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Gold Bar, Washington
Gold Bar is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located on the Skykomish River between Sultan and Index, connected by U.S. Route 2. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census.
The ancestral home of the indigenous Skykomish people (sq̓ixʷəbš) 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 'xaitəd. 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. 'xaitəd 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 c. 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 in population as it attracted retirees as well as long-distance commuters to jobs in Everett and Seattle. In the 1990s, Gold Bar gained a new grocery store and several new businesses as it became more of a bedroom community. The city hall was expanded to double its size in 2001 to accommodate growth in the number of employees and services provided by the municipal government.
In 2012, the city government considered disincorporation to avoid bankruptcy due to low sales tax revenue and high expenses attributed to filling public records requests and fighting lawsuits from activist Anne Block. The city council voted against disincorporation and placed a property tax levy on the ballot, which was rejected by voters in November 2012. Block, an employment attorney, published a hyperlocal blog named the Gold Bar Reporter that alleged city officials of corruption and illegal acts. She was later disbarred and ordered in 2018 by a U.S. District Court judge to reimburse the Gold Bar city government $78,000 in attorney fees.
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 30 miles (48 km) east of Everett and 40 miles (64 km) west of Stevens Pass, a major route through the Cascades. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.03 square miles (2.67 km2), all of it land. Of the total area, approximately 66 percent is zoned for residential use (primarily single-family housing) and 19 percent 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.
The city has several small businesses that cater towards tourists who travel on the Stevens Pass Highway, including a snowboard shop and roadside restaurants. A rafting tour company is also based in Gold Bar. According to Economic Alliance Snohomish County, there are 41 total businesses in the city, of which six are classified as food service establishments and six are retailers. As of the 2023 American Community Survey estimates, a total of 1,224 Gold Bar residents over the age of 16 are in the labor force and 4.5 percent are unemployed. The most common employers are in the educational services and healthcare sector, followed by recreation and food services. Approximately 2.9 percent of Gold Bar residents in the labor force work within the city; the most common commuting destinations are Seattle (11.4%), Monroe (7.7%), Sultan (7.5%), and Everett (7.1%). The mean one-way commute for the city's workforce was 47 minutes; 76.1 percent of commuters drove alone to their place of employment, while 10.1 percent worked from home.
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Gold Bar, Washington
Gold Bar is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located on the Skykomish River between Sultan and Index, connected by U.S. Route 2. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census.
The ancestral home of the indigenous Skykomish people (sq̓ixʷəbš) 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 'xaitəd. 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. 'xaitəd 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 c. 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 in population as it attracted retirees as well as long-distance commuters to jobs in Everett and Seattle. In the 1990s, Gold Bar gained a new grocery store and several new businesses as it became more of a bedroom community. The city hall was expanded to double its size in 2001 to accommodate growth in the number of employees and services provided by the municipal government.
In 2012, the city government considered disincorporation to avoid bankruptcy due to low sales tax revenue and high expenses attributed to filling public records requests and fighting lawsuits from activist Anne Block. The city council voted against disincorporation and placed a property tax levy on the ballot, which was rejected by voters in November 2012. Block, an employment attorney, published a hyperlocal blog named the Gold Bar Reporter that alleged city officials of corruption and illegal acts. She was later disbarred and ordered in 2018 by a U.S. District Court judge to reimburse the Gold Bar city government $78,000 in attorney fees.
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 30 miles (48 km) east of Everett and 40 miles (64 km) west of Stevens Pass, a major route through the Cascades. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.03 square miles (2.67 km2), all of it land. Of the total area, approximately 66 percent is zoned for residential use (primarily single-family housing) and 19 percent 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.
The city has several small businesses that cater towards tourists who travel on the Stevens Pass Highway, including a snowboard shop and roadside restaurants. A rafting tour company is also based in Gold Bar. According to Economic Alliance Snohomish County, there are 41 total businesses in the city, of which six are classified as food service establishments and six are retailers. As of the 2023 American Community Survey estimates, a total of 1,224 Gold Bar residents over the age of 16 are in the labor force and 4.5 percent are unemployed. The most common employers are in the educational services and healthcare sector, followed by recreation and food services. Approximately 2.9 percent of Gold Bar residents in the labor force work within the city; the most common commuting destinations are Seattle (11.4%), Monroe (7.7%), Sultan (7.5%), and Everett (7.1%). The mean one-way commute for the city's workforce was 47 minutes; 76.1 percent of commuters drove alone to their place of employment, while 10.1 percent worked from home.
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