SKAGIT, the name of an indian tribe which lived on the river now known by the same name, The tribe also occupied part of Whidbey Island. As in the case of other Indian names there have been many forms of the word used. (Handbook of American Indians, Volume II., page 585.) John Work, of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1824, referred to Scaadchet Bay. (Washington Historical Quarterly, July, 1912, page 225.) George Gibbs used the present form of the word on March 1, 1854. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume I., page 471.) The same form is used in the treaty by which the Skagits ceded their lands, January 22, 1855. The County bearing this name was created by the Legislature of the Territory of Washington on November 28, 1883. At the southern extremity of Whidbey Island is a bluff called Scatchet Head, another spelling of the same word. Near the northern extremity of the same island are Skagit Bay and Skagit Island. Skagit City began with Barker's trading post in 1869. The townsite was platted on the homestead of W. H. McAlpine. "It is no longer much of a place." (History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, page 246.) The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, charted the island as "Skait Island" (Hydrography, Volume XXIII., Atlas, chart 90.)