HENRY F. CARLE
For more than forty-three years Henry F. Carle, one of the substantial farmers and landowners of the Ferndale neighborhood, has been a resident of Whatcom county and therefore accounted one of its early settlers, for when he came here conditions in his neighborhood were still pretty much as the pioneers found them, government land still on the market and the wild creatures of the forest still plentiful. Elsewhere in this work are presented two pictures of the village of Ferndale as Mr. Carle knew it when he came into this country, reproductions of photographs presented by him for publication this history of the country, and which by contrast and comparison tell the story of progress made here during his time far better than any verbal description could convey to the reader a realistic conception of the advancement made in conditions here during the time of men __ active in affairs in this favored region. Mr. Carle thus properly may say, "All of this I saw and part of it I was." He knew the country when it was just entering upon what may be regarded as its "modern" period of progress and he has many an interesting story to tell of pioneer conditions as he found them in the early '80s.
Henry F. Carle is a native of the Keystone state. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Rome, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1864, and is a son of William and Catherine (Green) Carle, both born in that state, the former a member of one of the pioneer families there and the latter a daughter of settlers who came from England. Reared on the home farm, Mr. Carle finished his school work in the Rome Academy and in 1880, when in his sixteenth year, joined the great number of young men who about that time were turning their faces toward the west. For a year he "prospected around" as a farm hand in Kansas and was then employed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in Colorado. Presently he went to Yankton, South Dakota, and not long afterward became engaged in business in Wahoo in Saunders county, Nebraska, in association with his brother-in-law, Franklin Brun__. Yielding to the lure of the coast country, in 1882 he started for San Francisco and on the train en route he made the acquaintance of that stout pioneer and promoter, Captain Roeder, who pointed out to him in such glowing colors the advantages of settlement in Whatcom county that he came here. He bought a quarter section of government land just south of Custer, paying a dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, and settled down to the difficult task of clearing and developing this. Not long afterward he sold half of this tract and presently sold to advantage the remainder, after which he bought an "eighty" in the immediate vicinity of Ferndale. He partially cleared this and in 1886 sold this at a profit, after which he bought a "forty" two miles south of Ferndale, which tract he cleared and still owns. In 1902, following his marriage, Mr. Carle located on his present place on rural mail route No. 3 out of Ferndale and has since made his home there, he and his family being very pleasantly and comfortably situated. He there has a tract of about thirty-eight acres, which he cleared and which is now well improved and under excellent cultivation.
It was on October 22, 1902, at North Bellingham, that Mr. Carle was united in marriage to Miss Elgie Furman and they have six children: Loiletta, Leona, Henry, Cleora, Lida and William. Loiletta is now engaged in teaching in the schools of Port Blakely, Leona is a senior and Henry a junior in the high school. Mrs. Carle was born in Minnesota and is a daughter of Jeddiah Furman. She has been a resident of the coast country since 1902. Mr. Carle has ever given thoughtful attention to the general civic affairs of his community and for some time rendered public service as supervisor of roads in the Slater district.
