crowing the news each time a new mill or cannery announced it was locating here.

One bit of puffery that appeared in the American purported to be a conversation of two men in a local hotel, one from Anacortes and one from Bellingham, each touting the benefits of his community.

"If you are looking for an ideal spot for a city," begins the Anacortes booster, "centrally located with respect to shipping, a safe harbor, level townsite with deep water right up to a high tide line, scenery unsurpassed and climate just right, railroad facilities and everything else necessary to make a beautiful, prosperous and happy community, you'd better bring you family and household effects down here to Anacortes.

"There are no vacant houses here, but we'll loan you a tent, as it doesn't rain much here as mush as it does in Whatcom. You'll manage to stand it until you can get a house built."

That and other self-promotion must have worked. By the midpoint of the decade the city had several lumber and shingle mills and a thriving cannery industry. In 1905, a tally of the city's canneries predicted runs of 100,000 cases each at the Alaska Packing, Fidalgo Island Packing and Northern Fisheries canneries, another 75,000 cases at the Porter Fish Co. and 25,000 each at the White Crest and Apex canneries.

J. A. Matheson had two codfish schooners, the Lizzie Colby and Fannie Dutard, making regular deliveries. While the Robinson Fish Co.'s schooners Alice and Joseph Russ also made regular visits. The need for labor was so great that Robinson brought 40 fishermen from Gloucester, Mass., "a fine, sober lot," to work the dories from his schooner with the hope the men would settle in Anacortes.

The Gloucester fishermen fared better than other outsiders who came to Anacortes seeking work.

Some were not as welcoming to Japanese who came to work in the mills. In late spring of 1900, a mob of about 100 protested outside the W. M. Rodgers mill about the Asians that were employed there. No actual violence was reported, but the American reported that many made threats that they would "run the little Oriental fellows out of town." Rodgers defended his employment of the Japanese, complaining that others in the town had refused to work for the wage he paid. And while those at the mill may have remained, another mob reportedly confronted a boat that had landed at Anacortes with more Japanese. None of the immigrants were allowed to leave the boat, and it was instead sent south to Seattle.

Fires were more of a threat to jobs than immigrants, however. And in the early years of the century, Anacortes had little means to fight those fires. Fires were most common in the mills, particularly in the shingle mills where shakes would be dried in large kilns and a spark could ignite a pile of sawdust.

When an entire city block, include the Skagit Saloon, was lost to fire in late 1902, the city quickly organized a volunteer fire department. But equipping the department and improving the city's water mains took longer. Lines were small and with little pressure, but raising money for improvements was difficult. Rodgers lost his mill in a fire in 1904, even as improvements were being made to the water line to the mills. He rebuilt, and water lines were laid and improvements made to the fire department, but fires continued to plague the city's mills as long as the city had mills.

Anacortes lost two of its pioneers in the century's first decade.

Hiram A. March, died in February of 1905, short of his 79th birthday. March came to what was then Whatcom county, later Skagit, in 1853. He started farming in 1863 and by 1885 was raising cauliflower seed, the only producer of such seed in America. March, commander of the Anacortes Yacht Club, died with the title of Commodore.

The following year Annie Curtis Bowman, widow of the town's founder, Amos Bowman, and inspiration for the city's name, died while in Pacific Grove, Calif., caring for her ailing son, Ben Bowman. She had been gone since 1894. Annie Curtis Bowman was born in Belville, N. J. in 1850 and came to Anacortes in 1877 where she met and married Amos.

Her body was brought back to Anacortes, and following a funeral procession attended by many, she was laid to rest next to her husband at Mountain View (now Grandview) Cemetery.

Son Melville Curtis had remained in Anacortes and a year before his mother's death donated much of the southern portion of Cap Sante to the city for a public park. But it and city's first park, initially referred to as Block 75 and later renamed Great Northern Park, stood undeveloped for many years.

Anacortes residents didn't wait to establish a public library in Anacortes, once they learned Andrew Carnegie was offering money for communities that showed the proper commitment.

Even before approaching the philanthropist, library supporters pledged to raise $1,600 locally. The city also agreed, although one councilman dissented, to tax residents a total of $1,000 for the building's upkeep and donate land for the building. Carnegie came through and just before Christmas of 1908, word was received that Anacortes would get $10,000 for its library, enough for a two-story brick and cement building at Eighth Street and M Avenue. Construction began in the fall of 1909.

Chronology

1900

Anacortes celebrates the arrival of the 1900s with a masquerade ball at Tyee Camp No. 453's Woodsmen of the World hall.

The W. R. Rodgers Mill and Box Factory receives orders for a half million boxes, including 200,000 fruit boxes destined for California.

The R. P. Thomas Shingle Mill makes a record one-day cut of 224,00 shingles.

An angry mob threatens to run Japanese workers at the Rodgers mill out of town.

1901  

A dispatch from Washington, D.C., confirms that Anacortes and Friday Harbor are now considered "subports of entry," allowing vessels to enter and clear those ports without making trips to Seattle or Tacoma.

North American Fisheries announces plans for a cannery with a capacity for 3,500 to 4,000 cans daily.

Al Hamilton is convicted for the 1899 shooting death of Anacortes lawyer D.M. Woodbury. An appeal is denied.

Hundreds attend a local memorial service at the Opera House for slain President McKinley.

1902 

A large storm sinks the steamers Laura and Fawn at Union Wharf and washes the Cupid ashore.

The steamer Bruce is in town to take a load of 375,000 shingles and lumber, the first such lumber export from Anacortes.

Al Hamilton (aka Hawkins) is hanged following a final meal of cocoa and raw eggs

The Alaska Steamship Co. files a complaint against Will A. Lowman and the White Crest Cannery because of what it calls illegal fish traps at the north end of Cypress Island.

Several business, including the Skagit Saloon, are lost when an entire city block burns. There is no fire department to fight the blaze, and little water pressure in the lines.

1903 

A local volunteer fire department with 35 members is organized with a hose company, ladder company and chemical company. An informal levy of businesses will support the effort.

City fathers talk of improving "Block 75" (Later Great Northern Park; later still, Causland Memorial) into the city's first park, and others want Anacortes to buy part of Cap Sante for the same purpose.

Capt. F.V. Hogan is elected mayor.

A telephone line is laid from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands.

1904  

The Rodgers saw mill is in ruins, despite an effort by 500 men to douse a blaze. The two-inch water pipe to the mill had little pressure. Rodgers rebuilds bigger and better.

Work continues to improve the water service to the mills, but the American recommends the purchase of a fire boat. A

 livestock law is now in effect: Horses, mules, cattle, sheep and goats may not run loose east of D Avenue and north of 10th Street.

City population estimated at 4,000 people with 626 registered voters.

1905 

Melville Curtis donates property on Cap Sante to the city for a public park.

H. A. March, one of the area's pioneers, passes on Feb. 9. He came here in 1853.

An Austrian man, hired to work on the Great Northern railway in town, is found bludgeoned and dead beneath a pile of boards. A fellow Austrian is believed responsible.

The canneries are operating at full capacity, with workers earning $2 to $4 a day.

1906  

Work has finished on the Burrows Island lighthouse, which stands 65 feet tall.

Forty fishermen from Gloucester, Maine arrive to work on the Robinson Fisheries schooners and settle in Anacortes.

Guemes Island is to get a ferry.

Annie Curtis Bowman, widow of town founder Amos Bowman, and for whom the town was named, dies in California while caring for her ailing son, Ben Bowman. She was 56.

Anacortes sends aid to San Francisco after the great fire.

The American moves to its new property at Sixth Street and Q Avenue.

1907 

A new smoke law passed by the city council brings a threat from Anacortes Lumber and Box that it will close its mill if the law is not repealed. After much discussion, the law stands, but the mill stays open.

The city and Great Northern Railroad tussle over details, but improvements to the railroad are made.

City's population is estimated at 4,500 to 6,000, but the paper notes that many "residents" are working on ships and in mines.

1908

The city buys a Seagrave hose wagon and 1,200 feet of hose for the fire department.

Councilman W.G. Beard convinces the council to purchase 1,200 acres of land for a city park, south of town with view of Burrows Bay and the strait.

The Independent Telephone Co. announces it will establish a direct line between Anacortes and Mount Vernon and has installed 10 phones at City Hall free.

A new rock quarry, with labor to be supplied by convicts, will be established near Deception Pass.

Just before Christmas Andrew Carnegie announces a $10,000 gift to the city to build a public library in Anacortes.

1909 

The Rodgers Mill is purchased by the Oregon Lumber Co. for $160,000. It will continue operation.

Plans for the library are announced. It will be two stories. Construction starts in fall.

There's a curfew in effect now; all those under 15 must be in by 8 p.m.