A former lumber camp on the South Fork of the Nooksack River. The place was named in 1892 when a post office was established. It was for J. Milner Van Zandt, the first postmaster, who homesteaded there in 1883. The post office continued in operation until February 28, 1955.

By the 1930s the Northern Pacific Railway ran through the valley, with multiple smaller logging railroads branching out and up into the mountains on either side of the valley.