Project coordinators and editors were David Cameron, Charles LeWarne, Allan May, Jack O’Donnell, and Larry O’Donnell. Many contributions were made by local historians, experts, and genealogists to make this the most extensive county historical book ever. The last one was written by William Whitfiled in 1926.

The book is available through the Museum of Snohomish County History (425-259-2022), Pilchuck Books (425-303-0345) and many local stores and shops in Everett, Snohomish, Lake Stevens, Monroe, and Marysville.

Having grown up in Snohomish County, the book is especially important to me because of my family’s strong connection with the area.

On the Elwell side of the Knapp family, we can trace our roots back to Chief Seattle of the Suquamish tribe. His sister, Gow-Gue-Wait, our ancestor, married into the Snohomish Tribe. Even today, her descendants live in Snohomish County.

The book talks about the whites struggling for dominance and control of the Pacific Northwest Indians, which eventually resulted in many of the local Indian tribes and peoples being forced onto land set aside for them in the area of Tulalip, which borders Snohomish County to the northwest.

John Elwell (1841-1895), who married Guaquiath Kektidose of the Snohomish tribe and daughter of Gow-Gue-Wait, was among the first men to see the “gold in them thar trees” and helped developing the logging industry. His sons, Charles and Simon Elwell, worked the Snohomish and Skagit Rivers, as well as the whole waterway of Puget Sound building boats and ferries, and hauling logs, supplies, and passengers up and down the rivers.

They are also mentioned on page 112 regarding the building of the town of Monroe, Washington:

Residents also participated in railroad construction activities. Barges 60 feet long and six to eight feet wide were filled with supplies and towed upriver by mules. Two brothers, Simon and Charles Elwell, built a 44-foot canoe to carry materials for railroad construction. Reportedly, the huge craft could hold up to 4,700 pounds.

The Knapp family also has its roots strongly embedded in Snohomish County, marrying into the Elwell, Odell, and Handley pioneer families. The Knapp brothers had grown up in the logging camps of Northern Wisconsin, so they came with experience and strong backs to work the rivers and logging camps with the Elwell family.

The West family also has a long tradition as part of the history of Snohomish County. Howard West Sr. and his son, Howard West Jr., lived their lives in the Pacific Northwest between Oregon and Washington. Howard Sr. called Everett, Washington, his home since not long after World War I. He worked on the lighthouses and dams throughout Washington State for all of his adult life, serving in the Coast Guard and Lighthouse Service, after an early stint with the Marines.

“Snohomish County: An Illustrated History” is a valuable resource to help us understand all of the cultural, political, and societal issues going on during the times of our ancestors. I learned of the political battles that overthrew the town of Mukilteo, where I spent my teenage years, as center of Snohomish County to the town of Snohomish, which was later taken over by Everett, as an open port city and military base, and eventually the home of Boeing.

Snohomish County has a very diverse and mixed history, not all pretty, but not all terrible, and gives us a chance to see what it was like for our ancestors as they struggled to survive in a tough new wilderness.

The records and legal papers in all the cases which have been tried before the higher courts of Snohomish county from 1875 to the present time and thousands of other legal papers are carefully filed away in the vault of the county clerk. Thousands of interesting documents of all kinds, some yellowed with age, and in the quaintest handwriting imaginable; all the judgments and cases which have come before the superior court up to the present time, and also the district court, when Washington was a territory, are filed there.

There are 19,670 cases on file in the Snohomish county clerk’s vault, besides hundreds of miscellaneous documents…

…The first suit in Snohomish county was filed February 12,1876, with County Clerk H. A. Gregory, the case being a suit for damages for assault, George Plumb versus John Richards. The assault was said to have been committed December 13, 1875…

…The first case filed after Washington became a state, and the court became a county superior court instead of a district court was filed on November 19, 1889, four days after statehood had been granted to Washington.
Everett Daily Herald Article
Oldest Documents in Snohomish County Records
January 7, 1916

What I found delightful is that the oldest record on file is from May 14, 1867:

On May 14, 1867, a party of three young couples were married at the home of James Hayes, different members of the party acting as witnesses for each other. James Hayes was wedded to Caroline Lily; John Elwell became the husband of Sarah Smith, and Charles Harriman married Elizabeth Pero.

Well, what do you know. One of my ancestors by marriage was one of the first to create a paper trail in the future Snohomish County records.

The article also explains that the act to regulate marriages passed in 1866 in the territory of Washington, which meant that getting married had more paperwork and money involved. Marriages had to be registered and “licensed”, bringing government control over marriage and income to the county and state.

“In the summer of 1900, Captain Charles Wright sold the City of Bothell and then the Snohomish and Skagit River Navigation Company was formed by Captain Charles Wright, Captain Charles Elwell, and Captain Vic Pinkerton. It was then decided to build a boat for towing on the Snohomish and Skagit rivers.

“Captain Charles Elwell made the hull model and Bob Houston was given the job of building the Black Prince.” Dimensions of the Black Prince were: hull, 93 feet; over-all length, 112 feet; beam, 19 feet; depth of hold, 5 feet; tonnage measurement was 159 gross tons, according to the captain…

…The first crew on the Prince in 1901, was Captain Elwell; Captain (Engr.) Wright; engineer Mike Hertzberg; Captain Pinkerton; Forrest Elwell, deck hand, and Wes Harbert, fireman.

“In the late summer of 1901, she made a trip between Novelty and Tolt. In 1902, the Prince took a two from Haskell Slough (near Monroe) to the mouth of the Snohomish River.”

…”In 1922, Captain Harry Ramwell of the American Tugboat Company purchased the Black Prince. She was sold to the Everett Port Commission in the year of 1935 for one dollar. The Port Commission then turned her over to the Everett yacht Club.”
“Time marches on and we found that the Black Prince was too small, too old, and too expensive to repair. She was dismantled in the late fall of 1956 to make room for a larger clubhouse.”

“As a memorial to the sternwheeler days, the paddle wheel of the Black Prince sits on the lawn of the Port Commision Office on the Everett waterfront.”
Stump Ranch Online – Black Prince – reprinted from the Skagit Valley Herald, October 7, 1964

The Black Prince ran up and down the rivers of Snohomish county, providing transportation for local and immigrating families, and moving supplies and materials to the outlying Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Northern and Central Cascade Mountains.

Two Elwells were directly involved in the history of the Black Prince. Charles Elwell (1865-1947) was part of the original team that helped to build and captain the paddle wheel boat. Forest Elwell (circa 1880-1970), brother of Charles, became captain of the Black Prince in 1907. Charles and Forest were the sons of John Elwell (1843-1895) and Susan (Guaquiath Kektidose (Guag-Wah-Ah)), an Indian from the Snohomish Tribe, and a descendant of the famous Chief Seattle.

Another departed old timer whose life work was as a tow boat operator on the Skagit and Snohomish rivers was Capt. Forrest Elwell, 90, who passed on at Everett.

He was more than a real pioneer; his grandmother was a sister of chief Seattle. He made his home in Mount Vernon many years where he skippered the river tugboat, Black Prince, well known to so many in delta areas and in Mount Vernon. Later he built the Ora Elwell. The boats took tows of logs from upriver to rafting areas on the lower Skagit, Skagit Bay and some on to Everett, and some of his boats also were in towing service on Snohomish river.

In his later years he was skipper on the Black Ball Ferries from which he retired in 1954. There he was captain on the ferry Quillayute on the Anacortes-San Juan run. In 1933 he was asked to serve for two terms as a member of the state planning commission as the Skagit authority on flood control, bank erosion and soil erosion.

The Everett Yacht Club took over the Black Prince as headquarters on its retirement and today a banquet room there is named for the old boat, with a model of it occupying a place of honor in the foyer.
John Conrad’s obituary notes: Colorful Lives 1970 Pioneer Picnic, part 1

For more information on the Elwell brothers and their adventures on the Snohomish rivers and Pacific Northwest, see:

• John Conrad’s obituary notes: Colorful Lives 1970 Pioneer Picnic, part 1
• Tug Black Prince bringing Logs down the Skagit River to Mt. Vernon – Tugboat Ora Elwell
• Stump Ranch Online – Black Prince – reprinted from the Skagit Valley Herald, October 7, 1964