Whitehorse, began doing business in 1890 when the first mercantile opened it’s doors. The mercantile was a trading post of sorts for the areas prospectors and trappers, as well as a supply depot for the locals and any travelers coming up the valley on the train.

According to early old timer, Finas Skeers, there were two distinct communities at this time dependent on which country the settlers originated from.  Whitehorse to the south of the railroad line consisted of Catholic French Canadians, Scotch & Irish. To the north of the tracks were the Protestant Scandinavians.  The name of the north branching road, Swede Heaven, is a reminder of these earlier times.

There was no highway at this time and the road connecting Arlington with Darrington was a very rough and winding track regarded by many as simply not travel worthy. By 1900 the official route from Arlington to Oso was being mapped out to make it a State Highway.  In 1904 the county appropriated $600 to improve this section of road  employing 18 men to do so.  Washington was growing and there was talk of these road improvements someday reaching all the way to Darrington.  By the time the 1920s rolled around truck traffic was on the rise even as the railroad was operating at capacity.

Henry and Addie Bennett purchased the old mercantile in the mid 1920s and built a fine family dwelling and new store with a gas pump.  At night they would turn on the brightly flashing lights that were installed around the store to be sure any motorist wouldn’t miss their chance to procure gas.  Later about 1930, Stanley Ritchie and his father purchased the store and moved it across what is now Old Mine Road to the east where they owned land.  Part of the old store was remodeled into their home and part was incorporated in new construction for the modern gas station.  Trucks were becoming the standard for hauling logs and lumber.  Not only did traffic increase on this improved surface but homes began to move closer to the highway.  Improvements were made from Arlington to Oso and the road was maintained as a State Secondary Highway.  Providing gasoline was the wave of the future for the increasing vehicle travel.  Cecil Traylor clerked for several years.  When he wasn’t busy with customers he worked his loom creating rag rugs which he sold out of the store.

After Cecil had a falling out with Stanley Ritchie over a wage dispute, he built another store across the highway on the northeast corner.  Competition and rivalry between the two stores could be remembered by many.  Eventually, around 1938, Cecil Traylor sold his store to the Twillegers who ran it for several years changing the name to the Twilleger Store.

The store changed hands a couple more times, Gilbert, White, Anderson & Waters, then Frable.  The Twilleger Store eventually closed ending the corner competition and leaving the sole surviving Whitehorse Store.  The old Twilleger Store building exists today as a private dwelling on the corner of SR530 and Swede Heaven.

Old timer Finas Skeers recalls the Whitehorse Store in it’s heyday, ” They did a good trade there.  I drove a log truck for Stanley Ritchie and would get my gasoline there.”  Finas remembered the store clear back to 1923 when he attended school across the street, the location of the “new” Whitehorse School.  He had a bit of a crush on Alice Bennett, and would often escort her to the Bennettville square dances.

Many locals & visitors have fond memories of the Whitehorse & Twilleger Stores, ice-cream cones, a place to visit over coffee and if you are one of the lucky ones, you may remember Hazel Bryson’s famous homemade wild blackberry pies with ice-cream.

By 1957 the Arlington – Darrington Road, SR 530, from Oso to Darrington was designated as a State Secondary Highway, gravel giving way to pavement, and over time the narrow road going from one to two lanes.  Later the nearby mill town, Fortson, closed and merged with the Three Rivers Mill in Darrington.  Around this time The Darrington School District consolidated resulting in the closure of the Whitehorse School whose students were then bused to town.  The road in all of it’s improvements now threatened The Whitehorse Store positioned as it was in these more modern times a bit too close to the macadam.

In 1996 store owner, Kerry Frable, after looking at the unlikely chance of getting a remodeling permit, made a tough decision to locate a new building further back from the highway.  He sacrificed nostalgia to the modern pace of the world knowing that customers would miss the old store with it’s creaky wood floors, old country charm and that sense of flavor as if you had walked into another era.

For so many years the mercantile was the focal point for the Whitehorse community, for their famous ice cream cones or a quick bite to eat.  It was a place a fisherman might pick up some bait in the morning then stop by to weigh his catch later that afternoon trading tales with his fellow anglers over coffee. One thing however will always remain,  that steadfast backdrop of majestic Whitehorse Mountain and the history of this community.

Looking back at the Whitehorse Store