​

​

HISTORY

​

Hart Farm has great historical significance. Joseph Hart and David Batey were the first two white homesteaders in the area that is now Sedro Woolley and arrived there by canoe in 1878. Mortimer Cook, who founded Sedro, arrived by sternwheeler at the future town site in June 1884, at Joseph Hart's farm, which stood on the north shore of the river at the southern terminus of present Third Street. The ferry to cross the Skagit River was located southeast corner of Hart's Island, on the original Joseph Hart farm at the southern dead end of Third Street, and operated there until the first bridge was built across the river in the same area in 1912. The bridge was replaced by the Highway 9 bridge in 1964 and demolished. We found a thick, rusted cable and pulley embedded into a massive tree on the north shore of the Skagit near the barn; it is said to have been used by the ferry. The dairy industry was very important in the Skagit Valley and rapidly expanded in the 1910’s as transportation (railroad and steamboat) opened broader markets and Carnation Condensery in Mount Vernon became an outlet.

 

​