Monte Cristo, Washington
| Monte Cristo | |
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| Ghost Town | |
Townsite in 2014
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 Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo
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| Coordinates: 47°59′8″N 121°23′38″W / 47.98556°N 121.39389°WCoordinates: 47°59′8″N 121°23′38″W / 47.98556°N 121.39389°W | |
| Elevation | 842 m (2,762 ft) |
Monte Cristo is a ghost town northwest of Monte Cristo Peak, in eastern Snohomish County in western Washington. The town was active as a mining area for gold and silver from 1889 to 1907, and later became a resort town that operated until 1983.
Monte Cristo is located at the headwaters of the South Fork Sauk River in eastern Snohomish County. The town is connected via a trail to the Mountain Loop Highway, which continues west to Granite Falls and north to Darrington.
The Monte Cristo Peak, named for the town, is located to the southeast.
Prospecting in the region began in the Skykomish River drainage with the Old Cady Trail used for access. In 1882 Elisha Hubbard improved the trail up the North Fork Skykomish, from Index to Galena, then north up the tributary Silver Creek. A boom shortly followed at Mineral City. The mineral belt was traced in various directions, including north over the divide between the Skykomish and Sauk River drainages. In the early summer of 1889 Joseph Pearsall saw glittering deposits and traced them north to Seventysix Gulch and the area that became Monte Cristo. A frenzy of claim staking quickly followed. In 1890 many miners hiked to Monte Cristo from the south by way of Index, Galena, and Mineral City, crossing the divide at first via Wilmans Pass and later via Poodle Dog Pass. In the fall of 1891 a narrow wagon road called the Wilmans or Pioneer Trail was completed from Sauk City on the Skagit River to Monte Cristo, allowing access from the north. A key stop on this road was the trading post at Orient, at the forks of the Sauk River. Today this area is known as Bedal. In the summer of 1891 it was discovered that Monte Cristo could be accessed via the South Fork Stillaguamish River. A surveyor named M.Q. Barlow blazed a route from Silverton to Monte Cristo. Mining interests Thomas Ewing and George W. Grayson, then Judge Edward Blewett, Judge Hiram G. Bond of Denver and New York City, and Seattle publisher Leigh S. J. Hunt, funded further work and soon a wagon road was built over Barlow Pass to join the Sauk wagon road. Later a railroad would be built over the same route.
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Wikipedia