A few months back, Tales of the Magic Skagit introduced you to Bruce (Honker) McCormick and his "Monster Book of Pioneers": a family heirloom entitled, "An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties." During our initial interview about the book, which was published in 1906 and subsequently restored, we read the biography of Bruce's grandfather, David McCormick, one of the earliest immigrants of European origin to the Skagit Valley. In what we are now planning as a monthly series, I rejoin Bruce to read and discuss the life of another well known Skagit Valley settler, John J. Peth, whose descendants continue to farm here. Bruce starts off by recalling in incident he witnessed as a child that might easily have ended the old pioneers life on the spot.
