MACON CO., NC - BIOGRAPHIES - Charles McDowell
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Go West Young Man
Great Grandpa Charles McDowell

Written by Diana Schafer Ford (dianaford3@attbi.com)


Go west young man was true for a great many North Carolinians during
the late 1800s. When Great Grandpa Charles McDowell migrated from 
Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina to Hamilton, Washington, he 
was among hundreds of men looking for a new future in logging at the
Hamilton Logging Company. Waynesville, Haywood County, NC is where 
Great-great Grandma Nancy Elmina McDowell and her kin came from to 
begin with and there was a great influx of people moving to Hamilton
from the South as at that time the south was very depressed area and
the logging in the Northwest was the promised land. Waynesville's 
mountainous area in Western North Carolina shows similarities. These
settlers were often referred to as Tar heels. 

It was a long journey back then and after getting settled, Charles
mother, Nancy Elmina McDowell decided to settle in Hamilton, Skagit 
County, Washington also. Nancy's father, Rev. John McDowell died 
October 11, 1883 in Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina and soon 
after Grandpa Charles headed west. He shows up on the 1885 
Territorial Census as 21 years of age and a lumberman. By 1892, 
Grandma Nancy Elmina McDowell was 64 years of age and had boarded a 
train to start a new life in Washington and be near her son.

It was not an easy trip back then. The most likely route would have 
been to board a Southern Railway passenger train at Ashville, NC 
with a ticket about the length of an arm with all the transfers in 
the large cities included. Knoxville, TN would probably have been 
the first change, taking a train to Cincinnati, Ohio at night. From 
there a transfer to Chicago, Illinois and then a transfer for St. 
Paul, Minnesota. There could be as much as a 12 hour lay over 
between transfers west and the journey most likely took a good 7 
days to arrive in Seattle.

Seattle, then a city, had a population of about 70,000 with First 
and Second Avenues the only paved streets. An over night layover at 
a Seattle hotel was probably a must before heading north to Hamilton
and the eighth and final day was most likely taken from Seattle to 
Wooley on the Seattle & Northern Railroad and quite a different 
picture from today. Imagine the railroad running through large 
timber, brush and swamps while the fog and clouds were hanging low. 
It probably seemed like the wild and woolly west. The train depot 
at Wooley was in the middle of two railroads with one going to 
Hamilton and even though Hamilton was only 12 miles away, if one 
missed the train, only run for the day, it would be a long over 
night wait for the next train. Roads were rugged and too much for a 
horse and buggy as roads were often muddy and the road wound around 
among large fir and cedar trees where it followed the Skagit River 
most of the way in swamps and brush. If one didn't want to wait to 
the following day you could walk the railroad track, from Wooley to 
Hamilton which took about 4 hours.

Logging was hard work. About 18 cars of logs would be hauled at a 
time down from the sides of the steep mountains with a steam engine 
Shay locomotive. The engine would be turned around backwards. In 
other words they backed the engine down to prevent a runaway.

I read an article in the Woolley (Washington) Times of Matt Snider 
of Jackson County, North Carolina who was 18 at the time and he 
recalled his trip west November 3, 1894 to Hamilton, Skagit County, 
Washington. He arrived wet and tired on November 11, 1894 hoping to 
surprise Ed McClure and his wife Harriet, who was the sister of Matt
Snider but, Matt couldn't find their home. So, he went to find his 
good friend (my great grandfather) Charlie McDowell. Charles took 
Matt to the McClures who didn't know he was coming, and what a 
wonderful surprise it was.

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: Diana Ford       dianaford3@attbi.com
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