DR. HORACE P. DOWNS. – Doctor Downs is one of those highly educated gentlemen who have deliberately chosen a new country in which to exercise abilities that are ever in demand in the older communities. He was born in Freedom, New Hampshire, in 1840. The family made a number of removals. It was at great Falls that he received his first comprehensive instructions; and at Exeter he pursued his academic course, and graduated from the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1865. Entering at once upon the practice of his profession, he chose a location at Tamworth, New Hampshire, and three years later secured a lucrative practice at Charlestown, which has since been incorporated with Boston, Massachusetts. In 1878 he determined to transfer his interests to the Pacific coast, and selected a home in that part of Whatcom county which has now been delimitated and named Skagit. In 1880 he was elected commissioner of the old county, and in the autumn of 1883 was appointed by the legislature as one of the three commissioners to segregate and organize the new county. At the special election following, he was chosen auditor, and by re-election still holds this office. He also served on the committee to make a settlement of affairs relating to the two counties. He is a Republican in politics.
In business relations Doctor Downs has been prosperous, and has become a large holder of town property, and of some five hundred and twenty acres of land adjoining. He is one of the representative citizens of Skagit county, and indeed of the Pacific Northwest.