Kristi’s Notebook: Karen Prasse digs the history of Camano Island
Published 10:55 pm Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Old bottle hunting was one of my hobbies when I lived at Utsalady Point on Camano Island. Our home was right where Utsalady Mill workers toiled in the 1880s making cedar shingles.
We dug in our yard, in our neighbors’ yards, wherever we thought workers may have buried their garbage, hoping to strike glass.
Now the story of early Camano Island, including its shingle mills, family vacation resorts and logging camps, is being told in “Images of America, Camano Island,” by Karen Prasse and the Stanwood Area Historical Society.
The research librarian at the Stanwood Library knew where to get her hands on historic photographs that highlight the book.
“About 1988 I started attending Stanwood Area Historical Society meetings and helping other volunteers cataloging artifacts and photographs,” Prasse said. “In the early 1990s we put up our first exhibit and I started their newsletter.”
About a year ago, when a publisher approached the society about the need for a Camano history book, Prasse accepted the challenge. In pulling together the island’s story, she enjoyed talking to families and digging into old newspapers, letters, remembrances and oral histories.
Prasse, who moved to Camano in 1981 from Minnesota, lives on 6 acres on the south end of the island with her husband, Jack Archibald, a well-known glass artist.
Her book shows pictures of her neck of the woods, including the South Camano Grange, built in 1932, which is still used for dinners, dancing and meetings. Doing research, she heard tales of swimming at Juniper Beach and Livingston Bay.
“The shoreline was where Native Americans lived,” she said. “And for many of the same reasons, that was where settlers also wanted to live first.”
Some of the book’s photographs have never been shown. I adored the chapter about the island’s summer resorts. Perhaps your family rented a summer cabin at Cama Beach, stayed at Madrona in a tent or rented a cabin at Camp Lagoon?
At Utsalady Point, back in our digging days, my three pirate children found plenty of broken glass, some thick and colorful. We knew little about the shingle mills, but from the book, I learned hard-charging employees cut 75,000 board-feet of lumber each day.
I forgive them for ditching their trash.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
Buy the book
“Images of America, Camano Island” may be purchased at Snow Goose Bookstore in Stanwood or online at Amazon.com.
