Black Diamond NOW

The Kloeber - Time for a Visit?

Stressed out by todays' health pandemic, economic uncertainty, political rancor and social unrest?  Perhaps you have high blood pressure, rheumatism, neuralgia, chronic digestive disease (from eating at home?), nervous diseases and their allied disorders?  Then make a visit to the Kloebler Health Resort for treatment of what ails you.

Postcard image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, 1998.10.21, circa 1910

Apparently everyday life in the early 1900's had it's own share of anxiety and stress - and demand for treatment if you could afford it.  The Kloeber Health Resort at Green River Hot Springs met a need.  Located in the Green River Valley just west of Lester where the Green River and Champion Creek meet, the town was first settled as Kendon in 1886, so named by the Northern Pacific Railroad.   With development of the resort shown above by J.S. Kloeber, MD in 1903, the town became renamed as Hot Springs and by 1907 - 1908, the town had a population of 225 with two physicians.

According to the brochure, the resort offered treatment for a wide variety of ailments, achieving a 95% success rate.  Room rates ranged from $5 to $10 per week and meals were served at "affordable prices".  An orchestra played during meals, visitors enjoyed beautiful suites and had full access to the resort's bowling alleys, shooting gallery, billiards and card rooms - and were cured.  Want a massage?  You got it.  Hmmm!  I'm going to have to talk to Multi-Care.  The resort's lifeline and only access was the railroad with three scheduled trains visiting each day.  They even provided special tokens for train goers making the trip.

 

 

Unfortunately, good times didn't last and the resort burned down in a fire.  By 1918, the town had virtually disappeared and postal service was ended.  

From what I'm told, there remain no more signs of the old resort and hot springs.  This being in the City of Tacoma watershed, all signs of the past have been removed and/or buried, including the hot springs.  Too many curiosity visitors no doubt.

It's Haying Time

If you drive around the Enumclaw plateau, you'll see farmers harvesting their first hay crop of the season.  Seems early but apparently it's been a warm spring.  The process of haying, even on small farms today, is a whole lot simpler than it once was. 

The closest to an "automated" solution there used to be was harvesting hay with a horse drawn "harvester".

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, UW5249, circa 1915

After that, it was all hand work - first piling the dried hay into big piles using a hand fork.  Following is a photo taken along the Green/Duwamish River in 1914.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, 1993.26.1, Allen & Perkins photographers, circa 1914

Then, pile it high onto hay wagons.  Talk about a workout.  

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, ORL 79.79.7, circa 1900

The Cedar River valley, after being cleared of timber, saw plenty of hay fields on farms in the early 1900's.  The above photo was taken near Issaquah and the following photo shows the Johnson and Wright farm in Hobart. 

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, P01.16.12, n.d.

Here's one of the Peterson Farm in Maple Valley.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, P02.16.3, n.d.

No need for a workout at the gymnasium for these guys!

 

 

Wood Stave Pipe and the Cedar River Pipeline

In April 1899, the City of Seattle undertook a major investment in it's future - authorizing construction of Cedar River Pipeline No. 1, delivering water from Landsburg to downtown Seattle and thus insuring a reliable source of water supply upon which to grow.  At a total contract price of over $1.2 million, the new pipeline extended a total of 29.5 miles, including 6.0 miles of 42" steel pipe, 1.0 mile of 36" steel pipe and 22.5 miles of 42" wooden stave pipe.  That's a lot of money for the time, but town fathers were determined to emerge from their competition with Tacoma as top seaport, and dare I say, top dog in the northwest.  And they succeeded on both accounts.

Using wooden pipe for water mains has a long history dating back to Roman times, later replaced by lead pipe (a bad decision). Wooden pipe emerged as popular again in Europe and the U.S. in 17th and 18th centuries.  Drilling a hole through the log's core created the method of conveyance.  There were a few bugs with this method, however, both literally and figuratively and a return to metals again became the norm.  But once again, with improved wood stave pipe technology, wood re-emerged one last time in the 1880's and remained popular in this country well into the 1920's.

Image courtesy HistoryLink.org.

The above image shows wooden stave pipe being built on the job.  Surround the wooden structure with steel wire bound tightly and you have pipe that is both strong and virtually leak free.  It was also common to build pipe in standard lengths, ready for fitting end to end on the job, much like steel or concrete.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, SEA2555, circa 1906

By 1916, Seattle was ready to move ahead with Cedar River Pipeline No. 3, but this time city authorities had been sold on the benefits of steel and concrete.  Apparently a couple of washouts along the river near Landsburg had soured the city's taste for wood and they wanted something that would last longer with less maintenance - except steel and concrete cost more.  I ran across an interesting article in the Seattle Star dated October 12, 2016 that pitted the pro steel and concrete city hall against local businesses, like the West Coast Lumberman's Association, who favored the use of wood.

For a fun read, you can find the complete article at Download Cedar river pipeline.

In the end, it appears that a compromise was struck and that a combination of concrete, steel and wood stave pipe were used.  Following are a few photos from this period.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, 1983.10.3161.4, Webster & Stevens, circa 1926

Pretty healthy steel strapping.  Reliance on building pipe on site apparently remained their standard practice.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, 1998.21.17, circa 1926

Image courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, #3820, circa 1929

But in the immediate Landsburg area, concrete became the norm.

Image courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, circa 1930

Stop by the Maple Valley Historical Society for more about wood stave pipe and you can actually see a real example on display.

 

200' Log Stringers

I thought logs cut to 132' in length for use as stringers in a railroad bridge trestle was beyond the pale, but 200'?  Here you go!

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Archives, AR255-114-0-1_LL-0678, John T. Labbe Collection, n.d.

At least they were using rail and not trucking along a road (see How do you Truck a 132' Log?).  The above photo was taken near Kelso.

 

How do you Truck a 132' Long Log?

Very carefully?  Yes, of course, but how do you truck it and better yet why?  There's certainly no regular market for logs or lumber of this length and the cost had to be extraordinary.  The answer as to why is straight forward - building a bridge for a logging railroad required long stringers that can support heavy loads.  A 132' long Douglas Fir is exceptionally strong, though with a bit of a deflection I'm sure.  Remember the railroad trestle built by Pacific States Lumber Co.?  The how of trucking this stringer log is less straight forward.

Image courtesy Washington State Digital Library, AR255-114-0-1_LL-0976, Lee Pickett photographer, circa 1937

The answer - load the large butt end of the log onto a conventional log truck, fastening securely.  Then lift the top end onto a trailer attached to another truck, securing the log end at the truck.  Finally, pull the whole load using the lead truck, including the back end log trailer and truck, using both as a trailer.  A driver in this end rig somehow had to communicate with the driver in the lead rig to navigate.  Stranger things have happened and I guess it worked.  How would you like to drive around a corner in the road with this setup?

Are log stringer bridges still used today?  Believe it or not, yes!  Attached for all of you engineers out there is a "Graduating Essay" from April 2008, showing how it's done.  Enjoy Download LeeMichael_FRST_497_Graduating_Essay_2008 (1).

Ready for Some Good News?

How about you?  Are you ready to focus on some positive happenings in our world?  Boy, I sure am, but where to find it.  How about trends in energy efficiency and the growing use of renewable energy sources?  Bingo.  Take a look at the graphic that follows, with data taken from a recent Electric Power Usage monthly report prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  What is the really great long term trend that you see here?

Despite the very rapid growth our economy has seen over the past decade, the amount of energy our country consumes has changed very little.  Part of this is structural, with the economy driven more by services than manufacturing, but some really great improvements in energy efficiency are part of the equation too.  And just as important, our sources of energy have also changed dramatically, with coal consumption declining at an accelerating rate and now little more than half of what it was just 10 years ago.  The switch by electric utilities to using cleaner natural gas has played a large role, but the switch to renewable energy sources continues to accelerate too.

Wind power in particular seems to have really taken off with major new capacity being added over the next several years - most of it in the mid-west.  Here's the data for 2019.

 

 

There, now I feel better! 

Footnote:  I put together the first two graphs as my simple way of trying to wade through all of their detailed work sheets.  The last three graphs are eia graphs.

Pacific States Lumber Co. - Local Success Story

Pacific States Lumber Company was among the most successful, yet least known, logging and lumber companies in the Puget Sound region during the 1920s boomtimes. With 600 to 700 employees working three shifts at it's peak in the remote company town called Selleck, it was probably one of the largest sawmill operation of its kind not located on water.  This birds eye view photo taken in 1926 tells the story.

Image courtesy City of Tacoma Public Library, Marvin D. Boland Collection BOLAND-B15754, circa 1926

When you have a railroad schedule that includes two passenger and four freight trains each day, it was clearly a busy place.  Following is a broader panorama of town.

Image courtesy Black Diamond History, circa 1923

The mill's large size for it's time, it's company town status that exists in part to this day, a separate Japanese Town for housing Japanese immigrant workers and families, a community school that operated well into the 1950s and the town's legacy of historic buildings designated as a King County Landmark, all make Selleck a really interesting place to learn about.  And there is more, like the extensive use by Pacific States Lumber of logging railroads to access the timber rich Cedar River watershed.

Image courtesy Washington State Archives, AR255-114-0-1_LL-1731, n.d.

The above photo shows a Baldwin 2-6-2 locomotive pulling a long load of logs into camp.  These owners were very determined to extend their reach to the really good timber, which in this case meant building a railroad trestle spanning the Cedar River Canyon. They invested heavily.

Image courtesy Washington State Archives, John T. Labbe Collection, AR255-114-0-1_LL-1683, photographer Darius Kinsey, n.d.

No temporary structure this!  At the time, this wooden trestle, spanning 893' across and rising 203' above ground, was thought to be the largest in the world.  As I have observed many times - the feats of our fathers are pretty amazing.

Yeah - The Lake is Open for Fishing

This is the time of year when the "pros" return to Lake Sawyer for a summer of outstanding fishing.  Though they don't need a fishing license from the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife, the timing of their annual visit typically mirrors the official "opening day" for the rest of us.  And no concerns about social distancing for these pros.  Who am I referring too - osprey of course,  otherwise known as the fish hawks/aka Seahawks. 

These are real pro fishermen and nobody does it better.  While local bald eagles will dip their talons in the lake to snatch a fish near the surface, they would just as soon have a lunch of duck, fish carcass or squirrel fricassee than go diving for live fish.  Osprey diets are 90% + fish and they really know what they are doing, often diving fully submerged in order to latch on with their talons for dinner.  We get to see lots of "fly-byes" this time of year as local osprey patrol the lake.

Eagles will sometimes perch in a tree waiting for an osprey to catch a fish, then dive bomb the osprey as it struggles to fly with a heavy load.  The osprey has little choice but to let go, dropping its dinner while the eagle swoops in behind snatching the fish in mid-air before it hits the water.

Turnabout is fair play, however.  Here is an eagle reacting to being dive bombed by an osprey from above.

Although smaller than an eagle, the wing span of an osprey approaches that of an eagle, making the osprey quite strong when lifting fish from the water.

I took the above photo at Hayden Lake Idaho, showing an osprey flying away with a kokanee salmon it had just captured.  Here's another one with an even bigger fish.

Spawning kokanee, which by the way we once had here at Lake Sawyer, weigh probably on the order of 3 lbs or more - heavier than an osprey for sure.  My biggest kokanee catch at Lake Sawyer weighed less than this and had not turned red yet, but was sure fun at the time, and tasty too.  Alas, no more kokanee at Lake Sawyer these days.

Enjoy the sights and theatre this summer and hopefully you'll get to see some real pro fishing.

 

State to State Migration - A Big Part of the Washington Story

Although immigration to Washington State from other countries accounted for a large part of our state's population and economic growth following statehood (see my earlier post Washington State Immigration), migration by people born in other states  provided the most fuel.  And what states do you think those might be?  Maybe those states perchance with significant lumber, fishing and farming industries?  Here are the top twelve states during the 1880 - 1940 period.  

If you guessed Minnesota, you win the prize.  The biggest surprise to me was the large number of migrants from agricultural centric areas in the Midwest.  Poor crop harvests?

Washington State Immigration - A Snapshot View 1880 - 1940

During the period 1880 to 1940, the population of Washington State virtually exploded, growing from just 75,000 in 1880, to 1.1 million by 1940 and today reaching nearly 7.8 million.  Where did all these people come from?  It certainly wasn't all new babies being born here!  While doing some research about Japanese immigrants employed in the lumber industry early in the 20th century, I happened across at study done at the University of Washington titled America's Great Migration 1860 - 2017.  Incredibly fascinating and quite detailed.  Based on census data, the research report catalogues how many people at the time of the census were born in another state who migrated to Washington, or those born in another country who immigrated here, or those born in Washington State.  

We know, for example, that quite a few Japanese were employed in the burgeoning timber industry (see my earlier blog post Japanese Labor and the Shaping of the Northwest Lumber Industry).  For example, here's a picture of a crew working for the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co. on the company railroad in 1906.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, SOC0252, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1906

But in the big picture, Asian labor from China and Japan played a much smaller role in the growth of Washington State than did others.  Who were they and where did they come from?  Let's start by looking at the total state population at the beginning of each decade (for some reason, researchers were unable to publish census data for the year 1890 - perhaps as a result of statehood in 1889).  Otherwise, we have an accounting in each decade for how many people were born where.  

First, here's the state population summary by decade.

Of Washington State's population, how many people were born where?  Here's a summary I put together of the immigrants born in other countries who then resided in Washington State and how many entered into the state over the past decade.  Lot's of greater detail in the research report.  What country(s) would you guess who had the most people immigrating to Washington?

You might note that the total number of new immigrants coming into the state each decade significantly exceed the total population of people born here recorded in 1940.  For example, 417,831 immigrants born overseas lived here in 1940, yet each decade many more in total came into the state.  At the time of the census in 1940, some immigrants who came in in earlier years had either moved on to other states, went back home or were no longer alive, accounting for the lower total than the summation of all those who immigrated here each decade.

Any surprises?  For an economy like Washington State's driven then principally by the timber industry, fishing, mining, railroads and agriculture, it's not too surprising to see so many Scandinavians, Canadians and immigrants from Great Britain.  Not a lot of Frenchmen, but for a country as small as Wales, it's not surprising to see them on the list with all of their coal mining expertise.  

Lot's of information to ponder.  I'll review where migrants into Washington State from other states came from in a future post.

Japanese Labor and the Shaping of the Northwest Lumber Industry

My recent visit to the historic sawmill town of Selleck and site of the Pacific States Lumber Company reminds me of the important role that Japanese labor played in the development of the northwest lumber industry.  Selleck even had it's own Japanese Camp.

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2002.5.14, circa 1910

Located just out of town as the railroad passed the millpond outlet, according to the 1920 census Japanese camp at Selleck was home to 147 men, women and children living in segregated space apart and independent from the rest of town.  Men worked in the mill, women worked in the town store(s) and children had their own school.  Just how big a role did Japanese immigrants play in the northwest logging and lumber industry?  A significant role as it turns out.  We just don't hear or read much about it.

In part, the riots and protests in the 1880's over the railroads use of Chinese labor tend to get our attention.  These protests were sensational at the time, violent and dangerous, with the end result being passage by congress of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that banned further importation of Chinese labor. 

However, the demand for cheap labor continued - this time filled by Japanese immigrants (viewed as much more polite than Chinese).  Starting in 1885, when official emigration from Japan to the U.S. began, most Japanese migrants went to Hawaii and California and few ventured to the northwest.  Thanks largely to the use of labor contractors who actively recruited in Japan for northwest industries, by June 1900, 12,635 Japanese immigrants had come to Washington and Oregon to work on the railroads, in sawmills, canneries and in agriculture.  Labor contractors negotiated wages and working conditions and received a fee for their services through payroll deduction.

Following is a photo of the "Japanese Town" at the Barneston sawmill site located not far from Selleck in the Cedar River watershed where 35% of the workforce were Japanese immigrants.

 

Image courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, No. 48039, circa 1911

Among the larger sawmills employing significant numbers of Japanese immigrant labor were the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. and the Snoqualmie Lumber Company.  Including St. Paul & Tacoma, it has been reported that in 1917, some 1,300 Japanese workers were employed in the approximately fifty sawmills in the Tacoma area - increasing to over 2,000 workers by 1922. (Source: UW Tacoma Digital Commons, Re-mapping Tacoma's Pre-War Japantown: Living on the Tideflats).

In 1923, Tokyo was hit a by disastrous earthquake.  Who better to supply Japan with lumber for reconstruction that Pacific States Lumber Co. and St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. - employers of many Japanese workmen.

Though not as violent and dangerous as the Chinese riots of the 1880's, opposition to using immigrant labor from Asia in the northwest continued and the "open" window for immigration of Japanese was closed in 1924, not to be reopened until the 1960's.

 

 

2019 King County Lake Sawyer Stewardship Monitoring Report

This past week, King County released the 2019 Lake Sawyer Stewardship monitory report.  It's nice to see the report released right on schedule as in past years despite the current state of affairs.  Special thanks go to Lake Sawyer resident Ken Docktor, who is our local volunteer monitor.  Without Ken's hard work and diligence, we would not have the breath and depth of information about the lake that we need.  Stewardship indeed!  Rather than pontificate, a PDF copy of this year's report is attached as Download 2020-Sawyer-2019-Lake-Stewardship-Monitoring-Report.  

Why do we care about Lake Sawyer water quality?  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Protecting this jewel for our entire community, those of us fortunate to live here and for those who follow, is all of our responsibility.

 

1930's Era School

What local area school building burned to the ground in 1929, was rebuilt in 1930, remodeled in 1967 to accommodate a K-6 student body and today serves as a condominium for local residents?  Another hint - you have to drive down a dead end road to get there.  Here is a photo of the school house taken a couple of days ago.

Rick Ryerse, I'm quite sure you remember this old school.  You taught there when just out of college with your teaching certificate.  Your first teaching job and quite an experience as I remember you telling us.

It's the old school house in Selleck, of course!

The rebuilt Selleck School, completed in 1930, now serves as the Pacific States Condominiums. This April 10, 1940, photo is courtesy King County Assessor Property Card collection, Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Branch.

A lot of great history in Selleck and fun to make the drive to see the old company town once owned by Pacific States Lumber Company.  15 original company houses, a community hall and superintendents house were designated as King County Landmarks by the County Landmarks Commission in 1987.

For more about Selleck and Pacific States Lumber Company, follow these links to Booming Mill in Selleck and Old Sawmill Town Remembered .  You will find these links and many more articles about Selleck and Pacific States Lumber Company at Black Diamond History.  And if you haven't visited Selleck and enjoy history, it's worth making the drive.

Ravensdale Circa 1910

Thank goodness for postcards.  Without them, being able to "visualize" much of our local history would have been lost.  As I've said before, postcards were the Instagram of their time.  The postcard image below shows a birds eye view of the town of Ravensdale as it was in 1910.

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2018.2.30, circa 1910

Based on the Historical Society's call number catalogue system, this postcard is a fairly recent acquisition, in 2018, and perhaps many of us have not seen it before.  Coal mine offices and the town's Northern Pacific railroad terminal can be seen in the foreground, with residences, school? and church in the background.

The following message is written on the postcard:  "I have marked where my shack is located, but you have to look close to see it. There are six teachers in the school here. The highest in the Eight [sic.] grade."  You can see the + symbol noted on the card to point out the writer's "shack".

Is it true that Ravensdale got it's name from a colony of ravens that lived in the area?