Deep in the forests above Index, Washington, Garland Mineral Springs is a historic mineral spring property shaped by water, wilderness, family, and time.
For nearly a century, Garland welcomed families, travelers, church groups, youth campers, and nature lovers to a rare Cascade setting where mineral waters surfaced beside the North Fork Skykomish River. Visitors came for the springs, the pool, the lodge, the cabins, the mountain air, and the feeling of stepping away from ordinary life into a quiet wilderness sanctuary.
Today, after catastrophic flooding in 2025 changed the river and damaged much of the historic property, Garland stands at a turning point. The remaining springs, memories, and natural landscape are now the focus of the Restore Garland Campaign, an effort to preserve this rare place before it disappears forever.
Restore Garland is not a development campaign. It is a private-family stewardship effort to protect a historic mineral spring site, stabilize flood damage, safeguard water resources, and preserve a rare piece of Skykomish Valley history in harmony with the Wild Sky landscape.
The Wilderness Around Garland
Garland lies along the North Fork Skykomish River, north of Index, Washington, near the Wild Sky Wilderness. The surrounding landscape is rugged, remote, and deeply shaped by water. Forests, river channels, mountain slopes, wildlife, and mineral springs all come together in a narrow Cascade valley.
The same wilderness that makes Garland beautiful also makes it vulnerable. The North Fork Skykomish River has always been part of Garland’s identity, but in recent years the river has also become one of the greatest threats to the property.
Early Mineral Claims and Exploration
Long before Garland Mineral Springs became a mountain resort, the unusual waters and geology of the North Fork Skykomish valley attracted prospectors, surveyors, and early mineral claims. Historic placer claims and survey maps from the late nineteenth century reflect a long history of interest in the mineral-bearing landscape surrounding the springs.
A Hidden Mineral Spring Sanctuary
Garland Mineral Springs was originally developed as a spa resort in the 1930s to showcase the property’s naturally occurring mineral waters. A lodge, cabins, stables, and a large pool created a mountain retreat where guests could experience the springs in a remote Cascade setting.
The mineral water was the heart of Garland. It flowed from the earth with a distinctive chemistry that set it apart from ordinary mountain spring water. Historic water reports describe mineral springs, soda or naturally carbonated water, and cold spring water, making Garland one of the most unusual natural spring sites in the region.
Garland was never simply a resort. It was a place where geology, wilderness, and human memory came together.
From Resort to Family Legacy
In the 1950s, Rev. Cameron Sharpe and Laura Mae Mooney purchased Garland Mineral Springs and transformed the property into a youth camp and church conference center. The old resort became a place of fellowship, summer memories, family gatherings, and spiritual retreat.
Generations of children swam in the mineral pool, walked among the cabins, gathered near the lodge, and formed lifelong memories beneath the towering Cascade peaks. For the Sharpe and Mooney families, Garland became more than land. It became a shared inheritance of faith, family, service, and stewardship.
That legacy continues today through Garland Mineral Springs, LLC, which is closely held by descendants of the Sharpe and Mooney families.
The Floods That Changed Garland
Garland has endured fire, flood, isolation, road damage, and decades of natural change. But the catastrophic flooding in 2025 marked a devastating turning point.
The river shifted across the property, swept away the remaining cabins, damaged the spring area, removed large amounts of topsoil, and left much of the land as current or former riverbed. What had once been a historic retreat with cabins, trees, trails, and gathering places was transformed by the force of the river.
Yet the story of Garland is not finished.
Garland Timeline
- 1889 — “Starr Springs” and nearby mineral claims documented in the North Fork Skykomish valley.
- 1930s — Garland Mineral Springs developed as a remote Cascade mineral spa resort featuring cabins, lodge, stables, and a large mineral-water pool.
- 1953 — Rev. Cameron Sharpe and Laura Mae Mooney purchase Garland Mineral Springs.
- 1950s–2000s — Garland serves as a youth camp, church retreat, family gathering place, and wilderness sanctuary for generations of visitors.
- 2011 — Snohomish County PUD drills a 5,000-foot geothermal exploration well near Garland to study the area’s underground thermal waters.
- 2025 — Catastrophic flooding from the North Fork Skykomish River destroys the remaining cabins, alters the river channel, and damages much of the historic property.
- Present Day — The Restore Garland Campaign begins efforts to preserve the springs, document the history, and protect this rare Cascade mineral spring sanctuary for future generations.
The Restore Garland Campaign
The Sharpe and Mooney families seek to preserve what remains of Garland after the 2025 flooding. That work may include documenting flood damage, studying river movement, protecting the spring areas, stabilizing vulnerable land, preserving historic records, and seeking assistance from agencies and conservation partners.
This campaign is about saving a rare historic mineral spring sanctuary in the Cascade foothills. It is about honoring the families who cared for Garland, protecting a unique geothermal water system, and giving future generations the chance to understand why this place mattered.
The work ahead may include documenting the springs, studying the water, stabilizing damaged areas, seeking conservation and emergency restoration assistance, preserving historic photographs and film, and exploring responsible ways to protect Garland’s natural and cultural legacy.
Why Garland Matters
- Garland is a rare historic Cascade mineral spring setting near Index, Washington.
- The springs are geologically unusual, with mineral, soda, and cold spring waters documented in historic reports.
- The property is tied to the North Fork Skykomish River, which has shaped both its beauty and its destruction.
- Garland is connected to the Wild Sky region and the natural history of the North Fork Skykomish River valley.
- The 2025 flooding made preservation urgent by threatening the remaining spring areas and historic landscape.
A Place Worth Saving
Garland Mineral Springs is more than a memory. It is a rare meeting place of water, wilderness, history, and family legacy. The story of Garland cannot be told without the North Fork Skykomish River. The river gave Garland its setting, its sound, its wildness, and much of its beauty. It also brought the floodwaters that nearly erased the historic property.
The Lodge and the cabins may be gone. The river may have changed the land. But the story of Garland still flows through the mineral waters, the old photographs, the family memories, and the hope that this place can be preserved before it is lost forever.
The Restore Garland Campaign offers a path forward through preservation, stewardship, documentation, and restoration. Restore Garland is a call to remember, protect, and care for one of the last historic mineral spring sanctuaries near the Wild Sky Wilderness.