Skykomish County was a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
proposed to be carved out of
Snohomish and
King Counties in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
state, United States. The name comes from the
Skykomish River
The Skykomish River is a long river in the U.S. state of Washington which drains the west side of the Cascade Mountains in the southeast section of Snohomish County and the northeast corner of King County. The river starts with the confluence ...
, which flows through the proposed county's boundaries.
Description
The county would have included all land in Snohomish County east of
Snohomish, Washington
Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Rou ...
, as well as the northeast corner of King County including
Skykomish, Washington and the portion of
U.S. Route 2 that passes through that county. The southern portion of state legislative district 39, existing within Snohomish and King Counties, also includes these areas. The largest city in the county would have been
Monroe, Washington
Monroe is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Skykomish, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie rivers near the Cascade foothills, about northeast of Seattle. Monroe's population was 19,699 as of ...
.
Proponents of the new county began collecting signatures as early as 1993 to send the proposal to the state legislature. The Skykomish movement worked in concert with other county proposals, such as those to create
Cedar,
Freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
and Pioneer counties.
In 1997, State Representative John Koster proposed House Bill 1660, which provided for the process to create Skykomish County pending a ballot question for the affected area. The proposal set forth that the existing superior court of Snohomish County would also serve Skykomish County. Opponents of the bill (and the new county) attempted to amend the bill to require a vote from the entirety of the counties affected (Snohomish and
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Counties).
In 1998, the state Supreme Court ruled that signatures from half the registered voters of the affected area are required to propose a new county, shelving many county secession movements in the state. Prior to the ruling, Washington county secession movements had interpreted the law to require signatures from only half of those who voted in the most recent election. Arguing that voter registration rolls are always out of date, Skykomish County movement leaders attacked the court's ruling as creating an "unreachable standard".
Koster also submitted bills to create
Freedom County, Washington
The list of county secession proposals in the United States includes proposed new counties to be formed from existing counties within a given state that have not yet been formed. For counties that want to secede from their current state and to jo ...
and
Pioneer County, Washington, but these were not voted on before the 1997 legislative session ended.
See also
*
List of counties in Washington
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
*, as cited by
*
King County, Washington
Politics of Washington (state)
Secessionist organizations in the United States
Snohomish County, Washington
Skyhomish County, Washington
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