- June 8th [of 1853]. The men had to wait five or six hours for the tide in order to make camp. In the meantime I visited two honest, energetic young men named Brown and Peabody, who were engaged in building a large sawmill, with sixteen men in their employ. The stream which is the outlet for Lake Whatcom presents a fine water power for the mill, but the fact that it can only be reached at high water is a serious objection to the townsite as well as the millsite. I met a Capt. Pattle; who impressed me less pleasantly. He is an Indian trader and an old resident of this section, having been here for several years. He is the claimant of the coal bank which crops out at the water’s edge half a mile south of the millsite. He has two neighbors, who have also taken claims with an eye to the coal mine. Their names are Morrison and Thomas, and they are villainous~looking men. In spite of the small number of residents, a bitter animosity exists among them on account of these coal lands. They fight over the claims and destroy each other’s property and accuse one another of illicit trade with the Indians. I strongly suspect Pattle. He told me an effective story of how he had had a boat stolen containing two barrels of whisky. He accuses the Clallams. I told him that in such a case he should apply to the Indian agent, and showed him my papers, at which he looked blank, and, rallying, entered largely on the evils of selling liquor to the Indians. Little seems to have been known about the country surrounding this [Bellingham] bay. The timber is very large and dense, and there is very little prairie land. The Lummi river, which has quite a delta in the northwest corner of the bay, circles around the bay five or six miles back, and has a fine valley which heads in the mountains.
