Garland Mineral Springs

47° 53’ 19” N • 121° 20’ 31” W

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Beginning the Restore Garland Journey

Asking for Help: The Next Step in the Restore Garland Journey

There are moments when a place becomes more than land on a map.

For our family, Garland Mineral Springs has always been one of those places. Tucked deep in the North Fork Skykomish River Valley near Index, Washington, Garland was once a mountain resort, a youth camp, a family retreat, and a place where generations gathered around mineral water, cabins, forest trails, and the sound of the river.

For nearly a century, Garland has carried stories. Stories of travelers who came seeking healing waters. Stories of families who spent summers beside the mineral pool. Stories of cabins, campfires, mountain air, and the powerful beauty of the Cascades.

But after the catastrophic flooding of late 2025, Garland is now carrying a different story.

When the River Changed Course

During the December 2025 atmospheric river and flooding events, the North Fork Skykomish River changed the landscape around Garland Mineral Springs in ways that are difficult to describe without seeing them firsthand.

The flood destroyed the remaining historic cabins. It stripped away topsoil, swept out mature trees, altered river channels, and pushed active water across areas that had once been stable ground. Places that had held cabins and memories for decades were transformed into active or former riverbed.

Most concerning of all, the river now threatens the defining natural resource of Garland: the geothermal mineral springs themselves.

The springs are not simply a feature on the property. They are the reason Garland existed. They are the reason the resort was built in the 1930s. They are the reason families kept returning. They are the historic, geologic, and cultural heart of Garland Mineral Springs.

Today, active erosion and channel migration continue to threaten the mineral spring area and the geothermal well infrastructure on the property. Without stabilization, documentation, and assistance, there is a real concern that portions of this historic natural resource could be permanently damaged or lost.

Why We Are Writing Letters

When a disaster affects a private property, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Garland is privately owned, but the damage touches much larger questions: watershed stability, access to public and private lands, historic preservation, emergency recovery, transportation corridors, river migration, and protection of a rare geothermal resource in the western Cascades.

No single agency owns all of those issues. No single office has all of the answers.

That is why we have begun reaching out.

We have prepared letters to county, state, and federal offices asking for guidance, evaluation, coordination, and assistance. These letters are not demands. They are the beginning of a conversation.

We are asking the people and agencies responsible for emergency management, public lands, watershed recovery, transportation access, and disaster mitigation to help us understand what options may exist for Garland Mineral Springs.

Who We Are Contacting

As part of this first step, we have prepared letters to the following offices and agencies:

  • Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management
  • U.S. Forest Service, Skykomish Ranger District
  • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
  • Washington Emergency Management Division
  • Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor
  • Snohomish County Councilmember Sam Low
  • Washington State Senator Keith Wagoner
  • Washington State Representative Sam Low
  • Washington State Representative Carolyn Eslick
  • U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene
  • U.S. Senator Patty Murray
  • U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell

Each letter tells a similar story from a slightly different angle. Some focus on emergency management. Some focus on watershed stabilization. Some focus on Forest Service roads, bridges, and access. Others ask elected officials to help keep Garland visible as recovery planning moves forward.

Together, these letters represent the first public step in asking for help.

What We Are Asking For

Our requests are practical and focused. We are asking for:

  • Guidance on disaster recovery and hazard mitigation programs;
  • Evaluation of ongoing erosion and river channel migration;
  • Information about watershed stabilization and emergency access options;
  • Coordination among county, state, and federal agencies;
  • Help identifying programs that may apply to private landowners affected by flood damage;
  • Support for protecting the geothermal mineral springs and historic character of Garland;
  • Assistance keeping the upper North Fork Skykomish Valley visible as recovery planning continues.

We understand that recovery is complicated. We also understand that many communities, roads, bridges, rivers, and public lands were affected by the same flood events. Garland is one part of a much larger watershed story.

But Garland is also unique.

It is a historic mineral springs property. It is a family-held place with deep roots in the Index-Galena region. It contains geothermal springs that have been known since the late nineteenth century. It sits in a landscape shaped by public lands, mountain roads, rivers, forests, and generations of recreation in the North Cascades.

The Documents We Are Sharing

Along with each letter, we are including two supporting documents:

These documents are meant to help officials quickly understand what Garland was, what happened, and why the situation remains urgent.

Download the Garland Property Summary

Download the Garland Flood Damage Timeline

This Is the Beginning of the Story

This blog post opens a new series about our effort to restore, preserve, and protect Garland Mineral Springs.

We do not yet know what help will be available. We do not know which programs may apply. We do not know whether agencies will be able to assist with site evaluation, erosion mitigation, access planning, or long-term watershed recovery.

But we do know this: doing nothing is not an option.

If the river continues to move unchecked, the mineral springs that gave Garland its name could be permanently altered or lost. If access continues to deteriorate, the ability to document, preserve, or restore the property becomes even more uncertain. If the story is not told, Garland may simply disappear from public awareness.

That is why we are writing.

We are writing to ask for help. We are writing to document the damage. We are writing to invite coordination. We are writing to make sure Garland is not forgotten.

Follow the Restore Garland Campaign

Over the coming months, we will share updates as letters are sent, responses are received, documents are prepared, and the next steps become clearer.

This journey will include public agencies, elected officials, family members, historians, environmental professionals, and anyone who believes that places like Garland Mineral Springs are worth remembering.

Garland has survived floods, fire, changing roads, changing times, and decades of uncertainty.

Now we are asking whether it can survive one more chapter.

And we are inviting you to follow that journey with us.

—Stephen

When the River Took Garland: The 2025 Flood on the North Fork Skykomish

The 2011 geothermal wellhead at Garland Mineral Springs, looking west, spring 2026. After the U.S. Forest Service bridge above Garland failed, the river shifted down Ruby Creek and tore through the property, carrying away trees, topsoil, and the last of the historic 1930s-era cabins.

In December 2025, a historic atmospheric river struck western Washington, pushing rivers across the region into dangerous flood stages. Snohomish County warned that the Snohomish, Skykomish, and Stillaguamish rivers could reach or exceed historic levels, and soon after, the North Fork of the Skykomish River again reshaped the upper valley.

For Garland Mineral Springs, the damage was heartbreaking. During our visit this week, we found that the old cabins were gone — destroyed by the floodwaters that swept through the property. What had once been a quiet remnant of Garland’s resort and camp years is now another chapter in the long struggle between this mountain place and the river that runs beside it.

Garland has always lived close to water. Its mineral springs made it famous. In the 1930s, visitors came for the hot mineral water, the lodge, cabins, stables, and pool. In 1953, Rev. Cameron Sharpe, Medora Sharpe, and Laura Mae Mooney purchased Garland for use as a youth camp and church conference center. But flood and fire have shaped its history before: a devastating flood in 1959 and the lodge fire in 1961 ended Garland’s operation as a resort.

The 2025 flood now joins that history.

The same river system also damaged Index-Galena Road. Snohomish County reported that floods in December damaged several sections of the road, including severe damage just past North Fork Skykomish River Bridge 499. The county closed the road between mileposts 10 and 14 for the winter, noting that the repair timeline was unknown. By March 2026, county officials estimated the repair cost for the washed-out section at about $900,000.

That road matters far beyond pavement. Index-Galena Road is the historic route into the North Fork valley — to Garland, Galena, private property, trailheads, and places like Blanca Lake. Washington Trails Association noted that the road had only reopened in 2023 after a 17-year closure from earlier flood damage, and that the new washout was in a different location. With the road out, access was pushed to the Beckler River Road detour, bypassing Index and making emergency access more difficult.

Geothermal wellhead at Garland Mineral Springs, looking east, circa 2017. Concrete traffic barriers once protected the wellhead, but they were carried away when the river shifted across the property during the 2025 flood. Ruby Creek runs parallel behind the cabins.

For the town of Index, floods like this are more than natural events. They affect daily life, access, tourism, safety, and the fragile economy of a small mountain town. When hikers, climbers, property owners, and families cannot reach the upper valley through Index, the loss is felt in town — at restaurants, shops, lodging, and in the simple rhythm of visitors passing through.

Garland Mineral Springs has survived many eras: resort, wartime use, church camp, family retreat, and private historic property. The 2025 flood took the cabins, but it did not take the story. If anything, it reminds us why Garland matters. It is not just a place on a map north of Index. It is a record of family, faith, recreation, mountain water, and the powerful forces that continue to shape the Skykomish Valley.

The river changed the land again. Now the work is to remember what stood there, document what remains, and preserve Garland’s story for the generations who still call it home.