1906 ❖ TOBACCO WENT TO THE SAN JUAN COUNTY FAIR

ELEANORE GLOSSOP,
(1862-1947)
wife of Henry R. Glossop,
on the Shaw Island farm,
where they raised their family.
 "Ella" has a planting of tobacco 
 growing behind her.
Location depicted: 
Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
A scan of an original photo courtesy 
of  Mr. Lester Schmuck, family genealogist.

 The Glossop's pioneer dairy farm and home were located on the western side of Squaw Bay, Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago*. A granddaughter of Henry and "Ella" Glossop informed us the barn was the largest on the island with a tall silo; there are no remains of their residence along the Bay nor any farm outbuildings following four generations of living at this site. To date, archived photographs of their farm life on Shaw are very few. 
      Ella was left an orphan in the Civil War when her father died serving as a volunteer in the 27th Cavalry, Co. H of Michigan. She traveled west, raised four daughters, and spent almost 50 years on Shaw Island.
     Ella later lived as a widow on the western part of the farm, where at this time, there still remains a root house and an apple orchard.

      In an interview with this archivist, islander John "Lee" Bruns (1913-2004), the poultry farmer told of the time when the Glossop farm had the only radio on the island. There was a special broadcast presented by the Farmer's Co-Op headquartered in Bellingham and island farming families gathered to listen around the radio at the Glossop's, late on winter nights.
      

1906
The first San Juan County Fair,
at the county seat of Friday Harbor, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
 Detail of a photo by James A. McCormick.
The Shaw Island horticultural booth  
was embellished with tobacco leaves
hung to dry on the pole above the attendant.
This photograph was saved by F.E. "Gene" 
and Sadie Hoffman Fowler, island residents 
 at the date of the photograph.
Decades later the photo was archived at the
Shaw Island Historical Museum,
courtesy of a relative, Alice Clark.
Click image to enlarge.

      The year 1906 is logged here for documentation of this crop being entered at the first San Juan County Fair, along with the above photo, with the date inscribed on the original. Shaw Island sent her finest exhibit material to the horticulture department for their booth decorated with freshly harvested tobacco leaves hung overhead to dry.

      Tobacco was cultivated as early as the 1880s on Shaw Island. The San Juan County extension agent has not been able to find any archived records to document a commercial tobacco crop.

      The exhibit booth display was caught on film by the highly regarded, professional photographer, James A. McCormick, recognized for his excellence in recording the history of San Juan County through his film work. He had a studio set up for seasonal headquarters in Friday Harbor. "Mac" developed his glass plate negatives to craft stereopticon prints for the lectures he presented, as well as taking portraits and doing scenic photos for postcards that he marketed at local shops. Also on exhibit at  the 1906 Fair was a collection of fine work by Mr. McCormick, all promoted on the front page of the Friday Harbor Journal. 
      

County seat of Friday Harbor,
the site of the first San Juan County Fair, 1906.
The photo is also by James A. McCormick who can
be seen with his skiff on the beach on Brown's Island. 
He inscribed this card before mailing it to Anacortes.
Click the image to enlarge. 
Author collection.

      

      A lot of the interisland business travel by this outdoorsman was conducted with his open rowboat, lugging equipment such as the glass plate negatives and tripod. Often, his open rowboat can be seen in scenery shots, as above. "Mac" was one of the official photographers chosen by the State to promote the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909.

      Gordon Dick, an early summer resident of Shaw Island told of "Mac" rowing by and camping out above the beach in the 1920s at Picnic Point, owned since then by Mr. Dick's extended family. 
      
1880s: Tobacco was also grown on the Archibald and Kitty Rader farm in the same area as the Glossop dairy farm, the crop being listed on the homestead application papers archived at the National Archives Records Administration with copies of those scant surviving records at the Shaw Island Historical Museum.

1892, 11 June: "Set out tobacco plants today." Bert Tift wrote frustratingly brief notes in his daily diary. Early local newspapers have not revealed how successful Mr. Tift was with his tobacco crop, but he claimed in federal papers he harvested 15 tons of potatoes in his first year of farming his land. 

1904: Not tobacco but this year a local newspaper records that "Edgar Glossop shipped nearly one half a ton of garden peas to Friday Harbor and Henry Glossop is still shipping. Shaw Island is still 'it' when it comes to garden truck." San Juan Islander. 13 August 1904. pg 4.

* The former name of Squaw Bay was officially changed to Reefnet Bay in 2017.