This may SEEM remote from Snohomish County, and Puget Sound, but the Genealogy applies as you will see in the COMMENTS. First, Ref The HERALD, Everett WA Date: Sat. Dec 29, 2001 Page(s) Explore Section pp F1, F2 http://heraldnet.com/search/ Article: Little Venice of the Northwest Charm floats in Skamokawa By: Story and Photos by Stevan MORGAN, Special to The Herald Large PIX captioned Skamokawa Town Center site at the heart of an area in southwest Washington once named ' Little Venice of the Northwest." Then, another PIX captioned The balcony views from Skamakawa Town Center's bed and breakfast look out over Skamakowa harbor and the Columbia River's channel islands. Then, an incert map showing WA State with an area of detail outlined in red superimposed on the town of Skamakowa near the mouth of the Columbia River West of I-5 at Longview on State Route 4. COMMENT: I "discovered" this place SKAMOKAWA, W.T. (WA. Territory) in an 1877 Letter which my Great Great Grandfather, Jason S. CLARK, wrote to his children. But, before I get into that, I wish to say that I really mispronounced the name of this town as SKAM - A - KAW- WA with accent on the KAW part of it. I inadvertently put the Accent on the WRONG SYL-LOL-BUL !!! But, upon visiting the Place, I come to find that it was Pronounced - Ska-mock-a-wah, or as the article states, Ska-mock-a-way. Lewis and Clark (not mine)wrote about especially in their diaries. The 1st steam vessel along the Columbia River appeared at Skamokawa circa 1902. In 1921 its population had grown to 5,000. CAN YOU IMAGINE what it was like in 1877 when the Letter was written? That's what I thot, so I had to go there - I felt that I MUST visit Skamakawa. With another couple (parents of one of my former 4th. Grade students of 1960, Alderwood Elementary School built 1908, we were on our way to stay over night at Ocean Shores in a rented trailer home. When we got to Cathlemet, WA we made a quick stop at the Wahkiakiakum County Historical Society Museum (formerly Birnie's Retreat 1846) I inquired about Skamokawa and I begged my wife and friends to make a brief stopover at the place I had read about in the 1877 Letter written by my Grt Grt GF. So, a few miles along Hwy 4, we came to the tiny village of Skamokawa. I looked around me- almost able to see the whole village around me. We stopped at the liveliest place in this village - a General Store. There, I learned to pronounce the name of the Place correctly or as close to what the Natives called it. I learned that it consisted of a lot of waterways used by the Indians and the Pioneers of the region. It certainly was a Venice-like myriad of waterways used for trade routes, etc. Since my Time was limited - I was a "quick onlooker" with history and nostalgia on my brain while my driver, his wife, and mine were onlookers who weren't of the same mind as mine. I was Prejudiced by that Letter I had read in his original handwriting. (No paragraphing!) I quicly looked over the Literature displayed in the General Store - I could have spent a few days looking around the Store and the Area, but there those who were WAITING for me. So, I quickly spied a softcover book, titled SKAMOKAWA: Sad Years, Glad Years by Irene Martin at $6.95 + Tx.1985 copyright. All the towns, or villages in this area are of Indian origin, which is like a foreign language to the uninformed, of which there are many of us! There are many spellings of what is spelled Skamokawa today. Therefore the pronunciation and spelling is rather a compromise from the original forms from the Past. My purchase of the 41 pp booklet on the Place is highly informative and interesting but I will not venture there. Now, for the Letter written by Jason S(quire) CLARK: (written exactly as he wrote it to the letter !) "Skamokawa, W.T. August 12 1877 Dear Children grand C i am wel and harty i wish this wo find you ingoying the same great blesing i got your kind leteter 8 days a go but was going sparking thought i Could anser yer lieter when i got back s to that great trans action i Cant say to a day ithink 4 or 5 weeks do you no any thing about Mrs Hackneys Caractor if any thing bad let mee no post hast i am now a lone keeping back had a Chance to take in a 2 families but i have lost anough nearly half my biding a burnt Child dreads the fire if i Could talk to you 3 days you might no something a bout it i sold one hundred dolars worth of goods in seven days trade is improving fishing is over money more plenty i hope i wil make up my loses this fall if the Porte and Merchants dont get afrade of mee Right soon Your father L S Clark Just to fill in the cracks a bit, Jason & wife Anna MICHAEL Clark (IN to OR Pioneers 1847) had lived OR 1847-1865; came to White River Vly WA Terr 1865. They had homesteaded there (now Kent, WA). Anna died, Jason lived alternately between White River (Kent) and Hartland/High Prairie 12 mi N of Lyle, WA (Columbia River nr The Dalles), but he sold his land and went to Portland OR where he was a merchant during a 15 yr period. It was during this time that he apparently went to Skomakawa in 1877 - he was courting ("sparking") Mrs. Hackney at the time, and he eventually married her as his 2nd wife. She died eventually and I discovered via the National Archives, Seattle on a card that he'd married a 3rd time, but she survived him and therefore must have gotten the land that he had acquired after coming back from Portland and living between Kent, WA (White River Vly) and down near Lyle, WA (Columbia River Territory) Klickitat Co. As I recall and I won't look it up he lived to circa 90 yrs so he had quite a history and legacy but I'll be darned if anyone ever got a picture of him. I have a PIX of his Father, Archibald Clark, the Circuit Riding Preacher from CT who spread The Word in IN, OH, ILL, and possibly IA. He d. in IN. So, now you see why I am so Verbose, Long Winded, and Nostalgic, occasionally mis-using the Language a bit. And now you know WHY I had to Stop at Skamokawa on the way to Ocean Shores years ago dragging friends and wife to places you cannot easily Pronounce and because an ancestor that left a bit of a record that caused me to want to go there- even for a few minutes. One of many places that I visited that Jason had lived many many years AGO ! I guess you could say -"They Want to be Found!" and I made the effort to Find ! even if it had all CHANGED . Carroll in Snohomish * * * 30 * * *