The small community of Hazel, is a story of prosperity born of the abundance of the upper North Fork Stillaguamish Valley, torn by the floods of the river, and forever altered by the devastation of the mudslide of 2014.

The settlement of Hazel began in 1887 when Walter D. Higgins, his daughter Linnie and son John came to the area.  They chose some land along the North Fork Stillaguamish River and built a fine home of logs and a large barn to house his dairy herd.  This barn still stands today, north of the old railroad track, towards the river, along what is now the Whitehorse Trail. Shortly after this one James R. Pierson proposed marriage to Linnie Higgins.  They lived on the Higgins farm with some land being deeded to them.  Walter Higgins also remained there, living out the rest of his days.  Born from this marriage was son, Dennie, named after his grandfather, Walter Dennie Higgins, and daughter Myrtle.

During the early days of this small settlement, it went by the name of Packard.  It’s unknown why it went by this name.  When the request for a post office was filed, the paperwork was filled out Hazel, Washington, named after Pete McMartin’s beautiful baby girl.

The only way of transportation was by river, or the crude wagon road which served more as a footpath.  The early road started from Arlington, traveling west along the path of least resistance.  When the road reached the fledgling settlement of Hazel it went uphill to the south to avoid a low wet area fed by a creek. It then proceeded further east, and continued  upriver towards Darrington.

A mountain bares the name Mt. Higgins, names after pioneer, Walter D. Higgins.  His years living out his life on his homestead, a large home of logs and large dairy barn were cut short when he was found dead December 17, 1898.  His obituary reads:  Walter D. Higgins, of Hazel, the pioneer of the upper North Fork Valley, passed away in a sad manner Wednesday evening. He went to the barn to milk, his son John and wife with whom he was stopping being away from home. When Mr. Higgins returned the next evening he found his father laying under the cow dead. It is supposed that he died of heart disease while in the act of milking and laid there all night and all the next day. He will be buried this afternoon at Oso.  Mr. Higgins was a kind and hospitable old gentleman, and a good neighbor and citizen. He was sixty-five years old.

In 1900, gossip spread about the railroad that was coming up from Arlington and going all the way to Darrington!  When the tracks were being laid, they came up to a wet area by Hazel, needing to build up the railroad grade.  The result of this endeavor created a deep pond, perfect for situating a sawmill.  It was July 22, 1901, when the first train,  decked out with patriotic banners, passed though on its way to Darrington forever changing the N.F. Stillaguamish Valley!

Swedish born, Petrus Pearson, arrived to Hazel in 1902 entering in employment with the McMartin Bros. logging camps as a bookkeeper.  Seeing the great possibilities in the timber industry, Petrus organized the Hazel Lumber Company in 1904, with Pete D. McMartin heading logging operations.  Ira Hollingsworth, hearing of the great opportunities in the region, came to join his friend Petrus.  He took up farming one mile northwest of Hazel to establish gardens and a poultry business to supply the logging camps.

Petrus married Miss Maude Pendleton, July 8th 1904.  It was becoming very apparent that the new community of Hazel which now had five expanding families, was going to need a school. Petrus brought his skills and education to help start the new Hazel School District #90, serving as both director and clerk.  The new school district organized on February 15, 1904, serving an area of 25 square miles.  A simply designed one room cedar schoolhouse was built on the Pierson farm that same year.  Gertrude Aldridge came up the valley to teach the first enrolled students at the Higgins School District #90, Harold Collingwood, Emma Fabian, Dennie Pierson and Myrtle Pierson.  The following year a second schoolhouse was built of cut lumber with glass window panes.  This served the community until 1924 after flooding damaged the school and led to Hazel District #90 consolidating with Darrington School District #319.  The old school later became a residence, then after that converted into a chicken house.

The local communities depended on the daily train service up and down the NF Stillaguamish Valley.  So when in January 1904 a large landslide 180 feet long and 10 feet thick came down near the McMartin Camp cutting off the tracks between Darrington and Oso, many concerned residents pitched in to remove the debris and get the train back on its daily run.

1909 brought big changes to the upper Stillaguamish Valley when the first “ripe” timber sale opened up within the boundaries of the National Forest. The Boulder Railway & Timber Company contracted to build a logging railroad from the timber sale near Boulder River to the Hazel Lumber Company.  Segments of this old railroad grade are still visible as they have been incorporated into the popular Boulder River Trail.

Hazel Holm explained how it was in the early days of Hazel:  “By 1913 the town of Hazel was a small community, most people lived between the crossing of the railroad track and crossing of the bridge. There was logging out from the lower crossing. The office and cookhouse were across the tracks up river to the east. Pete McMartin had his office and shingle mill at the same end of the track. Pete had many carved things for the yard and office, he was always carving.  The highway goes through the millpond today that was used by the sawmill. There were 8 houses between the crossing. At the lower end of Hazel was a large store with a post office, in it was a variety of merchandise, variety of clothing; as men’s work clothes, tin pants, food and stacks of bolts of yardage for sewing clothes. At one corner of the store there was a post Office. The mail came up by train at the lower crossing and there was a huge water tank that the train engine would water up daily.“

Around 1913 the Arlington – Darrington Road was rerouted making it straighter and safer for the growing truck traffic.  The new stretch of road went around the millpond to the north side creating an upper and a lower track crossing.  Where the tracks once lay is now part of the Whitehorse Trail.  The upper road section can still be found today at the current site of the Department Of Transportation workshop. The lower crossing is where the river is today.

In spite of the occasional flood Hazel thrived and was a bustling community. The train with a passenger coach made a round trip daily to pick up flat cars of lumber and drop off mail and supplies.  Hazel Holm shared her memory of growing up during this time.  “There was a side track where the train would stop at Hazel to load up on lumber, also there was also a stage that made a trip a day from Darrington to Hazel. There was a side track along the main track to the mill pond. The side track also connected the Hazel Railroad to the mill pond. “To unload the logs there was a horse across the mill pond that went around and around a post to tighten the line over the load on the flat car. When the line became to taut the logs went into the pond with a great splash.”

During 1921 the construction of the Gorge Dam began.  This would the first of three dams to be constructed for the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.  Seattle City Light power lines would deliver the electricity produced here through the mountains all the way to Seattle.  In 1923 Shortly before the dam was completed Seattle City Light made plans to build a guard station at Hazel for the power lines maintenance crew.  Bad floods again hit the Hazel Community in the winter of 1923-24 leaving the community with much to rebuild. The railroad tracks and road were buried in debris for days thus severing Hazel and all settlements to the east from mail and freight deliveries.

Hazel Holm recalled. “There was a bad flood in 1924 that washed away two homes, the school, Seattle City Light building and the big water tank for the train.  A big slide made the railroad tracks and road impassable for several days. The water tank was later rebuilt near the upper crossing by the grocery store and depot. My parents and I took a photo of the porch of the post office during the flood. The Dentist’s home and office did not get flooded as it was on the upper end of Hazel. The dentist home was purchased in later years by Seattle City Light and moved below the lower end of Hazel”. Both the Dentist Home and office are still there and are homes”.    The dentist office can be seen from the highway and the old Seattle Light Guard Station which was moved to a location near the second school is uphill and southwest of the Hazel Pond.

For most of the years of Hazel’s history the railroad was an important part of daily life.  From the railroad transporting logs to the sawmill and delivering men to work in the woods to the Burlington Northern main line bringing up mail and supplies from the cities down river, Hazel maintained a vital importance. Bob Heirman, the Locomotive Engineer reflects: “The Hazel pond was a deep pond and it had a creek that fed into it.  Some of the best cutthroat fishing around was in that pond, but that changed when they put the road through it and filled it in.  We’d stop for lunch and I’d catch a nice trout and cook it up.  One time we noticed a house on fire and we got all the furniture out and one guy got burned doing it.  In the end we must not have got the furniture far enough from the fire and it all went up in flames too. There use to be a large water tank for filling the Engine.  I was an engineer, those steam engines have to be kept fed, keep the fire going and plenty of water.  If the water dries up, the whole thing will blow!”

In 1932, during the Great Depression, heavy rains again caused flooding of the Stillaguamish and Sauk Rivers damaging bridges and buildings at Hazel, Mansford and Darrington.  The Stillaguamish shifted its course damaging homes and the sawmill at Hazel.  This time there was no rebuilding and the sawmill simply stopped operations. The Fortson Mill up river lost two bunk houses and Darrington lost four bridges.  The Hazel-Higgins School closed and the students were bussed to a larger school at Whitehorse.   The  Hazel School District later consolidated with the Darrington School District.  By 1934 the lands that were owned by Hazel Lumber Company became the possession of the Citizen Bank Of Arlington.   In 1937, more heavy rains caused a large slide on the northern bank of the Stillaguamish River at Hazel causing flooding upriver until gradually the river cut a new channel.

Old timer Finas Skeers related,  “They put up a mill with a spur from the tracks and a siding to roll up them big logs to the flat cars.  Before you know it got a name.  Someone comes along and builds a store, then a post office. That’s how these places got started.”

No longer a mill town Hazel remains on the map today and was regarded as its own community.  The highway now travels down the middle of the old millpond.  Many people refer to the Hazel Fishing Hole, The Hazel Pond or the Hazel Straight Away.  Some may even remember the Hazel Stump House which stood for many years and could be seen from the highway.  Hazel, Washington transitioned to a quiet neighborhood with some homes remaining in the family for generations.

Hazel suffered two more slides, one in 1967 forced the river to to change course and cut a channel about 700 feet south then another in 2006 when Hazel Mountain again slid down which dammed the river until a channel was cut through to alleviate flooding. But a bigger tragedy was about to happen.

On March 22, 2014, there occurred a deadly natural disaster of unimaginable magnitude! Life was disrupted in Hazel, Darrington and Oso.  It was 10:37 on a beautiful spring morning when the ground rumbled and was felt for miles in the Stillaguamish Valley.  The area had experienced 200 percent normal rainfall over 45 days and an immense slide thundered down passing through the river and carrying with it a huge wave of water, mud, rocks and trees.   All residences were buried or swept away at Steelhead Lane as well as two other homes across the highway. 43 people were killed and SR 530 was buried for over one mile.  Homes east of the slide and the town of Darrington were cut off by the buried highway with no communication for several days.  People worked frantically to help their neighbors from the Darrington end and Oso worked from their side of the slide.  On April 3, 2014 President Obama declared the SR 530 Slide a disaster and FEMA was brought in.  Federal aid flooded into the area to help the small communities of the Stillaguamish Valley cope and try to rebuild.

Looking at Hazel today is sobering.  The SR 530 has been rebuilt through what once was a place known as  lower Hazel, Washington.  Along the highway are amassed hills of unshapely debris leftover from the slide. A grove of 43 cedar trees were planted to honor the dead and a memorial sculpture reminds visitors where the residents of Steelhead Drive once lived.  To the east the Hazel Millpond, old dentist office, old Seattle City Light Guard Station still stand. On the west side, just out of the reach of the slide debris field, stand the intact Skaglund home and Pierson barn.

Sources:

Theresa Howard, long time Darrington resident

Hazel Holms, long time Hazel & Darrington resident

Linda McPherson, long time Hazel resident

Bob Heirman, Burlington Northern Engineer, Arlington – Darrington Line

Finas Skeers, long time Fortson resident

Historical Maps

Arlington Times Obituaries 1895 – 1915, Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society