Sterling Veterinary Clinic is named for the Sterling neighborhood, east of Sedro-Woolley. Originally a logging camp called Ball’s Camp, it has transformed over the years much in part due to the flow of the Skagit River. Sterling originated on the banks of the Skagit River at a horseshoe bend now known as Hart Island. While the change of names from Ball’s Camp to Sterling is largely unknown, it soon became one of the first areas around Sedro-Woolley to be logged by homesteaders for farming. By the 1880’s Sterling had its own church, hotel, and saloon in addition to the original timber mill. At about the turn of the century, farming overcame timber as the main economic producer in Sterling. By 1912 the Sterling train station was built just south of present-day Highway 20 and United General Hospital. As continued flooding eroded the north shore of the Skagit River the village of Sterling eventually washed away and faded, and the Sterling train stop came to be known as Sterling. Present-day Sterling extends from the Holtcamp Road on the east, to Sterling Hill on west, north to Cook Road, and south to the Skagit River.

*Thank you to skagitriverjournal.com for sharing this historical information.