BERT HUNTOON,
an amateur photographer who took many scenic pictures of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Chuckanut Drive and other parts of Western Washington State.

Bert W. Huntoon was born in Sacramento, California, Feb. 6, 1869. In 1883, at the age of 14, Huntoon and his family moved from California to Seattle. After a course in civil engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, Huntoon returned to Washington State to engage in engineering activities. He served for some time as assistant engineer under J. J. Donovan, and in 1896 was elected Whatcom County civil engineer, serving two terms. In 1899 Huntoon became engineer for the Pacific American Fisheries in south Bellingham. In 1923, Huntoon became general manager of the Mount Baker Development Company, working there for ten years.

The Mount Baker Lodge, built by the Mount Baker Developing Company, was officially opened on July 27, 1927. The Lodge burned to the ground on August 5, 1931, after an electrical fire. The lodge had 100 rooms, 60 with bath and telephones, all electrically heated. Bungalows adjacent to the lodge accommodated 350 guests.

Huntoon took an active part in the building of scenic Chuckanut Drive, and was a force in the campaign to get it included in the state highway system. As a member of the city park board during the 1920s, Huntoon was instrumental in establishing Sehome Park, overlooking the Western Washington College of Education, now Western Washington University. Huntoon Drive was built in 1925 along the western face of the hill.

Huntoon was an amateur photographer who took many scenic pictures of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Chuckanut Drive and other parts of Western Washington State. Huntoon died Jan. 2, 1947, in Bellingham. In 1961, Huntoon Drive was washed out, and used later only as a trail. In 1974, Sehome Hill Arboretum was established in the former Sehome Park.

Many of the Huntoon images scanned below are part of the Lawrence Pagter Collection. Pagter collected many photographs relating to the Mt. Baker area during his time as United States Forest Service Supervisor for the Mt. Baker National Forest. The bulk of the Pagter Collection are Huntoon images. The collection, consisting of 76 black and white photographs, were donated to the Whatcom Museum of History & Art by Pagter’s daughter, Mary Jean Pagter.

Sources:
Koert, Dorothy and Galen Biery. Looking Back (Lynden: Lynden Tribune, 1980) Roth, Lottie Roeder. History of Whatcom County, Vol. II: Biographies, pp. 121-122. (Chicago and Seattle; Pioneer Historical Society, 1926)