Some stories of a place known as Cabbage Patch, Hilderbrand Crossing, Harmony and later as Cicero
The Cicero area is composed of a narrow fertile valley along the North
Fork Stillaguamish River. Grant Creek, named after early settler John
Grant, is the largest tributary of the river in the area, flowing down
from the northern slopes of the valley near Fraily Mountain.
Bridalveil Falls, now called Ryan Falls, was a real show stopper for
travelers easily seen driving the Arlington-Darrington Road or coming up
by train.
The first white settlers to come to the area in 1884 were Ralph
Collingwood & his wife. Mrs. Collingwood recalled that big event in
her life “ On the first day
of March, 1884, Mr. & Mrs. Collingwood, Ed Fisher, & Mr.
Parks pitched their tent at the McEwan place, three miles up the
North Fork Stillaguamish River & took possession of an old
bachelor cabin. They had been taken up the river by Siwash Friday &
his klootchman. They had reached the place the third day after leaving
Stanwood. That night a heavy snow fell & the next morning the men
began to cut a trail to Mr. Collingwood's homestead claim three miles
to the westward, which required eleven days. Then a cabin was built,
the supplies packed in & Mrs. Collingwood, the first white woman on
the North Fork Stillaguamish River took her canine body guard 'Shep'
& moved into her first home". They farmed their homestead many
years building a substantial dairy herd. Her husband of 32 years, Mr.
Collingwood died at his home on February 5, 1897. Mrs. Jennie
Collingwood sold their dairy farm to Alfred & James Cavanaugh
leaving a wilderness life she knew so well and community called Harmony.
The current Cicero "Hilderbrand" Bridge with the old bridge bulkheads just to the front of it, photo by Martha Rasmussen
Shortly after the Collingwoods arrived to the valley, Hiram Monty staked a
claim in 1885 south of the river and built up a prosperous farm. Other
early homesteaders that settled around the Harmony community were the
McNally brothers to the south of the river clearing land for a sheep
ranch, John Grant north of the river toward Fraily Mountain was putting
in a large orchard of fruit trees, Fock Brothers to the south of the
river planted a large apple orchard. Ben Hilderbrand north of the
river was building up a successful farm & also ran the local
ferry. In 1892 the growing settlement built a schoolhouse, the Fock
brothers to the south if the river donated the land & Miss Kellogg
came to Harmony as the first teacher. The school served also as a
community hall & place for religious services. The first road up
the valley was to reach Harmony in 1897, anticipating this great
accomplishment Ben Hilderbrand asserted the importance of building
bridge over his land providing a right of way to cross the river &
connect their divided community. This was named the Hilderbrand Bridge
and over time part of the settlement was referred to as Hilderbrand
Crossing. This bridge was where the current SR 530 bridge is today, the
old bulkheads where this bridge once was is between the highway &
the Whitehorse Trail.
Charles Hillis came to the valley in 1896 working as a hired man for
the Hilderbrand Farm. Ben Hilderbrand's passed away the same year, April
9, 1896. H.O. Siler & Charles Hillis bought the farm & later
Charles built a road to his place from the new county road, this is
still goes by the name as the Hillis Road.
By 1899 the whole N.F. Stillaguamish Valley was anticipating the train
that would go all the way to Darrington. Local farmers got work
building the grade and selling meat & produce to the work crew. The
tracks up the valley were completed to Harmony in 1900 & with it
bringing opportunities of new trade & businesses. Wick, Christie
& Murphy came to Harmony to build a shingle mill & sawmill.
Jacob T. Lohr took over the two mills with his broad range of experience
from working on ships, prospecting, farming & sawmills. Both
mills, the Heath-Morely Sawmill & Robertson Shingle Mill
incorporated & opened in 1901, the same year the train began
operation. The land where the sawmill was will later be owned by
Charles Hillis. The office for the sawmill will become the dwelling for
his son John Hillis & Larry Taylor Sr. leased the mill while also
operating the mill up by Shomet.
At this time it was confusing to know what to call this settlement.
Some called it Harmony, the bridge crossing was Hilderbrand, the cabins
that clustered closely near the mills were called Cabbage Patch. With
the arrival of the train, the Cicero's built a store with a post
office. Community came together & decided to be unified under one
name & decided upon Cicero. When the post office opened, November
29, 1901 the settlement will forever be on the map as Cicero & Mrs.
Cicero became the first postmaster. Cicero was growing, by 1906 was
listed as having a sawmill, shake mill, store, post office, saloon,
hotel & depot.
In 1910 the settlement of Cicero will become divided by the river once
again. This event was remembered for many years as "The Great School
"Row". As the children in the area increased many felt the school
needed to be more centrally located toward the majority of the
population to the north. Several fought bitterly to keep the school at
the original location south of the river. This led to a very lively
school election with North vs South. The north won the fight & the
new schoolhouse & house for the teacher was built on the north side
of the river. The old "School Marm House" still stands today.
In 1910 the settlement of Cicero will become divided by the river once
again. This event was remembered for many years as "The Great School
"Row". As the children in the area increased many felt the school
needed to be more centrally located toward the majority of the
population to the north. Several fought bitterly to keep the school at
the original location south of the river. This led to a very lively
school election with North vs South. The north won the fight & the
new schoolhouse & house for the teacher was built on the north side
of the river. The old "School Marm House" still stands today.
1921 was one of the worst floods Cicero had ever seen, both the north
& south communities suffered much loss but not as much as the Cicero
place. Living peacefully for 51 years on their farm with orchard &
cozy home surrounded by Mrs.
Cicero's flowers their live changed. On December 11th during very high
flooding a
log jam broke loose on the N.F. Stillaguamish River. At 10 a.m. The
waters began to fill their house & the couple brought bedding, the
family dog & cat with her kittens upstairs. Mr. Cicero went to
bring
more provisions to the dry upstairs & saw that the water was now
over the cooking range in the kitchen. All night long they slept
fitfully as the dog seemed to watch guard. They could hear and feel
the grind of washed out trees piling up against the house &
windmill tower a short distance away. At about 3 a.m. a strange thing
happened, the dog leaps out of the upstairs window onto the porch roof.
Shortly after
he returned indoors all frisky and happy. Then the cat sniffed the dog
up & down & leaps onto the porch roof. She returned purring
& went about tending her kittens. The Ciceros were filled with hope
& within an hour following these events the water began to drop
significantly. By 10 a.m. the next day the house was free of water.
Outside the picture was pretty bleak, with trees piled high on the
house, the fences & poultry house with 100 hens were all gone. They
had a 20 acre farm the day before & when the river was done
flooding they were left with 9 acres, their lives, a faithful dog &
contented cat.
Much of Cicero's past has disappeared, the store, hotel, school &
post office are gone. The depot is now a dwelling on the south side of
the river. The house built for the school teacher is now a dwelling on
the north side of the river. As you drive SR 530 or walk the Whitehorse
Trail through Cicero today you will see subtle reminders of the past.
Watch for the random fruit trees planted long ago, remnants of the old
winding highway, the old railroad signs of the abandoned railroad & a
pond that once was the millpond for a growing community, a place of
dedicated pioneers and a name known as Cicero.
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