North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: SKAGIT RIVER

Dohne (Goodell's Landing)

Map showing Goodell's Landing complex (T37N, R12E, Sec. 20).
Tracing from Skagit River Railway: Rockport to Power Camp Map 1920-21.

Beyond Babcock's ranch the river valley narrowed noticeably and good bottomland was virtually non-existent. Only one settler moved onto the last practical piece of land available along the Skagit at a site just below the point where the valley closed in forming the nearly impassable Skagit River Canyon. August Dohne (also spelled Dohn, Doan) was one of the earliest to arrive on the upper Skagit, and became a notable personage before leaving the area in 1918. Like many others, Dohne was lured into the North Cascades by promises of rich mineral deposits. Unlike most of his counterparts, however, he was successful in establishing a homestead and business that sustained him year-round for many years. His story is inextricably woven into the history of human accomplishments within these rugged northern mountains.

Dohne first came up the Skagit River ca. 1892-3. Initially he claimed land just below Goodell Creek and erected a small cabin. In 1897 Dohne had the opportunity to purchase a roadhouse a short distance upriver from him, at the head of canoe navigation and 16 miles from Marblemount (T37N R12E, Section 21). This property, known as Goodell's Landing, was located on, high-ground above the Skagit River, and included several log buildings. It was first developed by N.E. Goodell, a Portland, Oregon, entrepreneur who set up a store for miners in 1879. [96] About 1880, Harrison Clothier and Ed English, two mining promoters from Mount Vernon, established a new trading post at the landing. As the final outpost of civilization before the mountain wilderness, the post rapidly became known as the place to obtain lodging, or to exchange gold for food and supplies. [97]

"Goddells Place" along the Skagit River
(Darius Kinsey photo, Callahan Collection, Seattle)

Prior to Dohne's purchase, Goodell's Landing had passed through a number of owners and proprietors. When Dohne first came to the area Reese Jones owned the property. Jones sold to Harry Dennis in the mid-1890s. In the summers of 1893 and 1895, Mrs. Lucinda Davis and her family operated the roadhouse, enabling Dennis to go prospecting. Davis' experience at Goodell's Landing undoubtedly encouraged her to open a roadhouse of her own in 1898 at Cedar Bar, farther up the Skagit River. It was Harry Dennis who sold the property and its improvements to August Dohne in 1897. [98]

As the new proprietor, Dohne continued to operate the roadhouse until 1901, when an accidental fire destroyed the log structures. Dohne began to rebuild immediately, and over the next few years he constructed a two-story log dwelling, a smaller house, and an L-shaped barn. When the GLO surveyors came through the township in 1906, they recorded that Dohne had several acres of land cleared and planted in garden and in clover. [99] They noted that the upper Skagit River trail passed through the property, dividing the buildings from Dohne's sizable orchard to the north. [100]

By the time the Forest Homestead Act was enacted in 1906, Dohne had been living at Goodell's Landing for nearly a decade. He applied for homestead entry in 1908, and Ranger Calvin Farrar examined the claim shortly thereafter. Farrar found that Dohne's homestead consisted of a two-story, eight-room cedar structure, valued at $500, a barn, and a bunkhouse. Of the 124 acres of land, 3 acres had been plowed and 10 more were cleared. [101] Although Dohne plainly met all necessary requirements as stated in the June Act, his claim was questioned and debated by the USFS for several years. Finally, on April 25, 1910, Dohne received final certification of the land; six months later he gained title to his fully patented homestead.

Although the roadhouse burned down again in 1913, Dohne rebuilt it and continued his business of supplying miners and travelers. His guests ranged from USFS rangers, who tried to patronize all of the local roadhouses, to U.S. Geological Survey employees. [102] Dohne stopped working in 1918 when he became ill and had to be taken downriver to Sedro Woolley for medical help. He died shortly thereafter.

Dohne left no heirs. His homestead was sold one year later in probate court and received two bids. Bingham Investment Company, the highest bidder, paid $3,000 for a log house and 124 acres, only to have it condemned two months later by Seattle City Light. City Light had already begun its extensive Skagit River hydroelectric project and needed Dohne's property for a work camp site. City Light awarded the Bingham Company $27,000 for the land. [103] Today, there are no structures remaining from Dohne's roadhouse operation at Goodell's Landing. The property was incorporated into Seattle City Light's Newhalem, a work-camp-turned-city, in the 1920s. The site of Dohne's main building is now in the backyard of a company house. Only a lilac bush stands nearby to suggest the location of a vanished structure. [104]

August Dohne's roadhouse at Goodell's Landing, 1917. Dohne on far left.
(NOCA-Sedro Woolley photo file: from Gaspar Petta)