"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 515.
 
WILLIAM DALE

     To the chronicler of historical events, nothing lends more zest to his
work, nor superinduces a more ready action of mind and pen than personal contact
with the genuine pioneer, who has passed through the real experiences of
subduing nature in all its primitive and unmolested forms of wild forests, wild
beasts and wild men, and who has imbibed the spirit of his surroundings and had
his mental as well as physical being broadened and deepened by the free life,
untrammeled by conventionalities and social restrictions. In the subject of this
brief review these happy conditions meet in an unusual degree. Born in Elk
County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1852, of one of the old families of that prominent
commonwealth, he was, at the early age of six years, transplanted to the then
almost undeveloped state of Wisconsin, where during his boyhood and youth he
became inured to the health producing and muscle developing ways of farm and
lumber camp life, thus establishing in physical development and mental training,
the foundation for future success, in the great Northwest, which later was
destined to become his field of pioneer operation. John Dale, the father of our
subject, a prominent lawyer, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1816,
of Welsh and Irish parents, who were pioneers of that state. He became a pioneer
of Pierce County, Wisconsin, in 1858, and there practiced law and also became an
extensive land owner. In the practice of his profession he became acquainted
with Senator Spooner, and this acquaintance later grew into a warm and lasting
friendship. In 1873 he moved to Tennessee, and in 1877 became a resident of
Skagit county, where he died in 1878. During the war he held a commission as
colonel, serving as recruiting officer and also as provost marshal in Wisconsin,
but was never in active army service. The mother, Massie (Jordan) Dale, also a
native of Pennsylvania, was of German descent, and belonged to one of the
oldest families of the Keystone state. She survived her husband eleven years,
passing away in 1889. In July, 1874, after closing a year in the Wisconsin
pineries, young Dale, at the age of twenty-two, turned his face westward, and
soon had his first introduction into Skagit, then a part of Whatcom county.
Without undue delay he took up work in the lumbering camps of that region, which
he followed continuously for eight years, working at first for others, but later
engaging in the same business for himself. Here he soon built up a name and
business known throughout a wide section of the coast country, and won the
distinction of being one of the first extensive lumber operators on Fidalgo
island, thus inseparably connecting himself with the early development and
progress of that section of the country. During this period Mr. Dale took up a
homestead in the Samish country, and in the course of time transferred his
attention to agricultural pursuits and the development of his homestead. The
tract he had taken was what is known as "tide lands," and had to be redeemed
from the overflow of salt water from the sound, by extensive diking, entailing
great expenditure of time and labor. This was accomplished, with the gratifying
result that he became the possessor of an expanse of land rich and productive
almost beyond belief. The pleasure of pursuit, in Mr. Dale's case, seemed to
outweigh that of possession, for no sooner had he overcome the almost
insurmountable obstacles which had at first opposed themselves to his mastery of
natural conditions, and had gratified his desire for conquest, than he forsook
farm life, leasing his land, and gave his attention to the manufacture of
shingles, establishing a mill at the town of Burlington in 1890, and later, in
1893, erecting a second mill in Mount Vernon. The mill at the latter place was
destroyed by fire in 1894 and the business at Burlington was sold. In 1889 Mr.
Dale was nominated by the Republican party for county assessor, and the choice
of his party was ratified by the voters at the polls that fall by a handsome
majority. He served throughout two successive terms of four years with success,
at the same time keeping a guiding hand on his business interests outside.
Again, in 1898, he was called by a goodly majority to fill the same position of
trust, serving to the close of the double term of four years with that
distinguishing faithfulness which has ever marked his course through life,
whether in public or private affairs. At the close of his official duties in
1902, he formed a partnership with Warren Shea in the abstract, real estate and
insurance business, which they are at present successfully conducting, having
established it on a solid business basis. Ever in dose touch with the
agricultural interests of the county, and an owner of farm lands himself, Mr.
Dale has for a number of years owned and had operated two first-class steam
threshers, which as an investment have proven anything but unprofitable.
     In 1877, while following the lumbering industry the union of William Dale
and Mary A. Stevens was celebrated in Skagit county. Mrs. Dale is from one of
the earliest pioneer families of that county. Her father, Edwin Stevens, a
millwright by trade and native of New York, came to Skagit with his family in
1873, and after an active life of seven years in his newly adopted home, he laid
down the burdens of life, greatly regretted by all who knew him.  The mother,
Rachel (Herbernson) Stevens, still survives her husband. To the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Dale have been born four children William Edwin and James Arthur, now
farming in British Columbia; Annie Adelaide Hunt and Ella R. Fredlund.
Politically, Mr. Dale is a staunch Republican and ranks among the foremost in
the councils of his party and the shaping of its policies; fraternally he is a
Knight Templar and Past High Priest in the Masonic order, and in the Knights of
Pythias holds the position of Keeper of the Seals. In the Commercial club of his
town Mr. Dale is recognized as one of the most active factors, and is ever at
the forefront of every enterprise that makes for the public weal, or carries on
its banner the insignia of progress; which broad-minded, public-spirited course
has won for him the deepest regard, as well as respect and confidence of the
community which claims him as a citizen.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in May 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.