Because there were no roads to Whatcom, the Judsons rode a mail steamboat to Bellingham Bay, where they transferred to canoes up the Nooksack River paddled by a Nooksack Indian couple named Sally and Joe. The journey up the Nooksack took two days because of two log jams, called the Big Jam (which was ¾ of a mile long) and the Little Jam. The Patterson property had a small log cabin and a milk barn on the cusp of a plateau near the north bank of the Nooksack, with a view of Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters. Squahalish, Sally and Joe's encampment, was on the opposite bank. Judson later said a sense of satisfaction came over her at this location which she had never felt at any other home. The Judsons built a larger, two storey house, using Patterson's original as the kitchen. Once their presence became known, Lizzie Patterson returned to see her children and died shortly after.