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Every once in a while, I run across a historical photo that just makes my jaw drop. This is one of those! It's called a corn crib bridge used to cross a stream along a pole road..
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, C1986.8.6, circa 1885
A little sag in this one.
Northwest loggers have been long known as a breed apart. We're not just talking "independent" here. Self reliant, hard headed and absolutely no B.S. are more to the point - willing to go to extreme lengths in both work and play. After all, who else would climb a 150 foot tall tree, delimbing it on the way up, and once up there, top the tree using only a hand ax and hand saw. Knuckleheads to be sure but all in the name of getting the job done.
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, n.d.
Once spar trees were rigged with cables and pullies strung from here to there and everywhere and powered by a steam donkey, downed timber could then be sorted and loaded on rail cars or trucks for transport to a sawmill.
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1978.52.2, circa 1920
Being "hard as nails" came with the territory if you were to succeed.
Today, logging, sorting and loading timber in the northwest is a whole different world. Hop into your nice warm and comfy CAT cab, push those buttons, pull those levers and operate the digital electronic controls of your brand new Knuckle Boom swivel loader. Almost like video games? That's how we sort and load logs today. Following is a photo taken last week of a logging operation just off Hwy 410 east of Greenwater.
The Feller-Buncher you see to the left now sits idle while the operator transfers to the Knuckle Boom swing loader to prepare for loading log trucks soon to be on site. Gosh, no more climbing big trees and stringing long cables. Does this mean that loggers today are soft and no longer the independent SOB's of their history? Not! It must have something to do with loggers' genetic predisposition.
How much timber was/is left in the woods after it has been logged? In 1900, over half of what today is referred to as merchantable timber was often left in the woods. Lots of reasons why:
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, #2012.0.393, Isaac Davidson photographer, circa 1886
Why would this logger begin cutting so high up the tree, requiring two springboards to climb and leaving a huge tall stump? Well, as it turns out, this photo was taken in Puyallup, and having grown up next door in Sumner, we always knew that folks from Puyallup were a little different. Seriously, I really have no idea why he would do this. Seems like a waste of both high quality wood and a lot more difficult to fell the tree.
Today, at least in the data that I have seen, less than 10% of timber is left in the woods, thanks in large part to higher priced timber, smaller logs and greatly improved harvesting technology.
While driving along SR 410 just east of Greenwater, I recently ran across a logging operation clearcutting a site right next to the highway. Always curious, I found a parking spot just down the road, grabbed my camera and went back to see what equipment they were using. Not surprisingly, I found two Feller Bunchers and a couple of Knuckleboom loaders. The trees were already down and a single swing loader was being used to sort and pile logs for loading logging trucks that will soon take them away.
In case you were not aware, Feller Bunchers have long been used in northwest logging. It's just that they looked a little different back in the day. Here's an earlier generation of Feller Bunchers:
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1943.42.20572, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1911
The above photo shows a logging crew employed by McDougal & Billideau felling a douglas firs at a site near Landsburg. All they needed were a couple of spring boards, a sharp "misery whip", a couple of axes and two loggers - fueled by about 6,000 calories a day each. In no time (maybe a day or so), this timber would be lying on the ground, ready for trimming branches and bucking into lengths suitable for transport by teams of horses or oxen - felled and bunched, in other words..
Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1977.61.2, Darius Kinsey photographer, circa 1906
A crew of two and another 12,000 calories later, "bunching" for transport might be complete.
Here's are photo's of the two Feller Bunchers being used this last week.
Talk about a great place to work. Covered cabs with heat and air conditioning too. The scenery isn't bad here either.
These Feller Buncher machine operators don't even need to get out of their comfortable chairs. Depending on the machine head configuration being used, they can fell whole trees, buck them to length and trim the branches - and probably log onto the internet too? There are several types of cutting heads that can be used on these machines - disk saws, bar saws (much like a chainsaw) and shears.
At maturity, trees today are no longer so big - not like the old growth timber in the age of yore. That, coupled with today's technology, sure makes logging safer and far more efficient these days. Next week, I'll look at Knuckleboom Swing Loaders - then and now.
The federal Homestead Act of 1862 opened the door to settlement of the West. Between 1862 and 1934, over 1.6 million homesteads were granted in the U.S. totaling 260 million acres - nearly 10% of all land in the continental U.S. A homesteader seeking to claim land, could stake a claim of up to 160 acres, providing they were willing to "improve" the land. Failure to do so within 5 years resulted in forfeiture of the claim. Most homesteaders in Washington State arrived here with nary a coin in there pocket. In short order, they were faced with having to find a way to feed their families, build shelter and improve their land. Valley land, with it's rich soil and flat terrain, was prime and first to be claimed. Those that came later were faced with an enormous challenge as they moved into heavy timber.
Image courtesy Museum of History & Industry, 1997.20.3, P. Wischmeyer photographer, n.d.
The comforts of home weren't always quite so comfortable. This cabin at least had two paned windows. Notice the area in front of the cabin that is cleared and staked off. Maybe a garden area? One would think it hard to grow anything with all these trees providing shade.
Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1978.48.1.2, circa 1910
By happenstance, I think that the two photos above are of the same homestead, though I found the images from two different sources.
Is homesteading possible today? Yes in Alaska and yes in Washington State too. "Specifically, individuals in danger of losing their home to foreclosure may declare a limited portion of property as a "homestead" and thus off-limits to unsecured creditors. Washington homestead laws allow a maximum exemption of $125,000, but don't specify a maximum acreage." (Source: Washington Homestead Laws - FindLaw)
Let's hope that you don't have "homesteading" in your future, at least in Washington State.
Except for the Longmire entrance and road to Paradise, Mt. Rainier NP is pretty well buttoned up for the season. Add the lingering impact of early snows and there aren't a whole lot of park trails still accessible for hikers. Except for the hard core, that is. Last Monday, I enjoyed hoofing it up the road to Mowich Lake and on Friday found my way to Grand Park via the back door - aka the Lake Eleanor to Grand Park trail. Grand Park offers some the best and most unique views of Mt. Rainier that you will find.
Being there makes you feel like you are on top of the world and can darn near reach out and grab the mountain. As you can see, some snow has yet to melt but certainly nothing that poses a challenge. I expected more snow at Grand Park's elevation of 5,630 feet.
The biggest challenge I had was trying to take photos with the sun right in my eyes.
According to WTA, the hike is 8 miles round trip with 1,100 feet of elevation gain. Add another a couple of miles for hiking through the park and exploring some of the Northern Loop trail at the west end of Grand Park and you've got a nice 10 miler. With all the sunshine, I had to shed layers to avoid getting too warm.
I found the most snow as you first begin to enter Grand Park, but certainly nothing difficult and no need for spikes or snow shoes.
Most visitors to Grand Park begin their hike at Sunrise Visitors Center and make their way down through Berkeley Park along the Northern Loop Trail before reaching this magnificent and huge meadow. It's not unusual to see elk and black bears here, but at a distance. None this day.
The back door trail via Lake Eleanor begins outside the park along Forest Service Road 73. For those familiar with going to Suntop Lookout, follow Hwy 410 east out of Greenwater, turn right onto FS 73. Instead of turning left up the hill on FS 7315 to go to Suntop, continue straight ahead on FS 73 for another approximately 10 miles until you reach Eleanor Creek where there is a sign. You will find a turnout area on your right just past the creek with parking for about 4 cars. You'll find the trailhead back across the creek and then once up the trail for maybe 100 yards or so, you will see a sign advising that you are now in Mt. Rainier National Park. A little muddy with some snow here but nothing you won't be able to navigate through. In about a mile, you will then reach Lake Eleanor - beautiful in it's own right.
It looks like we still have some time before snow will block FS 73. Enjoy it while we can.
Reports over the last several weeks have suggested that Lake Sawyer currently is home to a toxic blue-green form of algae which poses a significant danger and health risk, particularly to pets. However, each time samples were taken of this "toxic material" by King County and analyzed in the lab, no toxic algae was found in any of these samples at detectable levels. What gives?
Following is a photo of what blue-green algae can look like when in bloom (photo not from Lake Sawyer). Pretty nasty looking stuff.
Though I must admit to not having seen algae like this in the lake, it doesn't mean that it isn't here now or hasn't been sometime in the past. How can we learn more? For those interested, you might start by reading King County's publication Algae and Water Quality. For techies, you might also want to read the paper Download Algae101. One of the things I learned is that it isn't simple. Algae comes in all sizes, shapes and colors and what can cause algae growth and blooms in lakes is both simple yet complicated. It's simple in that algae growth requires photosynthesis and the same general conditions as land based plants. However, like all plants, there are some key variables specific to algae that need to be considered. For example:
I found the following graphic from King County to be particularly helpful in better understanding these relationships in a seasonal context.
Because the reported Lake Sawyer toxic algae blooms have been in October and early November, one would think that there shouldn't be any algae blooms this time of year. After all, temperatures are declining and there are fewer hours of sunlight. For those lakes with high levels of nutrients (phosphorus), algae blooms begin early and last through the summer, before declining in the fall. Fortunately, Lake Sawyer phosphorus concentrations are low and we should expect a seasonal cycle more similar to the "little P" seasonal graphic. A fall bounce in algae growth can be spurred by increased water flows and mixing.
For perspective, following is how Lake Sawyer compares with other lakes in King County, with monthly data and trends dating back to 1997. First for 2018. The blue buttons are for Lake Sawyer and the black/grey circles are for the other King County Lakes.
The following comparative data shows annual average phosphorus levels from 1997 through 2018. The 2019 report from King County should be available early next year as part of their annual report.
As you can see, Lake Sawyer is at the lower end of phosphorus levels. For more Lake Sawyer data, follow this link to Lake Sawyer Water Quality - August 2019 Update.
So, with fresh water entering the lake this year in September and recent sunshine, it is possible that stirring up of lake nutrients at the bottom along with sunshine and relatively warm water temperatures for this time of year, could result in a fall spike in algae growth like you see in the seasonal chart shown above for "little P" lakes. In any event, it wouldn't necessarily be abnormal. But toxic algae???
Some in the community have suggested that development is the cause of recent algae growth, resulting in higher lake phosphorus levels and therefore algae growth. There has certainly been a lot of development around Lake Sawyer and in other parts of the city. The Oakpointe MPDs have also been developing their site and building new homes. Could they be the culprit? If growth is the problem, its hard to find a smoking gun. Lake Sawyer water quality monitoring reports and data don't support this premise. In addition, none of the stormwater generated by the Oakpointe MPD's are currently discharged into the Rock Creek watershed that flows into Lake Sawyer. The two plats currently being developed are Plat 1-A and Plat 2-C, both of which flow into a stormwater retaining pond that drains south, not north into Rock Creek and Lake Sawyer. You can see this stormwater pond at the bottom center of the following aerial view from King County.
I have been repeatedly told by King County and state DOE staff that you cannot draw conclusions until you can clearly see trends over a significant period. No trends in the vast amount of data that we have either, except perhaps increasing water temperatures and clearer lake water as evidenced by trends in Secchi test results. Ironically, the clearer lake water becomes, and it is getting clearer, the deeper sunlight will penetrate and the further down in the lake photosynthesis can occur. I'm not arguing that this is the case - merely to point out that there are lots of variables and that a smoking gun cause and effect for algae in Lake Sawyer is not at all clear. In fact, no test results to date support claims made that algae in the lake is toxic or even that algae growth has increased in the lake.
What to do? Keep testing and be vigilant for where we can identify contaminated surface water runoff going into the Rock Creek drainage so that it can be remedied. As for me, I will continue kayaking around the lake in search of this elusive toxic algae that I have yet to see any signs of.
Last week, I talked with the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) for an update regarding the status of reclamation activities at the John Henry Mine. Good news. According to OSM, mine reclamation activities continue and Pacific Coast Coal Company (PCCC) has fully addressed the 5 deficiencies outlined earlier. In addition, they are moving ahead now to update PCCC's permit to focus just on reclamation. This is the best sign yet that they no longer intend to mine coal and are proceeding ahead to complete reclamation and reforest the site.
As you may note in the above graphic, there are three very large stockpiles that will become mountains no more. The change in topography will be particularly noticeable for those of us who drive to Lake 12 and the Green River Gorge or on the road to Ravensdale. With so much earth moving to occur during reclamation, there remains risk of surface water runoff containing high phosphorus concentrations into Ginder Creek and on to Lake Sawyer - but much less so than if mining were to occur and OSM will continue to monitor discharge water quality during reclamation. We are also likely to see curtailed levels of reclamation during wet winter months which will reduce discharge risks even further.
State DOE has yet to address any potential updates or changes to PCCC's NPDES surface water discharge permit. We should expect to hear from them later this month.
With Lake Sawyer and all of the many acres and miles of trails through Lake Sawyer Regional Park and the Black Diamond Natural Area, many of us who live here probably under appreciate our neighbor to the north - Lake Wilderness. Though smaller in size and more developed for recreational uses, Lake Wilderness is another of our area's real gems. Recently, I've grown to particularly appreciate the Lake Wilderness Arboretum and the many plants and flowers that we can find growing there in a beautiful natural setting. But I must say, it's been years since I explored the lake. So armed with my camera, it was time to go exploring. Good decision.
Were you aware of the fantastic views of Mt. Rainier that you can find here? I certainly don't recall seeing the mountain from here before.
Now, if only I can find a way to get on top of the roof of the Lake Wilderness Lodge.
Here's one of my favorite photos of fall colors that I've taken this year.
Even the Lodge is beautiful in its setting.
Between the lake, the park and the arboretum, plenty to see while you wander about. And did I mention the Cedar to Green River trail that borders the east side of the lake? Bring your jogging shoes too or take your kids and grandkids for a bike ride!