John E. Potts Washington State¶

Day Creek Lumber Company¶

The following notes indicate the business presence of John Potts in the Sedro Woolley, Skagit County area of Washington State.

SOURCE

Title: B.R. Lewis, Clear Lake Lumber Co.

The Day Brothers built the first shingle mill on the northwest shore of the lake in 1892 and that evolved over the next decade into Bratnober & Waite, whose sawmill was destroyed by fire in November 1902, although the shingle mill was saved. John Bratnober stayed on for a short while as secretary but soon moved on greener pastures in King County. In 1903 the company was reorganized and renamed the Clear Lake Lumber Company, with F.H. Jackson as president. Jackson stayed on through the Lewis years all the way to the end, the only one of the original officers to do so. For the next nine years, they basically treaded water as they built a rail extension westward nine miles from the Northern Pacific [NP] tracks to Mount Vernon.

Local competition from J.E. Potts and the Day Creek Lumber Co., along with an interim owner who seemed snake bit, led to an opening for B.R. Lewis. He attracted some heavyweights to invest in his rail line, including Thomas Smith, the Mount Vernon attorney [B.R.'s son Sid married Smith's daughter]; T.J. Meagher; F.H. Jackson and J.C. Wixson, the Big Lake timber man. Jackson may have been retained so long because he was a cousin of the Hortons, of Winona, Minnesota, who became the largest block of CLLC investors. The new rail line first shipped logs over the ten miles of track back to the Skagit Junction NP interchange in December 1912 and it became a roaring success.

SOURCE: Skagit River Journal of History & Folklore

Ed. note: Another item on our to-do list is to study the formation of what became known as Day Creek. Deanna Ammons notes: "I know that the Potts had a shingle and lumber mill in 1906 and the name of it was Day Creek Lumber Co. In a legal document for Day Creek Lumber in 1906, the area is referred to as Day Creek. The Day Brothers were up there about the same time as Tingley and Day Creek (the creek) was referred to as "Day's Creek" on early maps." Deanna is going to give us more background and she is our number-one source because she grew up there when she and I attended Sedro-Woolley District 101 schools. We hope that others who grew up there or descend from Day Creek pioneer families will help us with information and copies of documents and photos

Potts Family Idaho residence¶

It appears that the family of John E. Potts was residing in Lewiston, Idaho for at least part of the time he was establishing his business in Washington.

United States Census, 1900

Event Place: East Lewiston Precinct Lewiston city, Nez Perce, Idaho, United States

Household Role Sex Age Birthplace

Margaret Potts Head Female 57 Canada

Marion B Potts Daughter Female 26 Canada

Lena F Potts Daughter Female 23 Canada

Lena Florence Potts Marriage¶

Lena Florence Potts in the Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013

Name: Lena Florence Potts

Gender: Female

Marriage Age: 28

Birth Date: abt 1879

Birth Place: Simcoe Canada

Marriage Date: 23 Jan 1907

Marriage Place: Avon, Skagit, Washington, USA

Father: John Edwin Potts

Mother: Margaret Wilson Potts

Spouse: William Wyatt Sumner

Skagit County location in Washington State¶

Skagit County, Washington map (1909) showing location of Sedro Woolley