Unless they study old pictures, most people living in this area can not know the extent of damage that was done by the late 19th and early 20th century; and quite frankly, judging by the actions of those around us, most still do not care. Thousands of acres of trees that were 6 to 8 feet ( and larger ) in diameter and hundreds of years old were wiped out in a period of less that 50 years. How do I know this? For one thing I have studied the remains of what used to be here on this piece of land. There are some stumps that are, after a fire and some decay, still close to 8 feet in diameter. I have lived in this area in or near forested pieces of land for 55 years and have been observing and making mental notes of what I have seen for the last 40 years. The thing that stands out most is the large number of huge (mostly cedar) stumps I have seen. I have traveled from Everett Washington to Bellingham and east to Mount

Kulshan, and many points in between and hiked on numerous forested areas and the common denominator is cedar stumps with springboard holes in them. A springboard was a large plank that the loggers stood on to cut down a tree. It was wedged in the side of the large trees by cutting a hole in the side up about 4 to 6 feet from the ground. This lets you know the tree was taken by the hand of man and not nature. After 40 years of making these observations I found confirmation of my suspicions by reading through a book by William Whitfield: History of Snohomish County Washington, Volume 1. Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, Chicago, Seattle 1926. This book has many pictures of the destruction in progress. From the information in this book one can surmise that the destruction consisted of more than thousands of acres. If you happen to read this book you will see that I am being very conservative in my description of what was done to this land and the people who lived here for thousands of years. The destruction of the forest was only part, and in my opinion, the least of the destruction.

© Copy right by James Bond 007