Finnegan's Alley by Jeff Jewell    

 

 In 1919, Finnegan invested in the Kulshan Motor Co., an automobile dealership and garage, which opened in its new building at 12th and Harris in Feb. 1920.  The firm sold the Velie make of cars and trucks, which featured the "Rayfield carburetor" that allowed the vehicles to burn low grade fuel, "distillate or even kerosene efficiently."  Sales got off to a good start when Dr. S. R. Boynton, the "prominent Bellingham physician," bought a 1920 Model 48 Velie touring car. Frank Lind and Sydney Peterson staffed the salesroom floor and Clyde Gilbert, expert mechanic, tended the shop.  Finnegan sold his share in the company to a party from Idaho in Sept. 1923 and, in 1924, the brothers George and Mike Monson bought the building and made it Chuckanut Motors, a service station and maintenance garage.         

Photo by Gordy Tweit