Editing Gold Bar, Washington (section)

==History==
The [[Skykomish people]] have lived in the area around what is now Gold Bar long before the arrival of American settlers. The Skykomish had a community at the present site of Gold Bar. The village was populated by 40 families, roughly equating to 240 people. The community was large, stretching to the [[Wallace River]], and had many houses, including the largest [[potlatch]] house on the Skykomish River. The village was used as a base camp for travelers coming to the area to hunt in the Sultan Basin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hollenbeck |first1=Jan L. |last2=Moss |first2=Madonna |year=1987 |title=A Cultural Resource Overview: Prehistory, Ethnography and History: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest |publisher=[[United States Forest Service]] |pages=161–164 |oclc=892024380 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005998596 |via=[[HathiTrust]] |access-date=January 5, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dailey |first=Tom |title=Village Descriptions -- Snohomish-Everett |url=http://coastsalishmap.org/Village_Descriptions_Snohomish-Everett.htm#36 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030213065344/http://coastsalishmap.org/Village_Descriptions_Snohomish-Everett.htm#36 |archive-date=2003-02-13 |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=Coast Salish Map}}</ref>

The modern settlement of Gold Bar started as a prospectors camp in 1869, named by a miner who found traces of gold on a river gravel bar.<ref>{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=James W. |year=1971 |title=Washington State Place Names |page=[https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil/page/55 55] |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=0-295-95158-3 |oclc=1052713900 |url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil |url-access=registration |via=[[The Internet Archive]] |access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref> After Gold Bar became a construction camp for the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]], anti-Chinese sentiment was inflamed by a shooting fray started by disreputable camp followers. To save the lives of the threatened Chinese, construction engineer Eduard Bauer slipped them out of camp in hastily constructed coffins. Gold Bar was officially incorporated on September 16, 1910. The 1940 population was 307.<ref>''Washington - A guide to the Evergreen State'', WPA American Guide Series, Washington State Historical Society, 1941</ref>

In 2012, the city government considered disincorporation to avoid bankruptcy due to low [[sales tax]] revenue and high expenses attributed to filling [[public records]] requests and fighting lawsuits from an activist.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harish |first=Alon |date=July 13, 2012 |title=Gold Bar, Wash., Broke and Divided, May Disappear From Map |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/gold-bar-wash-broke-divided-faces-disincorporation/story?id=16775858 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |accessdate=April 14, 2021}}</ref> The city council voted against disincorporation and placed a [[property tax]] levy on the ballot,<ref>{{cite news |last=Myers |first=Laura L. |date=July 17, 2012 |title=Lawsuit-plagued Washington town mulls tax increase, not dissolution |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2E8IHGP220120718 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |accessdate=September 30, 2012}}</ref> which was rejected by voters in November 2012.<ref>{{cite news |last=Heffter |first=Emily |date=November 19, 2012 |title=Hard-hit Gold Bar may be at the end of the road |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/hard-hit-gold-bar-may-be-at-the-end-of-the-road/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=April 14, 2021}}</ref>