CLEAR LAKE

John Isaacson was the first settler in the area later to become Clear Lake, arriving in December 1877 when he was 19 years old. A few years later, Robert Pringle arrived. Xaver Bartl joined them soon after. The coming of the railway in 1890 made Sedro Woolley the nearest shopping center.

The great days of Clear Lake came with the growth of the Clear Lake Lumber Company which flourished from the late 1890s until it burned in May of 1918 with a loss reported at the time as $400,000, but was rebuilt. Its final closing profoundly depressed the town but Clear Lake has continued on a much restricted basis. Its churches and school help to keep it as a community and it retains its own post office.

Two churches, a gas station, fire department and an historical association make up the town now, but a lot of new housing is reviving the community.

I was born in 1890 in Clear Lake. Cora Issacson at that time… When I was small there wasn't much to it, just a store. Later on they had a big mill there, big sawmill.

Cora Issacson Hassan, RIII-93

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