Twain's party arrived August 14, 1895.  

J.B. Pond’s diary reports Sam’s bronchial problems were returning:  Wednesday, August 14th, Seattle to Whatcom. Lectured at the Lighthouse Theater.  “Mark’s” cold is getting worse (the first cold he ever had). He worried and fretted all day; two swearing  fits under his breath, with a short interval between them, they lasted from our arrival in town until he went to  sleep after midnight. It was with great difficulty that he got through the lecture. The crowd, which kept  stringing in at long intervals until half-past nine, made him so nervous that he left the stage for a time. I  thought he was ill, and rushed back of the scenes, only to meet him in a white rage. He looked daggers at me,  and remarked:  “You’ll never play a trick like this on me again. Look at that audience. It isn’t half in yet.”  I explained that many of the people came from long distances, and that the cars ran only every half hour,  the entire country on fire causing delays, and that was why the last installment came so late. He cooled down  and went at it again. He captured the crowd. He had a good time and an encore, and was obliged to give an  additional story. [Eccentricities of Genius 220].

Note: Sam later wrote to Rogers that he’d “had great difficulty in  pumping out any voice at all” in Whatcom – Aug. 17 to Rogers. (MTDBD)  

Bellingham was officially incorporated on November 4, 1903 as a result of the incremental consolidation of four towns initially situated around Bellingham Bay during the final decades of the 19th Century. Whatcom is today's "Old Town" area and was founded in 1852. Sehome was an area downtown founded in 1854. Bellingham was further south near Boulevard Park, founded in 1853; while Fairhaven was a large commercial district with its own harbor, also founded in 1853.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingham,_Washington