Pioneering Families Magazine 2015 by Ferndale Record

The Ferndale Record proudly presents its 5th Annual

PIONEERING FA M I L I E S e WhatcoM CountY

FEATURING

Milton Harnden The Brown Family Lynden Pioneer Museum Carnation Building A supplement of the Ferndale Record - July 2015

Welcome Dear Readers, The Ferndale Record is proud to welcome you to its 2015 Pioneering Families magazine. We are very proud to annually write about and feature some of the families that helped to shape this amazing place we call home…….. Whatcom County! These pioneering families live amongst you in Ferndale, Custer, Everson, Lynden, Sumas, Birch Bay and Bellingham. They experienced many hardships and struggles along the way, mixed with great joy and much success. It’s hard to imagine how they accomplished so much with what we today would consider so little? As we celebrate our Old Settlers this month in Ferndale, please take a few moments to read and learn more about some of your neighbors and friends. We hope you enjoy our stories and tribute to these remarkable men and women.

Publisher

Contributing Writers Brent Lindquist Cameron Van Til Calvin Bratt

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Layout & Graphics Amanda Haslip Advertising Sales Shirley Obermeier Jan Brown

Milton Harnden

f Ferndale:

Unbeatable Wrestler By Cameron Van Til

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

He went on to over 1,000 wins, but otherwise was ‘the nicest person in the world,’ relative remembers.

ne by one, they would line up. And one by one, in mere minutes, they would be defeated. When Milton Harnden went with traveling carnivals throughout his wrestling years of the 1910s and 1920s, it was quite the spectacle. At each stop, the carnival would announce Harnden’s offer to wrestle anybody in town, and many took him up on the challenge. With a glimpse of the Ferndale wrestler’s 5-foot-5 stature and a robe hiding his broad shoulders and chiseled torso, many would severely underestimate this young man’s abilities. “All the loggers and farmers said, ‘Look at that little runt — we can take care of him,’” said Bob Harnden, recounting what he’s been told of his great-uncle’s wrestling days. Little did the loggers and farmers know that Milton was a highly successful professional wrestler, one who held the world lightweight championship for several years. So one after another, regardless of size, the contestants would try, and fall victim to Milton’s extraordinary wrestling talent. In shockingly quick fashion, the wiry 135-pounder would defeat them in succession, needing only minutes for each, Bob Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

said. For Milton, the path to such wrestling prowess — and the world title — began as a young boy. He was born in Wisconsin in 1888. Shortly after, Milton’s father, a Civil War veteran, moved his family to Ferndale in the brand-new state of Washington. Growing up with a small body and as the youngest in a large family, Milton was at a disadvantage when he and his brothers playfully horsed around, and consequently he often found himself the one getting beat up. One day, Milton decided enough was enough. “It’s not going to happen anymore,” was Milton’s mindset, as Bob recalled. “I’m going to be ready for them next time.” It was that motivation, Bob said, that drove Milton not only to take up wrestling, but to start running and training — for strength exercises, he’d use the 1900s equivalent of dumbbells. “His main reason (for getting into wrestling) was he hated getting taken advantage of by his older brothers,” Bob said. “So it was a matter of self-defense and personal pride that he started.” And once he began, Milton was a natural. In 1909, just a year into professional wrestling at the age of 19, Milton earned the Northwest Washington lightweight wrestling championship. The 5

victory improved him to 8-0 in his young career, Daily earned a pin with another toehold and again which included wins over “men much heavier than injured Milton, tearing ligaments in his leg. himself,” according to the Tacoma Daily News. This time, however, the referee ruled that Milton continued his ascent over the next Daily had continued the toehold past the moment five years, and remained undefeated heading into in which the pin had been called. As a result, the a match against John Billiter of Ohio on June 12, injured Milton was awarded the match and the 1914 in Bellingham’s Beck Theater, now known as world lightweight championship. American Theater. At stake — or at least what was Milton held the title for several years, and by thought to be — was the world lightweight title. 1924 had amassed 1,000 career victories, according Milton eventually pinned Billiter in two hours to the Bellingham Herald. and 32 minutes before, having worn him out, need- After his wrestling career, Milton spent suming just 15 minutes to earn the second pin and win mers fishing in Sitka, Alaska, on his trolling boat, the match. (It took two pins to win a match.) the “Margie Claire.” The experience he gained from However, word came out afterward that Bilso much time on the Alaskan waters helped lead to liter, while maka pair of government jobs ing his journey to as a skipper there. Bellingham for the During World War II, “What do you think?” match, had stopped Milton served as the skipin Nebraska to wrestle per of a military transport Milton asked them. “Am another elite lightship that supplied Dutch weight, Owen Daily. Harbor, Alaska, and many I Milton the wrestler yet? Billiter, the reigning of the smaller surrounding world champion at harbors. Following that, he You think I still have it?” that time, lost the was a skipper for the Coast match to Daily, thus and Geodetic Survey (prerelinquishing the decessor of today’s National crown to the Nebraskan. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) on a That meant the title hadn’t been at stake in boat in the Bering Sea. the Harnden-Billiter match, news Billiter had kept After wrapping up his government work, quiet. Milton returned to his wife, Josephine Barnes, and Having both defeated the previous champion, his Neptune Beach farm on Creamer Road — they Milton and Daily then scheduled a title match later moved to Gooseberry Point after negotiations between one another the following year. It was held for the Mobil refinery in the 1950s all but forced Dec. 15, 1915 in front of 2,000 spectators, again in them off their property. Bellingham’s Beck Theater. Retirement for Milton certainly didn’t mean a Daily earned the first pin with a toehold 31 life of restful leisure, though. That wasn’t his style. minutes into the match, but broke Milton’s ankle “He was always working,” said Barbara Harnwhile doing so. The Ferndale wrestler was unable den, Bob’s wife. “Every time I saw him, he was out to return, and thus Daily retained the title. It apworking with the cows, or working on the field, or pears to be the only loss of Milton’s career. working in the garden. Always up to something.” Milton got another shot at Daily and the world Milton had always taken great pride in farmtitle just over a year later on Feb. 15, 1917. And this ing and maintaining his garden, even during his time he emerged victorious. wrestling years. “Some of the pictures I have are of With 2,500 packed into Beck Theater, Milton him, so proudly, in his garden with huge potatoes pinned Daily with an arm bar just seven minutes and so forth,” Bob said. “He was so proud of that into the match. An hour and eight minutes later, part of his life (that had) nothing to do with the 6

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

wrestling world.” Bob and Barbara have many fond memories of the times they spent with Milton and Josephine. An image etched in Barbara’s memory is of Milton, in his blue and white striped overalls and with his beloved dog at his feet, always being quick to offer a gift, such as a box of apples from his King brand trees. “Milton was an exceptional personality,” Barbara said. “He was just a real interesting, lovable guy. He always had a smile on his face.” One of Bob’s most distinct memories comes from when he was a teenager and Milton was likely in his late 40s. Family was gathered around what was a somewhat fragile table, and Bob’s father, all in good fun, was teasing Milton a bit about his strength and being a “tough guy,” in reference to his wrestling success. So Milton got up, asked everyone to hold the table in place and said, “I’ll show you what I can do.” Milton then took hold of the table, lifted himself up and demonstrated an impressive display of strength, especially for his age. “I remember it so vividly,” Bob said. “He balanced himself vertically, then turned up and put his feet straight up in the air.” “What do you think?” Milton asked them. “Am I Milton the wrestler yet? You think I still have it?” It’s the two sides of Milton’s personality that stands out the most to Bob. On one hand, there was the tough wrestler, the tough skipper. Yet on the other was a warm, personable man with a welcoming personality. “He was just the nicest person in the world,” Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Bob said. “I never heard a tough word from him, never a profane word. He had a kind heart. He loved the farm, loved dogs, loved his farm, loved his wife and loved his cows. He was always very generous, very personable." “But here,” said Bob, pointing to a photo of Milton in his boxing trunks, “here he was a tough bird.”

Poster from one of Harnden's matches. 7

uBrown Family

he Brown Family Chronicles is an unassuming little book that houses the history, or at least what history could be compiled by one person, of an entire family, across multiple generations and locations.

Put together in 1992 by Joyce Brown Henton, the tome begins with a list titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brothers & Sisters.â&#x20AC;? It is a list of the 20 children who were born to Clinton 8

Chronicles BY BRENT LINDQUIST

Ulysses Brown and Nina Maude Brown from 1902 to 1927. Joyce Henton was born Joyce Elaine Brown, the youngest of the children, born on May 5, 1927. After the list of brothers and sisters, Joyce delves into the more distant past, telling a little about the family of her mother and father. Peter Brown married Amanda Hook; both were Quakers. George A. Brown married Attie Stinson on Nov. 23, 1879. They had five children: Clinton, Walter, Howard, Blanche and Nellie. Clinton married Nina Maude Niles on Feb. 23, 1902. Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

The chronicle then delves into Nina’s family. Her grandfather was Allison Niles, who married Olive Stoddard in 1825. They had eight children, one of whom was Nathaniel Clark Niles, Nina’s father. He married Edna Miranda Sweet. They had eight children, one of whom was Nina. Joyce wrote a bit about the birth of each of Clinton and Nina’s 20 children before giving a more complete history of the family’s movements across the United States. The 20 children are: Grace Viola, Lloyd Elmer, Pearle Blanche, Gertrude Gladys, Walter Ulysses, Donald Niles, Mildred Attie, Howard Edgar, Lila Winifred, Dorothy Mae, Leon George, Edna Nellie, Edward Nathaniel, Vena Fern, Vera Fae, Eugene Paul, Kenneth Raymond, Keith Ernest, Joyce Elaine, and a baby boy who was stillborn in 1914. Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

“Joyce was born in Northwood, Washington. She was the 20th of 20 children. The last is best, so they say. My story is told through these Chronicles,” Joyce wrote. Both born in Nebraska, Nina was from a wealthy English family, and Clinton was their hired hand. “Although he was the very best worker and could drive a 20-mule team, he was not husband material,” Joyce writes. They married in 1901. They moved westward with Grace and Lloyd while Nina was pregnant with Pearl. They bought 60 acres of swamp-cut overland in Lynden. From this, Clinton cut and sold shingle bolts. As the land was cleared and drained, they raised hay and grain to feed the livestock. Pearl was cotinued on page 10 born there. 9

The family at Leons, March 1984. Back: Leon, Gene, unknown, Kenny. Front: Donald, Fae, Howard, Helena. cotinued from page 9 Clinton also worked in the woods at Deming and Skykomish as a tree-topper. “It was the most dangerous job in the woods,” Joyce wrote. The barn eventually flooded so much so that cows could no longer be milked there. The family then moved to a farm in Northwood, Washington. As the family continued to grow on that farm, the house was expanded. Joyce was born on that 40-acre farm, and she recounts many memories of her upbringing there, from throwing rocks at chickens and beehives to her mother’s tasty cooking.

“The upstairs was not heated so we heated rocks to put in the beds in the wintertime,” Joyce wrote. “We also slept four to a bed to keep warm. Even then in the winter, there would be frost on the inside of the windows and snow that had blown under the sills.” She recalls a great deal of snow in the winter, with snowdrifts as high as the telephone poles. “They had a steep hill that we used for sledding. We used whatever worked to sled on, but we also had sleds that were made for us,” Joyce wrote. “There was also a good-sized pond that we skated on, using only our shoes. I don’t remember anyone having ice skates.”

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

In 1938, the family moved to a small farm on the Birch Bay-Lynden Road in Custer. The property had a house with a garage and a woodshed, with a bunkhouse above the garage. There were still 10 children living at home, Joyce wrote. They had chickens, cows, pigs and horses, and the family raised all its own vegetables. Their horses, Dick and Sandy, were used for all the plowing and for hauling hay. “Dick was very gentle and we could ride him, but Sandy was mean,” Joyce wrote. “Dick lived to be 20 years old.” The Brown family lived three miles from Birch Bay. If they cut through the woods, Joyce wrote, about a half mile from their house, they came to the backwater of the bay. They swam there. “I don’t think the water was too clean, but we never caught anything,” Joyce wrote. While at home, Joyce recalls numerous chores that had to be taken on by the children. Wood need to be packed, cleaning and cooking had to be done, as well as ironing, which was the only task that Joyce herself never learned. During World War II, Nina hung a flag with four white stars on it, signifying that she had four sons fighting in the war.

“There were lots of windows with three-star flags, but not many with four,” Joyce wrote. “But then, who had 20 kids to pick from?” When Joyce’s brother Bud entered the Navy, Nina had to learn to milk because Clinton had chopped off several of his fingers with a buzzsaw while cutting wood back in 1930. “Doing her duty for the war effort, she went out to the barn one night to see how things were done,” Joyce recounted. “When the cows came back down from the ceiling, Pop decided to sell them. Nothing was ever mentioned about what happened — seemed Mom didn’t want to milk either.” World War II ended in 1945, which was also the year that Joyce graduated. She moved to Everett with her sister, Lila, and her husband, Leroy. In 1951, the family celebrated Clinton and Nina’s golden wedding anniversary with a big party at the Custer farm. All the children came home, along with the 28 grandchildren and one great grandchild. “Lots of old friends from Northwood and Lynden,” Joyce wrote. “We had a family picture taken at that time.” In 1953, Nina became sick. She was cared for by all of her children. She died in 1954. “I was completely devastated by Mom’s death,” Joyce wrote. “I dreamed about her every night for a year.” cotinued on page 12

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cotinued from page 11 Clinton lived on in the old house before Leon, Kenny and some of his other children built a new house next to the old one. Clinton lived until 1972. Joyce wrote that he wasn’t sick for very long. He had a stroke and went into a coma.

“Lloyd, Pearl and Edna were there,” she wrote. “I was sleeping on the sofa. I woke early, listened and knew he was gone.” The book is packed full of other life events, both big and small, concerning all of Clinton and Nina’s children. These include weddings, golf games, vacations, visits and more, all telling the stories of the lives of the very large family of Clinton and Nina Brown.

Newspaper clipping of Brown Family portrait 12

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Lynden Pioneer Museum

by Brent Lindquist

he Lynden Pioneer Museum is a veritable treasure trove of artifacts from the past, and there are always new items coming in.

“People just sort of trickle things in over the course of the year,” museum director/curator Troy Luginbill said.

skates from the 1920s. Somebody brought in a couple of very old Bibles, written in Dutch. Phoebe Judson’s rocking chair was brought in recently as well. The museum receives many items, to the point that it has become rather selective about what it takes in.

“When somebody brings something in, we Just recently, the museum received a box full of have this large sort of list and guidelines of carpentry tools that were used to build the orig- what we will and won’t take in,” Luginbill said. inal Waples Mercantile Building. It received a “We call it our ‘Collections Policy and Collectset of World War I records, and some old roller ing Guidelines.’” 16

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

For instance, a potential donor recently sent the museum a set of photos of a large collection of dolls from around the world. Luginbill looked through it carefully, and determined that he would need to pinpoint which items in the collection were right for the collection. In addition to the specific guidelines, the document identifies specific items that the museum would like to acquire. The museum doesn’t do any direct advertising for these items, and it doesn’t do any direct solicitation unless somebody comes to Luginbill with something very specific. A variety of items are included on this list of desired items, including Phoebe Judson’s spinning wheel, her letters and journals, and a variety of items to be displayed in the museum’s dairy shed exhibit. “We’re always looking for Darigold, Carnation, Lynden Creamery and Elenbaas Creamery items.” One very specific piece that Luginbill would like to see displayed in the museum is an ice cream delivery bag from the days when milkmen actually brought milk from home to home. “It’s a neat, leather-insulated piece with a tube that’s about three feet tall, with about four to six inches of horsehair insulation,” Luginbill said. Another specific item wanted by the museum is a bottle of Dr. Pieter Zokorolf ’s Magic Elixir. “He’s not an actual person,” Luginbill said. “It was a brand that was created and sold by one cotinued on page 18

cotinued from page 17

of the local Lynden drugstores. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve seen advertisements. I’ve never seen an actual bottle, and I’d love to get ahold of one.”

Potential donors should contact the Lynden Pioneer Museum, located in downtown Lynden and at LyndenPioneerMuseum.com. Luginbill will help arrange potential donations.

From the newspaper world, Luginbill and the museum are in the market for a newspaperlength typewriter. “In the 1930s as they were swapping over to various other types, the idea was that you could use this typewriter and you could type out your newspaper page and use that in the process instead of trying to take that time to hand-set all the letters,” Luginbill said. For the Liberty Theatre exhibit, the museum hopes to populate it with some item from the early days of film production, including projectors, a clapboard and vintage microphones.

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The Carnation Building:

A Ferndale Landmark By Calvin Bratt

Carnation Plant, 1936

his is where Ferndale began, at the crux of river and railroad and downtown district, and this solid concrete block structure has been foursquare in the middle of all the growth and change. Walk around the big, clean white Carnation Oxford Building at 1920 Main St. and you’re not likely to guess at all that has happened inside its thick walls and on these premises — and with connections beyond — across more than a century. The use today, under owners Brad and Rhonda Oxford, is by at least 20 different tenants of very different purposes, from bakery to fitness center, pet neutering to woodworking. Delivery trucks pull up to loading docks, employees use ample parking and walk to their workplace, customers find a needed service or product. As to the deep history, an exterior clue is the wording “Condensery No. 19” across the top of the front of the building. The Carnation dairy products brand can also be seen on some banners and an outside wall mural. On a central inside hallway, the Oxfords have displayed photos of the building and various brand labels of the place.

The Carnation Building was part of the vast Carnation milk-processing network. It then had uses from World War II support to potato storage. Today it acts as an active"incubator for small businesses.

A Building’s Beginning Few buildings in Ferndale may carry as much history as the Carnation Oxford Building. It can be a bit difficult to be sure of exactly what happened when, but putting together pieces of information does yield a picture. “You can see that there were about three different stages of construction, maybe four,” Brad Oxford says as he walks around the sprawling 55,000-square-foot building, with which he has been familiar since boyhood. The stages are evident, for instance, in former windows that were blocked in, as what had been outside space is now inside. According to the John D. Weaver book “Carnation: The First 75 Years,” published in 1974, Ferndale was established in 1906 as a condensery site (along with Chehalis, Washington, and Forest Grove, Oregon of the rising Carnation company. But other sources cotinued on page 22 clarify that Ferndale began as a

receiving station, and it may have been in 1909, for transfer of milk to the Carnation plant already existing in Mount Vernon. Bob Kosters, archivist of what remains of the famous model Carnation Dairy Farm in King County, agrees that the start of the Ferndale plant can be “kind of confusing.” Among his papers relating to Ferndale is a postcard from early town leader Percy Hood in 1911 containing the terse information: “Creamery burned last week. Will not be rebuilt.” But an entry in the April 10, 1914 Ferndale Record delivered this news: “A milk condensery at Ferndale with an initial investment of about $50,000 and the employment of at least 50 people is now almost an assured thing. The capitalists looked over the old cannery site owned by John Slater, which has approximately seven and a half acres, and spoke favorably of it, being convenient to the river and reached by a spur of the Great Northern.” Construction of the Ferndale plant — on a sizeable scale, at least — likely happened in a 1914-16 time frame. 22

A detailed inventory of the operation in July 1916 runs three pages long and comes to a total of $79,001.75. It lists many different types of equipment: many motors (for shakers, sterilizers, shakers, filters, etc.), pumps, tanks, scales, boilers, trays and more. A 1916 Ford car is worth $470. The buildings alone are valued at nearly $36,000. By Aug. 26, 1920, famed Northwest photographer Darius Kinsey was able to snap his camera shutter on 68 workers crowded snugly at the southwest entrance of the plant. Look closely at photos of the time and you can see, atop the plant to the east, the house of John Slater (1865-1932), who was Carnation local field manager for a time. The old house was moved east on Axton Road around 1990 and converted by Dick and Jennie Bosch into the Slater House bed-andbreakfast. Carnation’s story The Carnation story itself is worth telling. It revolves around E. A. Stuart, a forceful entrepreneur in the processing of milk in the early 20th century. He was born and raised in Indiana, lived Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

for a time in Texas, but made his name and fortune in the West. He started the Carnation company — taking the name for his evaporated milk brand while walking First Avenue in downtown Seattle — in 1899. The first condensery and can factory was in Kent, Washington. More evaporated milk plants followed quickly, numbering 30 in the Pacific Northwest and across the country by the time Stuart started his first milk and ice cream processing plant in Seattle in 1926. By clever marketing, Stuart preached a Modern Milkman gospel of Carnation milk “from contented cows” and also “safe milk for infants” due to good sanitation and sterilization procedures. Across the years into the 1960s, hundreds of processing and supply operations in the United States, Canada and 17 foreign countries came on board under the Carnation label. The company also ventured into frozen foods, pet foods and instant products. It was a vast successful enterprise. Carnation also built a condensery at Everson, with a smokestack similar to Ferndale’s, around 1909 and it was sold in 1934, according to the book. The Carnation Farm itself was purchased as a 360-acre stump ranch for $11,000 in 1909 without A.E. Stuart even seeing it, and the 75-year book declares that if he had seen it “Carnation Farm might have had a different location.” As it turned out, Stuart got to work clearing land, making improvements and putting up buildings in a hurry, mostly by 1913, adding 500 acres and turning the site in the Snoqualmie River valley east of Seattle into the showcase farm it would be for most of the last century.

Stuart was a master of promotion and bold business moves in the world of milk. He shocked everyone at a public auction in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1918 by paying $106,000 for a prize young dairy bull. In 1928, he had a statue erected at the Carnation Farm dedicated to the cow, Prospect, that had been the foundation of his herd genetics and brand promotion. Movers and shakers Carnation may have started a Ferndale receiving station around 1909, but the ownership was not continuous. The Carnation, a magazine put out for employees, reported in a 1939 article titled “Ferndale Sees Many Changes in 30 Years” that the operation was sold to the John B. Agen Company sometime in the early years. That sale was reversed in 1916, with a $1 million purchase of both the Mount Vernon and Ferndale facilities after Agen had significantly upgraded them — but not without a little intrigue thrown in. The two men John B. Agen and E.A. Stuart “had trouble with each other” as head-to-head milk processing competitors and any deal between them would apparently have to be “on the sly,” archivist Kosters explained. On Oct. 4, 1916, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported the sale as being to Charles Peabody, of New York, a former Alaska steamship operator, for cash. But the newspaper could not ascertain what “large condensed milk interests” Peabody was fronting for. E.H. Stuart, E.A.’s son, admitted to cotinued on page 24

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Old property map of Carnation building property cotinued from page 23 having heard rumors of the sale, but he declared that “so far as he knew the Carnation Company had nothing to do with it.” In fact, it did. From that point on, evaporated milk was made at Ferndale for a few years, then Hebe milk until 1922, The Carnation reported. Hebe milk, or “filled milk,” was a compound of evaporated skimmed milk and vegetable fat, instead of butterfat, that was promoted as being better for cooking. But it was controversial even at the time, and it was not allowed across state lines, Kosters said. From 1922 to 1939, the Ferndale plant manufactured “a good many different products, such as malted milk, powdered skim milk, cottage cheese, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, butter, ice cream mixes, dried whey and shipping cream,” according to The Carnation. In 1931 the Bellingham Herald carried a photo of 14-year-old Mildred Snortland, of Ferndale, 24

sipping her daily malted milk treat and ready to take home a 10-pound tin of the product from her father’s pharmacy. Under Arnold A. Horlick as manager, the Ferndale plant was producing enough malted milk ingredient in each train carload out of town to make 800,000 drinks, or enough to supply every resident of Bellingham with 26 malted milkshakes. The Ferndale plant was Carnation’s only one for malted milk in the United States, the Herald reported, with California and Washington as largest users, although the East Coast was a strong market too. Transitions Photos of the Ferndale site in 1953 show a building needing fresh paint but still with Carnation tanker trucks pulling in toward unloading docks at the back, a stack emitting smoke or steam, and a railroad spur running alongside. However, a view of the east front corner also reveals an Albers Feeds sign. Changes were afoot. Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

The 75-year history book says the Ferndale plant was closed in 1958. The Carnation story starts to merge with other stories, including that of the Oxford family. As Carnation came to use less and less of the facility, it began to rent out parts to other businesses, states the historical account of the online site Discover Ferndale. One of the first uses was by a group of county potato farmers needing storage for 20 to 30 tons of spuds. That was in 1939. The Firestone company leased space from Carnation during the early 1940s to make self-sealing rubber linings for airplane fuel tanks in World War II. Brad Oxford believes the parts may have been used on the B-25 bombers so vital to the war effort. Oxford knows that his father, Harry Jr., shipped out potatoes from the building by rail. He had partnerships with Pete Van Dyk, another local potato grower of the time, and also the broker who helped get Whatcom County potatoes through Vancouver, British Columbia, into Asian markets.

“My father raised certified seed potatoes and he originally leased it from the Carnation company in the 1960s. But it is a very large building and he used only the main floor and leased the rest out to other businesses,” Oxford said. Brad, as the second of four children of Harry Jr. and Merrilee Oxford, got to know almost every inch of the six-acre property and buildings. “All of us at one time or another helped our father down here,” he said. At the height of growing potatoes and other row crops in the 1970s (all having a part in proper soil-sustaining rotation), the Oxfords cultivated over 1,000 acres, Brad said. Sweet corn and peas went for processing to the Kelley-Farquhar plant, also in Ferndale. Even a herd of Hereford cattle got to crunch on cull potatoes and got “fattened up good” on the starch, Brad remembers. In the late 1960s, the building became known as Ferndale Manufacturing and was home to several tenants involved in different industrial businesses. cotinued on page 26

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Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Left: Carnation Building, 1953. Right: Carnation Building, aerial view, present day. Today, both floors of the Carnation Oxford Building house several businesses engaged in everything from professional services to light manuToday facturing. Over the years, there has been plenty of Among the Oxfords it fell to Brad and wife restoration and rehabilitation of the old structure. Rhonda in the late 1980s to step into the role of Areas that used to be used for the creamery procontinuing to make something of the big spacious cesses and offices have been remodeled to provide Ferndale building in the family trust. attractive and functional office and work spaces of Brad said it has been an Oxford Carnation various sizes. goal to have a variety of smaller or startup opera The Oxfords deeply appreciate what went into tions in the building, and if they got big and needed the original vintage construction — in many ways too much space, to go out on their own. very similar to the 1914-built Lynden Department As it turned out, quite a few local businesses Store/Waples Mercantile Building being restored got their start in that way — it was their “incubain Lynden. “The timber in here is amazing, oldtor” space, if you will. Count in that category these growth,” Brad said. firms still thriving in some form today: Ocean A cargo elevator shaft is now unused. The Kayak, International Athletics, Northstar Woodheavy wood tongue-and-groove flooring was built works, Arrowac Fisheries, Chuckanut Cheesecake to support heavy equipment. And sometimes only and The Strip Shop. cotinued from page 25

FERNDALE AMERICAN LEGION KULSHAN POST 154 5537 2ND AVE. P.O. Box 1296

384-7474

Bill Magas

alpost154@netzero.net

Agent/President

ACTIVITIES

• Membership Meetings 1st Wednesday of every month at 6:00 PM. • Pot Luck Dinner 3rd Wednesday of every month at 6:00 PM. Bring a new Member.

• Breakfast 4th Saturday of every month 8AM to 11AM. (EXP. Aug. & Dec.) • Hall Rental Available (300 cap.) Very Reasonable Rates.

(360) 734-0416 (360) 734-4051 Fax bill@magasinsurance.com

2615 Meridian Bellingham, WA 98225 www.magasinsurance.com

A Partner of the Advantage Group Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Brad and Rhonda know the way around, and know the dead ends, in a building built over so many years in so many different stages. Although his grandfather Harry Oxford Sr., a grower of Gravenstein apples on the family homestead on Malloy Road, did not use this building, Brad does pay tribute to him with a mural depiction of his 40-pound Ferndale brand pack on a rear exterior wall. “He had over 100 trees and he had a pretty good product, made a living off of it.” There is also a mural and a flower garden

dedicated to his own parents, now both gone. And the 120-foot-tall smokestack of the original Carnation plant — long a key identifying Ferndale landmark — is in their trust. The plant drew water from the nearby Nooksack River for its boilers to create steam for the milk condensing operation. Now the smokestack has been repainted twice — in each of the Gulf wars of the George Bush presidencies, 1991 and 2003 — with an American flag in a patriotic tribute. cotinued on page 28

Explore the Past, Enrich the Present! Bring your family history to life at Everson Library • History exploration and creation • Nookchat community storytelling 2nd Mondays at 6:30 p.m. • Check us out on YouTube! Search for “Nookchat” Everson McBeath Community Library 104 Kirsch Drive Everson, WA

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

cotinued from page 27

List of current tenants BPOC Building Services (cleaning, janitorial) Flow Motion (wellness, fitness, essential oils) Capital Link (healthcare business management consulting) WeSNiP (pet spay and neutering) Awaken Body & Soul (meditation/massage therapist) Dayenu Wellness (counseling and massage therapists) Discover Ferndale (online community news) Mattini Insurance Agency Clarissa Callesen (art doll creation and art studio) Karate Quest (martial arts school)

Rainout Sports Cards (sports memorabilia) Ideation Design Group LLC (sign company) Ferndale Mini-Market (corporate offices) Digital Threads/Appaloosa Imaging (embroidery, screen printing) Kaiser Woodworks (cabinet maker) Pel ‘Meni (Russian dumplings) Ferndale Unity Group (AA group) Everyday Fitness Center Extra Space Solutions (heated mini-storage) Trilby’s Kitchen (barbecue sauce, seasonings) Barb’s Pies & Pastries (wedding cakes too)

Quality products from:

Open Mon-Sat 9-9 | Sun 10-8

Recreational Marijuana Store 21+

(360)332-8922

922 Peace Portal Dr. Blaine, WA 28

www.EGCannabis.com This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgement. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Practicing in Ferndale 22 Years

(360) 380-4553

New Patients & Emergencies Welcome

Invisalign • Whitening Sedation • Cosmetics 2086 Main St. (P.O. Box 1313) Ferndale, WA 98248 premierdentalcenterwa.com Fax (360) 384-6282

Four Generations In Whatcom County

V i s i t u s a t w w w . f a r e w e l l t r i b u t e s . c o m

We are expanding our programs to include children in grades 7 & 8 Call us for more information!

Serving Whatcom County Since 1934

Look for us in the Grand Parade

360 778 3681 www.pmmontessori.org

Birch Bay’s first resort still serving you! “Securing the way you live for over 40 years” One of the few in the area that is still family owned and operated (360) 734-5204

"Wishing the best to all the Whatcom County Pioneer families and visitors." -Carol Bersch Candidate for Mayor City of Ferndale

1844 Iron Street Bellingham

www.bobwallin.com

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

Our Building - 1895 … Our Candy Stove - 1915 Our Oven - 1916 … Our Confections - Timeless!

Candy Shop · Bakery · Deli · Pizzeria Open Daily 11am-10pm until Labor Day The C Shop · 4825 Alderson Rd · Birch Bay, WA 98230 360-371-2070 · www.thecshop.com

Support these Community-Minded

Businesses

Kentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Garden & Nursery From the ground up and everything in between! Sun is out! Come check it out! Perennials/Flowering Shrubs/Much More Gotta see it to believe it!!!

360.384.4433 | kentsgardenandnursery.com 5428 Northwest Rd, Bellingham, WA 98226

Louisa Place

384-9017

2240 Main Street â&#x20AC;˘ Ferndale

Incubating small businesses for over 50 years!

360-961-6986

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2015

DIVORCE FAMILY LAW General Practice with Emphasis in

Divorce Guardianship Restraining Orders Paternity Protection Orders Adoptions Child Support Custody Domestic Partnerships Also Real Estate • Wills • Probate • Appeals • Contracts

EXPERIENCED TRIAL ATTORNEY IN PRACTICE SINCE 1988

DAVID G. PORTER

360-714-9821

103 E. Holly St. Suite 409, Bellingham, WA

Evening & Weekend Appointments Available