Town of Skykomish King County, Washington

Mapped Location

Town of Skykomish: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Town of Skykomish

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Town of Skykomish

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Town of Skykomish Official
Skykomish Official
Sky Unofficial

 

Origin Notes and History of Town of Skykomish

References to Town of Skykomish that document the origin of its place name

Title Cover Image: Origin of Washington geographic names

SKYKOMISH RIVER, rises in the Cascade Range and flows through the southern part of Snohomish County. Near Monroe it joins with the Snoqualmie River forming the Snohomish River. The Bureau of American Ethnology says the Indian name comes from skaikh, meaning "inland" and mish, "people". (Handbook of American Indians, Volume II., page 591.) There have been many spellings of the word. Captain George B. McClellan referred to it as "Skywhamish." (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume I., chapter 18, page 200.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names
Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 276  |  Origin of Washington Geographic Names

 

Related Catalog Titles

A Bibliography for Town of Skykomish, King County, Washington

Upriver voices tales of Skykomish by Nancy Cleveland, Anne Sekor, Jim Ojala, Skykomish Historical Society

Title Cover Image

Published by the Skykomish Historical Society, Upriver Voices: Tales of Skykomish compiles local oral histories, archival photographs, and pioneer recollections to chronicle the dramatic evolution of the upper Skykomish River valley in Washington. The narrative captures the raw realities of a rugged mountain frontier shaped by the timber industry, the grueling construction of the Great Northern Railway, and the sheer grit required to carve isolated hamlets out of the Cascade foothills. Through the preserved voices of loggers, railway workers, and families, the volume documents the social fabric and daily hardships of a transient industrial community. A keen insight drawn from the text is how its grassroots, multi-author preservation approach exposes the fragile permanence of mountain boomtowns; by centering the firsthand accounts of ordinary workers rather than corporate boardrooms, the book illustrates how the relentless cycles of resource extraction left behind tight-knit communities defined just as much by communal resilience as by corporate transience.

166 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]
collective biographies · 2nd ed · Skykomish Historical Society, Skykomish, WA, 2008
Related Catalog Items: Town of Skykomish · King County

 


The Sky Valley. Volume 2 a photographic history by Buddie Williams

Title Cover Image

Authored by local historian Buddie Williams, The Sky Valley, Volume 2: A Photographic History continues the visual documentation of Washington's rugged Skykomish River corridor through a rich collection of historic photographs and archival ephemera. The volume captures the dramatic transformation of towns like Index, Sultan, and Startup as they evolved from raw logging camps and mining outposts into established, tight-knit communities framed by the Cascade Mountains. Through vintage images of steam locomotives, timber mills, high-water floods, and local school children, the text portrays the relentless daily labor required to carve civilization out of a steep, flood-prone river valley. A keen insight drawn from the work is how visual archives of mountain valleys expose the inherent fragility of industrial frontier settlements; the recurring imagery of swollen rivers and swept-away bridges reminds readers that human infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest was always engaged in a precarious, high-stakes negotiation with an overwhelmingly powerful natural topography.

28 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]
History · Rev. ed · Messenger Pub., Startup, Wash., 1999
Related Catalog Items: Town of Skykomish · City of Gold Bar · Town of Index · King County · Snohomish County

 


Related Online Resources

Town of Skykomish Web Site

"A Great Northern Town"

WEB LINK
Town of Skykomish

Skykomish - Thumbnail History

By Alan J Stein, Posted 8/12/1999, HistoryLink.org Essay 1623

WEB LINK
Town of Skykomish

Skykomish Historical Society Home Page

Skykomish Historical Society Home Page

WEB LINK
Town of Skykomish

 

King County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2017-01-27