Lee & Mildred Morgan Family

A mail boat originally delivered mail three times per week. The first Coyle Post Office was on the harbor. Later mail was delivered from Dabob three times per week via the road. The Post Office moved to the old school building (the second school for the community). Supplies were delivered by boat also to Fisherman’s Harbor and restocked the store.

Coyle had two school different school buildings over the years. The second school was located SE of the present corner of Coyle Rd and Hazel Point Rd (where there was an old dumpsite. A three room cottage for the teacher was NE of the school where there is currently a phone shack. The old hand-dug well and power poles may still exist.

The building was eventually decommissioned and kids were sent to Quilcene School. The school building was used for holidays, parties, voting, Church and Sunday School.

In 1922 a Model T Ford pickup was the first vehicle to Coyle on the old one lane gravel buggy trail. There were soon an average of ten round trips a day. The road crew just filled in the ruts with gravel whenever needed.

The original road, from Dabob to Coyle, starts from the top of the hill, one mile south of the corner of Dabob PO Rd and Coyle Rd, on the west side. It goes straight to Dabob, south to the beach and along the water for one mile to a dead end where the Dabob Post Office once stood.

A Little over one half way down, is a road uphill through the old Broshoor’s place, to Coyle. There are three road bottoms parallel to one another, still intact from the 1930s graveled road bottom. The one from the 1920s still can be seen in one or two spots. The next one can be seen clearly and in some cases is found where the power lines followed the road.

Since the power was brought out in 1962 one can see the year by year road improvements made. The first improvements, such as blacktop, followed the exact old road bottom and stopped just North of Camp Discovery Road where the Pettybone Rd meets the Coyle Rd.

The next roads involved right-of-way agreements and are where one can see the old road bottom. In 1947 there were just twenty-one people living between Dabob and Coyle full time. By 1978 there were thirty-six full time residents.

Lee and Mildred purchased the last State-Owned tide lands ever sold by Washington State. They had two sons and three daughters. As with most people in the community, the Morgans used what nature offered. One winter they picked 1,000 bushels of oysters and had them ready for market.

A tug and barge showed up on their beach on New Year’s Eve. The problem was that there was a horrible snowstorm and it was giving them fits and caused the barge to drift.

Lee worked as a logger before being hired by Jefferson County to maintain the roads. Mildred drove the school bus for a period of time.

Lee Morgan bought the Coyle school bell from the Quilcene School District for one dollar in the early 1950s. Two years later he mounted it at Hazel Point then later moved it to Marrowstone Island. The bell has been rung on New Years Eve for forty-five years and by five generations of Morgan’s.

Mildred petitioned for power and phone service to the area as well as to pave the roads in 1963. When they started living at Coyle, there were still crank phones. In 1969 the community was desolate, with the Morgan sons being the only Quilcene School students left south of Dabob PO Road.

The Morgans give us a bit of information on several local residents over the years: John Bergeson had a fishing boat. In the early 1950s he purchased the old Coyle School that was then owned by the Quilcene School District. He tore the school down and reused the lumber to rebuild a house that burned down for a family. He skidded the old three-room teachers cottage to his homestead on the other side of the harbor.

Mr. Bronigan was a bachelor who lived about one quarter mile from Coyle Rd on Thorndyke and operated a berry farm. There was sailboat access only to his place until he brought in a Cat and cleared the road.

The Calahan’s had about one hundred acres at Hazel Point with a house on the hill and another on the beach. There was also a large orchard on the property. The land was part of the old Wood family original parcel. Mr. Calahan had been a King County Sheriff at one time. The Calahan’s had a warehouse on Hood Canal, did oyster processing and kept a boathouse there.

Clark and Lola-Mae Eaton owned the big square house on the right hand side of the Hazel Point Road just after it leaves the Coyle Road. Mrs. Eaton was a teacher. All the time she taught in Quilcene they owned two houses, one in Coyle and the other one in Quilcene. Harry Eaton, Clark’s brother, owned seven or eight lots. Frank Eaton had a cabin on the beach, near Hazel Point, that he used for vacations. Leonard Eaton lived down, what we called, the Martin Road, right next to the community center Leonard played in the Seattle orchestra.

Ike and Bill Haycock: Two brothers lived on the road leading to Harry Eaton’s place. They had two small log houses and barns. They sold the property sometime in the mid to late 1960s.

Mr. McPhee had a beautiful log home at the end of Oak Head Rd next door to the Bergersons.

The Merriweather family lived on what was originally the Wood’s. Merriweather worked for the Road Department for a short time in the 1940s. Lee Morgan bought his property from Mr. Merriweather.

Doyle Pearson: Lived in the old Martin house for a few years then moved out of the area. Pearson drove the school bus after Fred Slack and just before Mildred Morgan.

Fred and Pearl Slack had a large family and lived just across the Hazel Point Rd and about a block down that road. They had a large log house that burnt in the 1970s. They had moved to Quilcene years before and lived there until the late 1970s. One of their daughters, Iola (Singleton) lived in the schoolteacher’s house for several years.

Mrs. Warfield was a granddaughter of the Woods family. The Warfields called Harry Eaton Grandpa as well. The family lived by the schoolhouse at one time and then moved to Quilcene.

Mr. Wood had a blacksmith shop and had a large homestead build over the draw at Hazel Point. The Woods are buried on a flat of land just across the road from Eaton’s drive. History indicates that they were buried on the homestead.