Black Diamond NOW

Lake Sawyer Log Dump - Then (1936) and Now (2019)

The first aerial photographs of King County were taken in 1936 and remain available to us today through the county's iMap website.  So much fun comparing then and now parts of town with the most recent aerials taken in 2019.  Many of you may recall that in addition to the sawmill at the north end of Lake Sawyer, the sawmill also maintained a log dump on the west side of the lake to support logging operations in this area that spanned the period 1919 to 1934.  Following is one of the photos of the log dump in operation taken by photographer Clark Kinsey in 1928.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK0197, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1928

Does that island in the background look familiar?  Following is an iMap aerial photo taken in 1936, just two years following sawmill closure.  The log dump was still quite visible.  

Note the two railroad tracks shown entering the site at the bottom.  Logs were dumped here and then floated up to the mill.  Here's a broader 1936 view.

The lake outlet to Covington Creek can be seen not far above the log dump.  No weir during this period and not much sign of other human activity, except for the Grove Resort located near the bottom of the picture below the two islands.  Following is a photo of the Grove Resort, where you can see the two islands in the background and the boat house as well.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Asahel Curtis photographer, n.d.

Here we are again with this same iMap view taken in 2019.

The Lake Sawyer outlet is now clearly shown as are a whole lot residences all around the lake.  Where the log dump was once located, we now have the Lake Sawyer Resort.

 

Cable Locomotives

The northwest logging industry's transition between teams of oxen on skid roads and the use of geared locomotives on steel rails was not without some interesting hybrid technologies.  Although Shay geared locomotives were first patented as far back as 1881, it took some time before they became widely used here.  After all, they weren't cheep and neither was the time and cost of building full scale logging railroads across difficult and hilly operating terrain.  One solution - build a "railroad" using wooden ties and rails and steam donkey engines in place of locomotives.  You didn't even need rail cars on which the logs were placed.  Just drag them along the railroad bed instead.

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives, John T. Labbe Collection, circa 1903

If you had the money for steel rail but not locomotives and railcars, this is one way to make it up and down a 25% grade.

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives, John T. Labbe Collection, n.d.

These were called cable locomotives because a cable attached to the donkey engine was used to literally pull the "locomotive" and logs up and down the rail line.  No worries about brakes either with all the weight and friction of logs being drug along behind.  Going uphill was easy too with the cable connected uphill of the steam donkey.

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives, John T. Labbe Collection, n.d.

Notice the barrels of water at the front of the donkey engine.  Travel distances would have been significantly limited by the capacity of these barrels to supply water to the steam donkey.  And then, of course, there were what I'll call DIY locomotives.

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives, John T. Labbe Collection, n.d.

Better than using teams of horses and oxen?

Lake Sawyer Triathlon

What do you miss most by being housebound?  Socializing with friends and family - certainly.  But for me, I really miss not being able to go to the gym and getting my regular exercise.  It's going to be tough hiking when the mountain trails finally open up if we aren't in shape.  Finally, I found something that's fun, challenging and great exercise - a weekly Lake Sawyer triathlon which includes kayaking 2 1/2 miles down the lake and back, a 4.6 mile run and a 6.0 mile bike ride.  Extend the run to 6.2 miles (10k) and to 10 miles biking and we're on track for some good summer hiking.  I do cheat a little while kayaking.  I can't resist taking some pictures along the way, like these from yesterday morning.

Making exercise fun keeps me motivated.

And having the expectation of extending myself to do all three in one day (kayaking, running and hiking) once a week keeps me motivated for regular running.

What works for you to keep motivated for regular exercise?  

And maybe Patty Swedberg with Raise the Bar, who also lives on Lake Sawyer and is a wonderful promoter of athletic events, can bring us a real triathlon.  

Looking Ahead

While being at home "grounded", it's not a bad time to step back and think about the issues facing our community.  For me, reviewing historical information provides helpful perspective about current challenges.  Let's start with employment in Black Diamond.  How many people work in town?

As you can see, we are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to jobs.  We have too few employment opportunities here which adversely impacts both our community's tax base and commuter traffic challenges. 

Where do people currently commute for work?  Following are excerpts from the Black Diamond Comprehensive Plan:

Since this census data dates back to 2013, we know that commute times for people living in Black Diamond now exceeds the 36 minutes experienced at that time.

We have quite a diverse workforce and talent living in our community.  It sure would be nice to work at/close to home.

How does our tax base compare with our neighboring communities?  Following is a chart I put together comparing the 2020 General Fund city budgets for Black Diamond, Maple Valley, Covington and Enumclaw.

Yep, we are way out of balance, overly dependent on property tax revenues.  Nothing new here.

Bottom line - we need jobs which means attracting industrial and commercial businesses to Black Diamond and supporting those now in town.  The coronavirus pandemic does nothing but reinforce this community priority.  As we come out of this crisis, it's time to stay focused as we move ahead.

 

Rigging a Spar Tree - It's Complicated

As noted many times, high lead cable logging revolutionized the logging industry in the pacific northwest.  Instead of teams of oxen and horses dragging logs along skid roads, we had steam donkey engines powering the use of cables to yard and load railcars and log trucks.  Central to it all was the use of spar trees for connecting a complex web of cables required to make it all work.  Not so simple as the following photo shows.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Darius Kinsey photographer, circa 1924

What did all of these cables connect too and what were they used for?  A set-up like this required the use of multiple donkey engines and an incredible amount of coordination and communication.  "High climbers" were among the highest paid loggers on a crew and skilled in scaling a spar tree, trimming branches on the way up and then topping it.  But among the most important skills was rigging the spar tree and making cable connections before finally returning to earth.  Can you imagine how much weight and stress these cable connections and cables had to handle?  A safety hazard ready to happen for sure.  Unfortunately, failures were not uncommon, sometimes with disastrous consequences for crew members on the ground. 

They sure had a nice view at this logging site.

Northern Pacific - Logging Railroad?

By the 1890's, the Pacific Northwest had become well known for it's timber supply and the Northern Pacific Railroad was ready and able to serve the bourgeoning industry's most every need.  By 1895, the NP was transporting over 200,000 board feet per day of lumber to Puget Sound ports and markets in the eastern U.S.  But were they a logging railroad too?  Apparently so, at least in the Snoqualmie area.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, shs1050, John Soule photographer, circa 1895

No doubt the area being logged was adjacent or near to the mainline NP railroad and the sawmill similarly located not far away on this same rail line, but specialized railcars just for logs?  Only the best quality (straight with no knots) logs likely made this trip but it's saying something about the value of quality logs and lumber that loggers and mill owners could afford NP's costs at this early date.

Lake Sawyer in Spring

Unique sunrise, sunset and Mount Rainier views make Lake Sawyer a special place to be.  Following are some recent photos taken while staying at home and being unsocial in my kayak.

This is a great time of year for kayaking both early and late.  Sunrise and sunset occur at decent hours of the day (6:18 am and 7:58 pm respectively), so you can enjoy amazing morning and evening colors and still get your beauty sleep.  The above photo shows Mount Rainier bathed in morning pink during sunrise and every day the views are different.  This was taken Tuesday morning.

The morning before, this was the view.

And then there is sunset - the following image taken on Monday evening.

A couple of nights before, sunset had very different colors and sky..

At sunset, Mount Rainier lighting is entirely different from sunrise.

My biggest challenge at sunset is trying to take both mountain and sunset photos at the same time while balancing it all in the kayak.  Lighting is entirely different looking to the southeast for Mount Rainier compared to the sun setting nearly due west at this time of year.  And then even a light breeze wants to spin you around.  Try taking pictures while paddling the kayak at the same time.  To make it all work, I've ended up using two separate cameras with different lens focal lengths.  I use a 70-300mm lens for mountain shots and my wide angle 16-35mm lens for sunset images.  Auto settings just don't work well in either case, so I use manual settings including manual focus.  The good news - you get better pictures this way but it tests your agility.

All for a good cause too!  In addition to having fun, 100% of all proceeds from photo sales are donated to help support our Black Diamond Community Center.  Note cards of all photos you see are available for $4 or 3 for $10, 8x10 matted prints for $25 each and 13x19 prints for $30.  I deliver locally too, free of charge.  The Community Center really needs our help during these trying times.

Here's sunrise from our dock.

For more information, you can contact me at craig.goodwin99@gmail.com or on Facebook at Black Diamond NOW Photography.

Henry Ford - Oh How We Miss You!

While there remain heroes in the business world we can look up to, focused on innovation, knowing/serving their customers and even caring about their employees, it seems they are becoming fewer and fewer.  Today, too many businesses seem to be all about getting bigger and pleasing the short term financial markets.  It's only today's numbers that count.  Buy up all the good small companies - eliminating the competition that a capitalist economy requires for long term success.  How much of the bailout money from the 2008 great recession was used for investment in the business, instead of enriching shareholders and acquiring other companies?  Less than half went to business investment.

Henry Ford, at the turn of the 20th century, was both brilliant and focused like a laser on his customers.  In 1908, at the time the Model T was introduced, the price of a new car was about $2,000.  Certainly not many people could afford that price.  Ford's Model T came on the market priced at $850.  By the early 1920's, benefitting from all of Ford's manufacturing prowess, the price for a Model T had been further reduced to $300.  Still, Henry Ford thought they had to do more.  At the time he observed that there were 20 million wage earners in the U.S. with an annual income of between $1,000 to $2,000.  What would it take for people making that much money to afford a car?

Image courtesy Black Diamond Historical Society

The answer - people had to save money and Ford, working with local banks, found a way to facilitate saving.  The result - by 1927, 15 million Model T Fords had been sold.  Even Ford employees could afford to buy a car.

I wish I were more optimistic about where our current Bailout funds are going, but alas …….

Hiking "Off the Beaten Path"

It's April, temperatures in the 60's, flowers are blooming and the sun is shining.  What else could you want in the northwest?  Unfortunately, we must remain in near isolation of others while the coronavirus still threatens.  All trailheads throughout the state on federal and state lands are closed, making it most difficult for those of us who thrive in the outdoors to take advantage of the weather. By any measure, though, we are most fortunate.  Our family has avoided exposure to date and there is much for us to do living in Black Diamond and on Lake Sawyer that "city dwellers" simply don't have available to them - including extensive "local knowledge" of where we can go hiking while avoiding others.

Yesterday, Judy and I took advantage of the weather and went hiking to one of our favorite locations along the Green River Gorge, with nary a soul to be seen.  And what did we find?  Trillium of course, our favorite early spring wildflower.

Beautiful trails too.

Calming and peaceful while soaking up the rays along the river.

For those familiar with the gorge, this is one of the best summer swimming holes around with crystal clear water.  Lots to explore here.  

Time to head home, fully refreshed and ready for more ruffing it at Lake Sawyer.  We are soooo fortunate.

"Merchantable Timber" Circa 1910

Because of the high cost of transporting logs from the woods to a sawmill, a whole lot of timber went to waste in the early 1900's.  It had to be prime timber in high demand to be profitable for loggers.  High quality cedar, for example, could be selectively harvested, sawn into shingle bolts and transported by a small team of horses to a mill via sled (see my earlier post Cedar - The Gold Standard).  High value and low cost.  Harvesting douglas fir and hemlock, however, was less valuable and more expensive to transport by much larger teams of horses and oxen dragging large logs down skid roads.  The result - under half of what would be considered "merchantable" in the 1950's was often left in the woods to rot or to be burned if the land was being cleared for farming or other use.  Here's an example of the burn pile left at the Gibbon property in Maple Valley after being logged by Stetson & Post Lumber Co. in 1910.

Image courtesy Maple Valley Historical Society, 85.137.1, circa 1910

 

It's Getting to be Rhubarb Season

While we continue to hunker down and isolate ourselves from the coronavirus, warming spring weather is beginning to stir growth of some of our region's most favored locally grown produce.  Of these, rhubarb harvest time has to rank near the top and in fact, with just 275 acres of rhubarb planted, farms in Pierce County and the Puyallup valley lead the country in rhubarb production.  While checking on the last remaining daffodils grown in the valley by Knudson Farms in Sumner (just an acre or two), I had to be impressed by all the rhubarb now growing here.  It sure looked healthy and in a month or two, it will taste great too.

Vegetable or fruit?  Sweet or sour?  All of the above I guess.  Sure makes a great glaze for barbequing or baking salmon and absolutely the best Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch dessert I've ever had.  And we are Number 1 in the country!

Then I ran across some photos of rhubarb grown in Skagway Alaska in 1914.  Wow, how did they do this?

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CUR2011, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1914

Here's another one.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CUR1926, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1914

Lots of fertilizer in Skagway?

We grow some nice sized plants here at home, but certainly nothing like this.  And as much a we like rhubarb, one plant receives virtually no gardening attention from us throughout the year (dubbed by some as the lazy gardener's crop) and produces all that we can eat during the season.  I can't wait.  Local produce is the BEST!

 

Washington State Railroad Commission Circa 1910

The regulation of railroad rates in our state had a bumpy path before finally being enacted in 1905.  Railroad interests were sufficiently strong at the time of statehood in 1889 to fend it off, but apparently "blatant political manipulation" during the 1904 election for governor eventually turned the tide and the Washington State Railroad Commission was finally established.  Following is one of their early maps prepared by Rand, McNally & Company of Chicago in 1910.

Image courtesy Washington State University Libraries Digital Collection, wsu363; G4281.P3 1910 .R3x, circa 1910

From looking at this map, railroads were indeed big business - not just in the Puget Sound Region but a whole lot of miles in Eastern Washington too.   Here's a closer look at our area of the map.

The density of railroads in our area was really high - lots of natural resources from coal to clay to timber and lumber.  Although logging railroads are also included, I find it surprising the number of railroad companies at the time.