Gold Bar

History

The ancestral home of the indigenous Skykomish people () was in the upper Skykomish Valley east of modern-day Sultan and including the drainage basins of the Sultan and Wallace rivers. They had a permanent village at the confluence of the Skykomish and Wallace rivers, where modern-day Gold Bar lies, named . The village had a large potlatch house, built to accommodate a number of travelers, and a cemetery; it had an estimated population of 40 families in the late 19th century, representing approximately 240 people. was used as a base camp for travelers coming to the area to hunt elk in the Sultan River basin. The Skykomish were a signatory party of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott and assigned to the Tulalip Indian Reservation at the mouth of the Snohomish River. Many members of the tribe remained in the Skykomish Valley, with as many as 320 non-reservation residents estimated in 1900, but the Skykomish later ceased to have a distinct government and assimilated into the Tulalip Tribes. The upper Skykomish Valley was visited by prospectors who sought gold deposits, which had been discovered in the Fraser Canyon and triggered a regional gold rush in 1858. A campsite at the confluence of the Skykomish and Wallace rivers was established by prospectors 1869 and given the name Gold Bar after a miner found traces of gold on a nearby gravel bar. After Gold Bar became a construction camp for the Great Northern Railway, anti-Chinese sentiment was inflamed by a shooting fray started by disreputable camp followers. To save the lives of the threatened Chinese, construction engineer Eduard Bauer slipped them out of camp in hastily constructed coffins. Gold Bar was officially incorporated on September 16, 1910. The 1940 population was 307. In the mid-20th century, the city doubled…

Geography

Gold Bar is situated in the Skykomish Valley, a region of eastern Snohomish County along the Skykomish River in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The city is east of Everett and west of Stevens Pass, a major route through the Cascades. Gold Bar's boundaries are defined to the southwest by the BNSF Railway's Scenic Subdivision, to the west by 387th Avenue Southeast, to the north by the Wallace River, and to the east by 415th Avenue Southeast. An urban growth area includes areas along May Creek and the Skykomish River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Of the total area, approximately 66percent is zoned for residential use (primarily single-family housing) and 19percent is considered vacant or undeveloped. The city was built on a narrow plain within the valley that is bordered to the south by the Skykomish River and to the north by the Wallace River. Gold Bar lies on alluvial deposits with an underlayer of gravel. May Creek, a tributary of the Wallace River, passes through the city.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Sultan Elementary School
  Elementary · Sultan · 624 students · 16:1 ratio
• Sultan Senior High School
  High · Sultan · 583 students · 22.4:1 ratio
• Sultan Middle School
  Middle · Sultan · 442 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Gold Bar Elementary
  Elementary · Gold Bar · 338 students · 14.1:1 ratio
• Sultan Virtual Academy
  Other · Sultan · 30 students
• Student Services School
  Other · Sultan · 29 students · 29:1 ratio
• Index Elementary School District 63
  Elementary · Index · 21 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• Sky Valley Options
  High · Sultan · 15 students · 15:1 ratio