Our Towns

Sup

pl

nt eme

e

to th

d

ecor

yR Dail

Thank you for selecting Ellensburg Chevrolet as the “Best Place in Kittitas County to buy a car” 2 years in a row. Ce Fou lebrat r Ye ing S to t ervicars of he e VallKittita ey s

Thank You Kittitas County

MALIBU 2008 CAR OF THE YEAR

2008 SILVERADO BEST FUEL ECONOMY AND POWER IN ITS CLASS

EQUINOX SPORT

S E R V I C E • S E L E C T I O N • S AT I S FA C T I O N

 | OUR TOWNS 2008

1008 CANYON RD • ELLENSBURG • 925�6985

WWW.EBURGCHEV.COM

Our Towns

Contents

Ellensburg................................................................. Pg. 4 Cle Elum ........................................................................ 7

Roslyn .......................................................................... 10 Kittitas .......................................................................... 13 South Cle Elum ............................................................ 16 Ronald .......................................................................... 19 Thorp ........................................................................... 23 Easton .......................................................................... 26 Snoqualmie Pass ........................................................... 30 Liberty .......................................................................... 33 Vantage ........................................................................ 36

AFFORDABLE FUNERAL CARE A Tradition of Caring

(509) 925-2902 • 101 East 2nd Avenue, Ellensburg, WA 98926 We offer you options… Complete funeral and cremation services at time of need or by prearrangement. We welcome your calls… Know the facts. Compare. We share your concern and value your confidence.

BONNIE MARSH - (509) 962-2925 Serving all Kittitas County locations with no added mileage or overtime charge.

Locally Owned and Supporting Our Community

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 3

Ellensburg By CHELEA KROTZER staff writer

Factoids: Location: 107 miles east of Seattle, 173 miles west of Spokane Population: 17,304 — U.S. Census Bureau estimate Origin of name: Ellensburg was officially incorporated on November 26, 1883. It was named in 1885 by the first postmaster, John A. Shoudy, after his wife Mary Ellen. The city was originally named Ellensburgh, until the “h” was dropped under standardization pressure from the United States Postal Service and Board of Geography Names in 1894.

4 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Where have all the cowboys gone?

I

n contemporary Ellensburg you’re more likely to encounter a bare-backed barista than a bareback bronc rider, but that doesn’t mean the town has lost touch with its Western roots. Ellensburg first developed as a ranching town founded by wild West cowboys, and it still to this day pays homage to its heritage with the annual Ellensburg Rodeo — one of the nation’s oldest and best. But Ellensburg’s present reputation has strayed far from its origin. Today’s “settlers” are more likely to be drawn to the town’s modern amenities than to be lured by its Western past. Credit these changes to Central Washington University, originally Washington State Normal School, which brings in a large percentage of

students from the West Side. CWU students make up about half the town’s population. The proximity to the Puget Sound — a 90-minute drive along Interstate 90 — has also changed the city’s demographics, attracting new residents looking to escape the Seattle area crowds. Some natives derogatorily refer to these arrivals as “West Siders” or “206ers” but there is no denying this migration has sparked a population explosion. Ellensburg has grown from about 12,000 residents in 1990 to more than 17,000 today — an increase of nearly 40 percent. There are still cowboys here — some of the best young talent on the college and professional rodeo circuits have Ellensburg

This article originally appeared in the July 5, 2008 edition of the Daily Record.

roots — but the city’s population and politics are likely as liberal as they’ve ever been because of the rapidly changing population base and CWU’s growing influence.

Little town, big history

Ellensburg started out as a trading post for cattlemen, it was formerly known as Robbers Roost, and grew quickly, making its way into the running as a contender for the capital of Washington in 1889 along with Yakima and the current capital, Olympia. “A lot of communities thought they were going to be the state capital,” City Manager Ted Barkley said. “A lot of people think that’s unique to Ellensburg, but it’s not.” Regardless, Ellensburg citizens at the time made the best effort they could to help their town get to the top of the heap. A building was constructed as the governor’s mansion, popularly known as “The Castle” apartments today. Built by Britton and Samuel Craig of Craig’s Hill fame, the three-story building had no electricity or plumbing, save a spacious “two-holer” in the back. But the governor never graced the mansion, in part because on July 4, 1889, a devastating fire destroyed much of downtown. Despite the fire, Ellensburg was able to quickly get back in the race for the capital, but ended up losing two elections to

the eventual winner, Olympia. (See related story.) Losing the capital bid could be considered a saving grace, allowing Ellensburg to retain its small-town charm that appeals to so many locals and incoming college students today. “This place is awesome. You go out on the town, you’re going to see someone you know,” Central Washington University senior Gary Street said. “It’s a great, friendly community.” The campus started humbly as Washington State Normal School in 1890. In those early years the entire school fit within the confines of Barge Hall, accommodating a library, classrooms, an auditorium, gymnasium and post office. Ellensburg’s Kitty Moe, who turned 103 in July, remembers her first day as one of about 300 students attending the State Normal School in 1925. “I thought ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ I had no idea what Ellensburg was like other than what I was told,” Moe said. “The hills felt so close. I felt smothered.” Moe arrived here from Portland, where she had taken a high school class from a former president the School, Phares Adams “P.A.” Getz. Getz was the Normal School’s president from 1894 to 1898 and told Moe stories of Ellensburg and the school. Moe said Getz was her inspiration for coming here.

Moe never left, marrying and raising a family. “This is a wonderful place to live, a wonderful place to rear children,” Moe said. Moe fondly remembers the simple days of Ellensburg’s youth. Days when there weren’t so many buildings to shield the gusts of wind. In winter, she and friends would ice skate on Tjossem Pond near the old flour mill. Eventually, the Northern Pacific Railroad connected to the pond and took one- to two-foot thick ice blocks and delivered them throughout the state. Moe also recalls when Gilmore’s Grocery occupied the current Wood’s Hardware location and fondly remembers visiting Boss Bakery on Pearl Street. Another grocery store, Bolyard’s, would deliver treats to the Normal School. “They had a cookie wagon,” Moe said. “They delivered cookies and sweets to the campus. All us kids would buy the cookies.” Today, CWU students enjoy food prepared in the recently constructed Student Union and Recreation Center, which is home to cafes, conference rooms, dining halls, a gym, climbing wall and much more. It is the crown jewel in a recent growth and construction phase at CWU that has changed the face of the campus. With CWU bringing in nearly half the town, every year a flood of new

faces makes its way here as another group returns to its West Side roots. “I love Ellensburg,” Moe said. “I’m sorry to see such an influx in people. But so many young people move out of here.” But, like Moe, many of those who attend college here choose to stay. “I like Ellensburg because of the four seasons,” CWU alum Molly McColm said. “I enjoy the four seasons, the fall change, the snowy winter and the heat of the summer.” As the seasons change, so does the town. Not long ago, downtown was hustling and bustling with three grocery stores, four butcher shops, three men’s clothing stores, three shoe stores, and five drug stores. According to long-time resident Jerry Williams, 72, the Ellensburg he remembers from his youth was a simpler place. “We hung out in people’s backyards before there were televisions and Dairy Queens,” Williams said. Williams moved here in 1943 at age 7. His fondest memories were of high school dances at YMCA, football games and ski trips. He said everything changed once the hum of cars flooded the city. “Ellensburg lost its pedestrian nature,” Williams said. “The core of Ellensburg is still pedestrian, but when you get out (of the core), there’s (Continued on next page)

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!

& THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE FOR YOU! Pick-up & Delivery | Rentals Available Free Estimates | Assistance with Insurance Claims 641 W. University Way

925-5680

certified technicians

Your complete collision repair center since 1982.

vm

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 5

Historic Tidbits: lensburg is Downtown El roots as a s it a far cry from g cow town. bustlin

(Ellensburg continued) very little connectivity.” Williams remembers walking to Hebler Elementary school, and to Morgan Junior High School, and to Ellensburg High School from his home on Eighth and C street, where Jerrol’s Bookstore, his family’s business, currently stands. “When we went to school, we learned about the historic buildings downtown, the people who built them, what happened,” Williams said. “We had a sense of place, a sense of community. Now everybody’s in transit. They come for school then they come back 10 years later for deja vu.” Margaret Condit, an Ellensburg resident of 45 years, also remembers a more vibrant downtown that housed a JC Penney’s, jewelry stores and clothing stores all downtown. “You didn’t have to go out to the interchanges to buy things and you didn’t have to go to Yakima to buy clothes and stuff,” Condit said. According to Condit, a member of Historic Ellensburg, the downtown businesses began to disappear about 10 years ago. “There are way too many empty buildings downtown now,” Condit said. In 2007 downtown Ellensburg was designated as one of the nation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Historic Trust. There are several groups and individuals working to improve downtown as well as to bring more shopping options back to Ellensburg, but there doesn’t seem to be a consensus or a vision on how to make that happen. ■

It’s not Ellensburg’s fault it didn’t become the state capital. It certainly tried. Cities from throughout the state made their best pitch to land the capital back in 1889, the year Washington became a state. A catastrophic Fourth of July fire in 1889 wiped out 10 blocks in Ellensburg’s business district, but the town’s leaders quickly rebuilt. Ellensburgers argued it should be chosen because the city was in the geographic center of the state, which made it better suited for the honor than either Olympia or North Yakima, two top contenders for the new state capital. However, Ellensburg had considerably fewer people than Olympia, which had 4,698 people, compared to Ellensburg’s population of 2,768. North Yakima had 1,535 people at that time. Ellensburg even tried to some guerilla marketing. According to an article in the 1889 Spokesman Review, a real estate firm in Ellensburg tried to place advertising and pay for it with “gilt-edged real estate.” The gimmick resulted in newspapers around the region owning a part of Ellensburg. It wasn’t surprising that favorable editorials were written around the state praising Ellensburg. In July 1889, the Ellensburg Capital newspaper continued the push, predicting a dramatic population increase. The paper said the population was 4,000 in 1889, would grow to 7,000 by 1890, 12,000 in 1891, 18,000 in 1892, 24,000 in 1893, 30,000 in 1894 and 40,000 by 1896. Not surprisingly, the publicity resulted in a real estate boom in Ellensburg in the late 1880s. According to a July 1945 Pacific Northwest Quarterly article, many lots in the central business district sold for $150 a front foot. Two

unimproved lots purchased in 1887 for $1,000 sold for $5,000 a year later, $8,000 in February 1889, and $10,000 was offered in May. The competition between cities was stiff and Ellensburg had some things held against it. “The town of Central, which used to be known as Skookum Chuck objects to Ellensburgh because the name sounds too much like Susanville or Nancytown,” read an article in a Waterville newspaper. Waterville was also trying to be the state capital. Olympia knocked both Yakima and Ellensburg as cities with alkali dust and desert, unbearable heat, windstorms and bitterly cold winters. Yakima pointed out that Ellensburg had narrow streets and five times as many saloons as North Yakima. An election was held and Olympia received 25,490 votes, North Yakima received 14,711 votes and Ellensburg drew 12,833 votes. Since no city received a majority, a second election was held after Washington became a state. In that election, Olympia won with 37,413 votes, Ellensburg came in second with 7,722 votes and Yakima received 6,276 votes. “The Castle” was built to be the home of the governor when Ellensburg was named state capital, optimists believed. Ellensburg didn’t become the capital but you can still see “The Castle,” located at the corner of Capital Avenue and Chestnut Street. — Don Gronning

Ready Mix Concrete

6 | OUR TOWNS 2008

• • • • •

Sand & Gravel Ecology Blocks Crushed Rock Drain Rock Dump Truck Service

7IVZMRK /MXXMXEW'SYRX] 7MRGI

1071 Hwy. 97 • Ellensburg

933-7050 1-800-736-7289

Cle Elum

This article originally appeared in the June 21, 2008 edition of the Daily Record.

By DON GRONNING staff writer

Unique charm

Factoids: Population: 1,850 Origin of name: The town is said to be named after an Indian word meaning “swift water.” The railroad tried to change it to Cle Alum to simplify its code messages. Location: About 25 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

C

asey Stewart and her husband, Ken, moved to Cle Elum about four years ago from Las Vegas. “We were ready to go,” says Casey. “We didn’t want our kids to grow up there.” They came here, where Ken had family. Casey says the town has been good for them and offers a security only small towns can provide. “We definitely feel safe here letting the kids ride around on their bikes,” says Casey, something that wasn’t true in Las Vegas. Charlie Glondo is the mayor. “It’s a great place to live,” says Glondo,

a 1968 graduate of Cle Elum High School. He says the town, like the rest of the Upper County, is experiencing change. More new people are both moving in and moving out, he says. Recently, the number of homes for sale has increased. “I think this winter played a part in it,” says Glondo. “I think gas prices played a part.” Many people living in Cle Elum commute elsewhere for work. With Upper County gas well over $4 a gallon, commuting is increasingly less attractive. (Continued on next page)

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 7

(Cle Elum continued)

Difference between Cle Elum, Roslyn

Cle Elum has its own identity. It differs from nearby Roslyn in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. “I know we’re different, but we started from the same people,” says Glondo. He has a Croation and Italian heritage, the two ethnic groups that came to the Upper County to work the coal mines. Glondo says Cle Elum has more jobs and people than Roslyn, one of the key differences. AJ Mason works as executive director of the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center. She moved to Cle Elum in 2002 to help her nephew, state Rep. Bill Hinkle, with his children. She went to Azerbaijan, in the former Soviet Union, to teach English but moved back to Cle Elum a couple years ago. She says there are definite differences between Cle Elum and Roslyn. “Cle Elum has a lot more businesses than Roslyn,” she says. “There are not as many stray dogs in Cle Elum as in Roslyn.” Craig Nevil has lived in Cle Elum 10 years. He has no doubts about the difference between Roslyn and Cle Elum. “Roslyn has a lot more Democrats,” he says, as he has his morning coffee at Pioneer Coffee, “a lot more liberals.”

 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Nevil is one of the commuters. He works as a stockbroker on the West Side, commuting one day a week. He moved here because he wanted his children to experience small-town life. “I grew up in a small town and I wanted to raise my kids here,” he says. “This is exactly what I wanted.” He says he spends his mornings at Pioneer Coffee and has had a chance to observe the different groups that stop by. “Man, you can get some opinions,” he says. Shania Persian has been working at Pioneer Coffee for seven months. She is a 2005 graduate of Cle ElumRoslyn High School. She says she has lived in several of the small towns in the area and they each have their own character. “Cle Elum is bigger,” she says. “Roslyn’s more of a hippie town.” Lisa Del Rosarrio also works at Pioneer Coffee. She commutes from Ellensburg. She doesn’t see a lot of difference between Roslyn and Cle Elum. “They’re both laid back, small towns,” she says.

Cle Elum changing

The changing face of Cle Elum means there are fewer long-time residents than in the past. That is apparent at the senior center. Many of the people who come to eat and socialize are relative

newcomers, says Mason. “I just signed up a man from Georgia today,” she says. Just as at the coffee shops, conversations at the senior center can get animated. “Right now people are talking about the election,” says Mason. “That and the price of gas.” Donna Prellwitz, 75, volunteers at the senior center. She says she and her late husband, Linus, came to the area 20 years ago with a fifth-wheel trailer. “We were on vacation, staying at Turtle Town,” she says. They walked over to the Realtor, who showed them some property. “We put money down that day,” she says. They stayed in the fifth wheel while they built a new house. She doesn’t regret moving here. “It’s just a great place,” she says.

Early days

Cle Elum was founded in 1883 and incorporated at the beginning of the 20th century. The first newspaper was the Cle Elum Tribune. The last issues of the weekly paper that can be found were in 1892, the year it was presumed to have gone out of business. The next newspaper was the Cle Elum Echo, established in 1902. In the days before radio, newspapers were the way people stayed informed about the world, as well as local issues. The early pioneers saw the value in

community. They established schools, sewer and water systems, as well as businesses. According to the book “The History of Kittitas County,” one of the first items of business was a $19,000 water project. It was followed by a $1,500 investment in a fire hose and cart, with two volunteer fire companies organized. Despite these precautions, however, most of Cle Elum was destroyed in a fire in 1918. The fire wiped out 29 blocks, destroying 205 houses and 28 businesses. It left 1,800 people homeless. The fire set the city back for several years. Many people left, but the ones who stayed rebuilt the town.

“Only been here 12 years”

“I don’t know why you would want to talk to me, I’ve only been here 12 years,” says Joe Doetsch, as he takes out the garbage. He agrees to show the reporter around his place, which sits atop the hill on Fifth Street, overlooking town. Doetsch, who celebrated his 100th birthday last July, shows off one of his cars, a rare 1973 Jensen Healey, with a 34-valve, four-cylinder motor. “It’ll go 130 mph,” he says. Inside the house is his wife, Marge. The couple moved to Cle Elum from Walla Walla. Like Prellwitz, the volunteer from the senior center, the Doetschs didn’t need much time to

Current 9 holes

Quality Golf Course Rec. Vehicle Park w/ full hook ups Reservations/tee times 509-674-2226

www.golfsuncounty.com exit 78 interstare 90. Cle Elum

Historic Tidbits:

Cle Elum could have been skiing mecca

decide to move here. “We stopped to get something to eat at the Dairy Queen,” Marge remembers. They walked across the street to the Realtor when they were done looking for land. There was no land listed but there were three houses. They didn’t like the first two but fell in love with the third. “We put money down that same day.” She says she has noticed a little rivalry between residents of Roslyn and people who live in Cle Elum. “Our observation is that there is a little friction among the old timers,” she says.

Volunteers valued

Marge has also noticed that there are many volunteers in town, doing a variety of tasks. “Volunteers do a lot here,” she says. One of those volunteers is 11-year-old Kellie MacKenzie, who volunteers at the Cle Elum Library. She has lived in Cle Elum all her life. She has noticed how the town has grown. “It keeps changing,” she says. “It’s growing a lot; a lot more people are coming.” Her 5th grade class had five new students last year, she said, although two others moved away. MacKenzie says she likes the parades that take place in Cle Elum at Fourth of July and Christmas. She enjoyed watching her older brother, Reuben, when he played in the band in one of the parades. She says she has fun with the dozen kids that live in her neighborhood, but there is one thing that she likes best about living in Cle Elum. “A really nice thing about living in my town is that my grandma lives right next door,” she says. ■

In her book “Snoqualmie Pass, From Indian Trail to Interstate,” Ellensburg author Yvonne Prater tells how in the 1920s and ’30s, Cle Elum had an active ski club, with ski jumping competitions. Cle Elum had the first organized skiing west of Denver, Prater wrote. Cle Elum resident John “Syke” Bresko, a driving force behind skiing in the Northwest, organized a club in 1920. By the end of the winter the club had 36 members, half of them with skis, Prater wrote. For the next few years Cle Elum was a skiers’ paradise. The community sponsored numerous events and trains came from Yakima and Seattle bringing spectators and skiers. The community got together and built a ski jump on the north side of town. The ski jumping competitions were the highlight of the winter, with thousands of spectators.

Clubs from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia would participate, competing for glory and prizes. As many as 8,000 spectators attended in 1931 competition, Prater wrote. According to the 1933 program, the prizes reflected the Great Depression that was going on. For instance, boys 15 and under competed in the Camel’s Hump contest. First prize was a 30-day pass to the Lane Theater, second was eight cans of corn and peas and third was four cans of vegetables. That was the last year the ski jump was held, according to the book “The History of Kittitas County.”

Old–time personals

The 1884 Teanaway Bugle newspaper ran this story for the lonesome single men in the Upper County area. “Partners Wanted!! Must Be Females!! Beauty no object” After roaming around this cold, cheerless and unsympathetic world for many years, with nothing to love, no-one to caress us, we the undersigned old bachelors, have at last settled down on lovely ranches in the charming valley of the peerless Teanaway. All that is wanting to complete our happiness is partners of the female persuasion. No capital required and but few questions asked. Women of uncertain age and questionable beauty acceptable, provided they can otherwise pass examination. Sound teeth and strong constitutions are the essential requisites.

The Discovery of a Lifetime Fairway & View Homesties now available!

St. Andrews • From $199,950 | The Ridge • From $179,950 | The Highlands • From $179,950 For information call or e-mail me anytime.

Darlene Hembree

Resort & Second Home Property Specialist

509.607.0932 • 425.359.7100 [email protected]

S UN C OUNTRY Cle Elum, Washington

GOLF & RV PARK

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 9

Historic

Roslyn faces change Factoids: Population: 1,017 (2000 Census) Origin of name: Named after the Delaware hometown of a sweetheart of Logan Bullitt, vice president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Location: About 28 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

10 | OUR TOWNS 2008

By DON GRONNING staff writer

L

iving in Roslyn as it undergoes significant change isn’t easy. “It’s good for business, horrible for living,” says Marv Newman, 41, as he waits to have lunch at The Pastime. Renting or trying to buy a home is expensive, he said. Fabiola Basterrechea is working the counter at The Pastime tavern. Basterrechea moved away after graduating from Cle Elum-Roslyn High School in 1997. She returned two years ago. She says there has been quite a bit of change. “I think there’s a lot of good and bad,” she

says. “More good than bad, though.” The impact of growth, especially at nearby Suncadia resort, is felt throughout the Upper County. Home prices at Suncadia start at about $750,000 and run into the millions. Housing costs, both to buy and to own, have risen dramatically. “Everybody’s feeling the squeeze,” says Basterrechea, a single mother. She says she couldn’t afford to rent a place by herself. “It’s pretty spendy for someone making minimum wage,” she says. She lives in the family house. Basterrechea sees Roslyn’s glass as half full, however. She points to the new natural foods

This article originally appeared in the June 14, 2008 edition of the Daily Record.

market that opened recently as one of the positive changes. Tammy Thomas agrees. “The new market is the best thing that has happened to Roslyn,” she says. “I love it.” Thomas has lived in Roslyn all her life. She manages Marko’s Place, a tavern located across the street from the market. “We’re a local bar, we’re not going to benefit from Suncadia,” she says. “We don’t have food, just beer, but we’re open every day until 2 a.m.” Thomas says there has been lots of change, not all of it good. “Lots of traffic, lots of construction,” she says. “It’s hard to make it with big city people moving in.” Tom Ballard and Suzanne Altomare started the Roslyn Natural Foods Market. Ballard, who ran the Roslyn movie theater for 19 years, says Roslyn is split 50-50 on about everything, from shooting the “Northern Exposure” television show to building Suncadia. “They’re either very accepting or they kick your butt to the ground,” he says. The latest controversy seems to be a plan by Suncadia to build 200 housing units and 118,000 square feet of commercial and retail space on 30 acres located between First Street and the Coal Mines Trail.

Ballard calls the plan “New Roslyn.” “If they really want downtown to die, they should build that,” he says. He says he is not opposed to housing, but he does not want commercial building there. “The small guy loses out,” he says. Explosive growth is not new to Roslyn. The town dates back to 1886 when there were a few prospectors’ tents. The first building was built that year and by 1888 there were 1,300 people, four hotels and six general stores, according to “History of the Pacific Northwest.” A fire wiped out most of the business district in 1888, according to “The History of Kittitas County.” The population of Roslyn today is about 1,000, although there are more than 3,000 buried in more than two dozen cemeteries that line the west side of town. The cemeteries, which are organized by lodge affiliation or ethnicity, include a number of ornate, historic headstones. A 1993 New Yorker magazine article described them as an “intricate necropolis.” The cemeteries have names like Casciatori DíAfrica, Red Men Lodge and Foresters, along with the Veterans and City cemeteries. Theresa Hanlon of Burien and Geonive DePope of Belgium, were enjoying a sunny spring day and having lunch at the cemetery

h talks about dent Jim Baric Cle Elum resi emetery in Roslyn while the Croatian C from weed eating. Both of taking a break s are buried in the cemetery. Barich’s parent Thursday. “This is the third time I’ve been here,” said Hanlon. She stops when she is traveling through the area. “It’s serene,” she says. “It makes me feel close to nature.” Jim Barich serves as chairman of the Roslyn Cemetery Commission, the entity that oversees the different cemeteries. He was born and raised in Roslyn. “My folks came from Croatia,” he says. His parents met and married in Roslyn after immigrating in the early 1900s. They raised 14 children. Barich was No. 12. Barich, 76, worked as a miner at the No. 3 Mine in Ronald for a time before going on to study education at Gonzaga University. He spent most of his career in education, working as a principal in a West Side school district. He moved back to Roslyn when he retired in 1986.

Headstones proudly mark the resting spot of former residents in the Croatian Cemetery in Roslyn. Barich credits volunteers for keeping the cemeteries maintained. “We have a lot of dedicated volunteers,” he says. Last year 100 trees were taken down by volunteers because they were in danger of falling. Volunteers keep the brush cut back, the pine needles raked and generally maintain the cemeteries. To be buried in the cemeteries now, a person has to be related to someone who is already interred there, Barich says. Some of the cemeteries have been abandoned when the lodge supporting them disbanded. In those cases they are taken over by the city, he says. (Continued on next page)

Hardware • Ace Paint • Electrical • Plumbing • Concrete Blocks & Garden Stones

Lumber • Cedar • Douglas Fir • Treated

SINCE 1940

“If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

• Equipment Rental • Contractor Supplies • Delivery Available

• Pine • Mouldings • Finished Lumber

117 Pennsylvania • Roslyn, WA (509) 649-2947 • Fax (509) 649-3047

Sales & Service

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 11

Historic Tidbits: Roslyn is one of the most historic towns in the state. Here are just a few of the highlights: • It was dedicated Nov. 22, 1886, incorporated as a third class city April 10, 1886. • There were 22 different nationalities enrolled in school in 1913, including children from Syria, Poland, Italy and Croatia. • A mine explosion killed 45 men at the No. 1 Mine on May 11, 1892. • The population peaked in 1915 at 4,000. • Before the last mine closed in 1963 more than 50 million tons of coal had been shipped from Roslyn. • William Craven became the state’s first black mayor when he was elected in 1976. • The television show “Northern Exposure” was filmed in the town from 1990-’95. • People started moving into Suncadia resort, the planned community located adjacent to Roslyn, in 2005.

Left tied to the tracks

In the 122 years the town of Roslyn has been around, it has experienced its share of conflict. But the disputes of today are mild in comparison to what went on in earlier times. Nobody is beating up a boss and trying to behead him with a train, like some striking miners did in 1888, for instance, according to an account in the book “Valleys of the Strong; Stories of Yakima and Central Washington History.” A mob of striking miners seeking an eight-hour workday took Alexander Ronald, superintendent of the coal mines, from his home, beat him and left him tied on the tracks with a train bearing down. The train engineer and fireman worked to halt the train, but it wasn’t going to stop soon enough to avoid cutting off Ronald’s head. The fireman leaped from the train, ran ahead and cut the rope holding Ronald’s head to the tracks just in time. “Ronald, in shock and weak from his beating, was taken to Reed Hotel in Cle Elum and guarded until it was safe to go home. The strike was hard on many people in those days of primitive labor laws and methods. Strikebreakers were brought in and outbursts of trouble occurred into the winter into 1889. Finally the miners did win their eight-hour day. Superintendent Alex Ronald, for whom the nearby town of Ronald is named, managed to recover and return to his job,” finished the account.

Own a Piece of Roslyn’s History ~ Available Only at the ~

12 | OUR TOWNS 2008

(Roslyn continued) Barich has mixed feelings about the change that is occurring in Roslyn. “It’s certainly changing, as is everything,” he says. He says growing up in Roslyn was wonderful. “The fishing, which I still do, was tremendous back then.” But newcomers aren’t always careful when they come play in the woods. There is more trash in the campgrounds, for instance, he says. “You see changes, but not for the good, so to speak, but that’s the way it is,” he says. Erin Krake, Roslyn librarian, says she notices more people moving into the area. “I used to know everybody by name,” she says. But she sees enough new faces now that it is hard to keep up. Still, if you come around more than a couple times, she’ll know you. “It doesn’t take a long time to become a regular around here,” she says. She is in favor of one change she hopes will happen soon. She hopes the library can undergo some needed renovation, turning it into a library, city hall and community center. More than $800,000 has been

raised by the Friends of the Roslyn Library for the renovation, most of it from government and foundation grants, although some was from private donations, she says. The annual Fourth of July book sale brings in about $2,000, she says. Krake estimates it will cost about $1 million for the first phase of the project. About $200,000 has been spent on planning, leaving $300,000$400,000 to go, she says. She thinks it will take until next year before the money is raised and work can begin. Helmut Lehner is one of the newcomers to the area. He and his wife, Terry, moved here about a year ago. They rent a place in the woods. Lehner says that compared to his native Munich, Germany, Roslyn is a friendly place. “The people are friendly and outgoing,” he says. In Germany he didn’t even know his neighbors, he said. His goal is to buy a place here. Townspeople mostly seem resigned to the town’s changes. “Change is hard,” says Thomas, the Marko’s Place manager. “But you don’t got to like it.” n

ROSLYN MUSEUM

Stop in and experience Roslyn’s rich mining and ethnic past !!! 203 W. Pennsylvania Ave. ROSLYN, WA

509-649-2355

Featuring: Early Coal Mining Equipment 1000’s of Old Photographs Antique Furniture

Also available at the Roslyn Museum

Kittitas

This article originally appeared in the June 28, 2008 edition of the Daily Record.

Where everybody knows your name

By CHANCE EDMAN staff writer

A

tractor greeted several cars coming off Interstate 90 into town recently. Finding the small Central Washington town is easy. Take the Kittitas exit and hang a left. That road takes you around a few curves and through Main Street. But a tractor drive to the 2000 census, and has a strong foreign representation with 14 percent of the population born outside the U.S. Both segments of the population have grown as the area offers some of the most-affordable housing in the Kittitas Valley. The town took root as part of westward expansion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroads. Early buildings included a Baptist church, warehouses, a general store, a drug store and the train depot, which remains intact. The last train passed through the old railroad town in 1980, but trains used to regularly come through town on their way to Chicago or elsewhere. The town’s depot became a member of the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The old rail bed is still a hub of activity as it now plays home to the popular John Wayne Trail. Summer here is a modern take on a Norman Rockwell painting — a boy and his dog fishing in a stream, nearby kids roam around town on their bikes and heel blades (a new fad among the youngsters apparently) and zoom down Clerf Hill or play outside doing whatever. The faces of Merrick Hyde, 10, and Timothy (Continued on next page)

Factoids: Population: 1,183 Origin of name: The city’s name comes from a Native American tribe. Location: Seven miles east of Ellensburg Established: The town was founded in 1889, but was not incorporated as a city until 1931.

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 13

what the building will be when completed, including the construction workers. “Hey Carl, what you building over there?” Bill Orrell ng down ist of bike ridi nging with ns co s ta ti it asked Carl Lowe K in ha d ys an da k er ee Summ at the cr d ng gi an in tt sw lio across the street El pe ro hy , Timot Clerf Hill, n Allphin, left ta is at Carl’s Barber Tr r fo s friend Shop. Merrick Hyde. “Todd’s (Kittitas continued) building it, but he’s keeping it hushElliott, 10, dripped with sweat on hush. He always does,” Lowe replied, their way to Elliott’s house last week while cutting Jean Arington’s hair. after riding a bike and heel blades She’s the mother of Kittitas Mayor around the school. On their way, 12Steve Arington. year-olds Colton Beutel and Tristan The potential for new development Allphin stopped by for a display of in Kittitas still exists, but a slowed bike riding skills in the middle of the housing market has put most planned street. stores and housing complexes on “I don’t ever really get bored, just hold. at people’s houses,” Hyde said. “I Several landowners near the I-90 don’t play video games that much. I interchange told the city they would just play outside and go on the rope have stores built and open by this swing at the creek.” time. Plans were delayed and now are Elliott says he’s building a postponed indefinitely, but the city playhouse with his dad this summer of Kittitas moved on and worked its and they’re almost done. They need budget around the oncoming deficit. to finish the walls and paint it before Most people in Kittitas don’t worry he and his friends can sleep in it. about things like that. Over on Main Street, country music Want to catch the mood in town? can faintly be heard over hammers at Sit in Lowe’s shop for half an hour. He a large building next to Wagon Wheel has a story for everything and loves Cafe. talking to anyone about it. Just don’t No one in town seems to know call his shop a salon.

“It’s a man’s barber shop,” Lowe says emphatically, with a playful look on his face. Lots of military people come to Carl’s for haircuts. “They like their high-and-tights and flat tops and I know how to do ’em,” Lowe explains. He has a wall covered in photos of military men and women who have come to his shop over the years. One soldier found a helmet in Iraq and gave it to Lowe. It’s now covered in signatures from his military customers and hangs on his wall. People talk about towns where everybody knows everybody. Here, it’s mostly true. And if you’re not on a first-name basis, you’re still neighbors and, more often than not, friends. On this June day, the sign outside City Hall says “Farewell Buddy good luck.” Visitors may be confused by the sign, which refers to longtime Kittitas police officer Jerry “Buddy” Shuart III, who left the department at the end of the month. But in Kittitas, that sign needs no Curly’s Dinin explanation. ■ g local haunts, and Spirits is one of the m or offering free po screen TV. ol and sports e popular on the big

THE KERN COMPANY

• Custom Fertilizer Application • Custom Spraying • Seed Fertilizer & Chemical Sales

Open Mon-Sat 8-6 & Sun 9-4 • Main St. Kittitas • 968-3368 14 | OUR TOWNS 2008

 


  


  

Historic Tidbits: The thieving monkey of Kittitas

Kittitas one of many railroad towns By DON GRONNING stff writer

K

ittitas, like many of the small towns in the West, grew up around the railroad. In her 1996 book “Standing by the Side of Your Arm, An Illustrated History of the City of Kittitas, Washington,” Virginia Paul collected the stories of long-time residents. “The depot was a busy place,” wrote Paul. “There were several passenger trains daily, east and west.” People would ride the train into Ellensburg, catching it in Kittitas at 7 a.m. and arriving in Ellensburg before the stores opened. They would shop Todays train depot in Kittitas, a former and return to Kittitas by 3 p.m. commercial hub now turned to a Since the station agent also community park. represented Railway Express and could ticket passengers on other railroads Her mother never refused anyone, and ocean liners, transportation was though they were having tough times arranged to anywhere in the world, themselves during the Depression. she wrote. Luverne Bohnen, a Kittitas teacher Myrtle Cameron told about hobos quoted in the book, said hobos were in her story in the book. common in those days. She said about 1931-32 the boxcars “Many men rode the rails looking that went by were full of men. Many for work. Those who lived near the would come to her parents’ house tracks often prepared sack lunches for offering to work for food. them and gave them food from the “When the train stopped, one would cellar to take with them. People cared be sure to come knocking at their door for each other more than they do for a handout,” Cameron wrote. today,” she wrote. ■

During the 1920s and ’30s, Kittitas was a lively place, according to Ben Cameron and Mrs. Vern Farnham, writing in the book “History of Kittitas County.” They told the story of Jeff Jones’ monkey. In 1924, Jones ran the pool hall in Kittitas. “He had a monkey that was known for swiping anything loose from the salesmen who came into the pool hall. No one could figure out what became of all the loot until years later when they tore down the old water tank and found the remains,” they wrote. The monkey caused quite a bit of trouble. In addition to swiping stuff, he whipped every dog in town and would kill chickens. “One day he grabbed one of Mrs. Van Alstein’s prize roosters, so she went into the house and got her gun while the monkey ran up the tree. Evidently she was a good shot because his life ended abruptly,” wrote Farnham and Cameron.

Kerouac kin lived in Kittitas The famous novelist Jack Kerouac had a Kittitas connection, albeit a distant one. His daughter, Jan Kerouac and ex-wife, Joan Harvey, lived for a time in Kittitas in the late ’60s and early ’70s, according to the book “Use My Name, Jack Kerouac’s Forgotten Families” by Jim Jones. “Just as Joan was settling in, Jack Kerouac died of alcoholism in Florida. “Jan heard the news on her way up the coast,” wrote Jones. “In the rugged surroundings of the far West, nearing the age of forty, Joan found expression for her many eccentricities. Amid the brown treeless hill of the Kittitas Valley, with the snowcapped peaks of the Cascades in the background, she finally let it all hang out,” he wrote. “She was crazy, it appears, but she was also free ...”

Kittitas • I-90 Exit 115

EXIT 115 MINIMART Open 24 Hours Credit Cards Accepted ATM Machine

CHILLY WILLIE • DELI • BEER • PROPANE • DIESEL • ICE

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 15

This article originally appeared in the April 14, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

South Cle Elum By DON GRONNING staff writer

Factoids: Population: 546 Location: About 30 miles northwest of Ellensburg, south of Interstate 90, adjacent to Cle Elum. Origin of name: Well, it’s South of Cle Elum. Cle Elum is said to originate from the Kittitas Indian words for “swift water.”

16 | OUR TOWNS 2008

S

o why is there a South Cle Elum? It is an incorporated town, with its own town government but it is located within a few blocks of Cle Elum, its much larger sister. It could easily be a part of Cle Elum, but it’s not. The easy answer as to why it isn’t a part of Cle Elum is because of the railroad. Cle Elum grew up around the Northern Pacific Railroad, while South Cle Elum was formed around the Milwaukee Railroad depot, roundhouse and icehouse. There is definitely a difference between

the two towns, and South Cle Elum people obviously like having their own town. A former South Cle Elum town councilman used to refer to Cle Elum, with its 1,800 people, as North Cle Elum. “We have our own mayor, city council and zip code,” said Mary Pittis, who, along with her husband and town planning commissioner Doug Pittis, operates the Iron Horse Bed and Breakfast in South Cle Elum. “The citizens like it separate.” South Cle Elum Mayor Jim DeVere said there is a definite difference in the way the two towns approach problems.

“It’s different generations, different solutions,” he said. “It just happened to shake out that way.” DeVere takes pride in the fact that South Cle Elum was the first town in the county to adopt a comprehensive plan for growth under the state’s growth management act in 1996. Cle Elum didn’t pass its plan until March 2007. He said it is no accident that South Cle Elum doesn’t have many businesses. “We made a conscious decision to be a small, rural community when we did the comprehensive plan,” he said. The lack of large businesses means it is more difficult for the town to have money to pay for services, he said. Still, there are businesses in town. In addition to the bed and breakfast, there are massage therapists, an auto body repair shop, a gift shop and a builder of yard art. DeVere, who has served as mayor since the early 1990s, was unopposed the last time he ran. He said he may be biased, but he believes South Cle Elum has good government. “We get our streets plowed on time when there is snow,” he said. In 2002, there was some talk of merging the two towns, but it ended when the town council and DeVere declined to pursue the matter. DeVere said at the time that it would send the

wrong message that South Cle Elum was not financially viable. “That simply is not true,” he said then. The two communities do share some things, like police. “We contract with Cle Elum for police,” said DeVere. He said he eventually would like to see regional law enforcement. There are other shared services, such as sewer and water. South Cle Elum’s volunteer fire department has a mutual aid agreement with other agencies. DeVere describes it this way. “We help you and you help us,” he said. “We don’t pay you and you don’t pay us.” South Cle Elum has changed over the years, although it is still a quiet little town. “We’ve probably gained 250 people,” said DeVere. He said the town’s population is now about 540. He said there have been advances in the last few years. South Cle Elum now has access to a regional water supply and regional wastewater treatment, for instance. Approximately 40 percent of the town’s population is retired people, according to a 2000 Census report. “But there are a fair amount of younger people here, too,” said DeVere. One of those younger people is Brian Lee, who manages The Depot, the newly restored train depot that

A caboose is one

NEW HIRES!

d artifacts in Sout

serves as café and mini-museum on the site of the old Milwaukee Railroad station. He came to South Cle Elum as a general contractor to work on restoring the station. “That’s how I got involved, pounding nails,” he said. “I went from contractor to cook.” He is also vice-president of the Cascade Rail Foundation, which was instrumental in getting funding to rebuild the old depot. The Depot opened in July 2006 after a seven-year, $1 million restoration. The original depot was built in 1909 and, until it was closed in 1974, fed railroad workers at The Beanery. It was open around the clock

business briefs PROMOTIONS!

of the may railroa

h Cle Elum.

and was the only late-night eatery in northern Kittitas County. The Depot Café attracts a variety of tourists, including a lot of railroad buffs, said Lee. It is located in Iron Horse State Park, a 110-mile park that stretches along the right of way of the old Milwaukee Railroad. The site includes an interpretive trail and a 1946 caboose donated by the Othello Chamber of Commerce. Future plans include an H-O scale train diorama of the Renslow Trestle and a telegraph that guests will be able to use, he said. While the railroad history is appreciated, it’s the small-town nature of South Cle Elum that the (Continued on next page)

The Daily Record is looking for news and photos about local businesses. New employees, promotions of current workers, training sessions and building expansions or remodeling are some of the items we want to cover. If your business is doing something newsworthy, please let us know, preferably by e-mail. People in business items will be limited to 250 words. Send news releases and digital photos to assistant editor Michael Gallagher at [email protected]. You can also drop information and photos off at the Daily Record office or mail them to 401 N. Main St., Ellensburg, WA 98926.

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 17

Historic Tidbits: Audiences used to be harder on pastors It’s funny what you can uncover while researching in the Ellensburg Public Library. This tidbit was found in the “History of Churches in Cle Elum and Vicinity,” part of a 1955 history report prepared as part of a community development study. “It was not uncommon for people from other denominations to attend different churches, throw peanuts at the ministers and boo them. The Wild West must have been trying at times for Men of the Gospel.” “I haven’t had it quite that tough,” laughed Pastor James Ruppel of the Good Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Cle Elum, when told of the practice. About 47 people attend his church, where Pastor Ruppel presides over weddings, baptisms and funerals. Bible study starts at 8 a.m. on Sundays, with services at 9 a.m. Janet Bunch, administrative assistant for the Christian & Missionary Church, also found the idea funny. “I’m sure the pastor could relate to that,” she said. Matt Knighton is pastor for the church, which is also located in South Cle Elum, where it serves a congregation of 120-150 people. Sunday service starts at 9:30 a.m. In addition to the Sunday service, the church also plays host to bible studies for men, women and children, as well as home studies. People are invited to attend either church, but peanuts are not supplied.

EZPayMovieTickets.MAY08.cnr

Side,” she said. “I wouldn’t go back to all that traffic for the world.” Still, she can’t completely escape the outside world. As she thumbs through her mail, she remarks about all the junk mail she gets. “Every Democrat and Republican and Brian Lee prepares a batch of soup for the Depot Café & Milwaukee missionary knows me,” Railroad Museum. she said. Mary Pittis, who moved (South Cle Elum continued) here eight years ago residents prize. after 20 years in Burien, said she likes the Postmaster David Thompson has worked climate here. at bigger Post Offices, but likes South Cle “It’s a little bit sunnier, a little bit Elum better. warmer,” she said. “I really enjoy the size of this Post “The fewer days of gray make a big Office,” he said between talking with difference.” customers. She said people enjoy being able to ski in The Post Office has 590 Post Office the winter and picnic in the summer. boxes, but they include boxes for people DeVere, who moved to South Cle Elum from outlying areas such as Peoh Point, he in 1968, said South Cle Elum is a small said. community, where everybody pretty much Joan Irwin moved back to South Cle knows everyone else. He appreciates the Elum three years ago. lack of traffic, but also appreciates the “I’m happy to be back,” she said. The uncomplaining nature of the residents. town has grown since she and her late “People really don’t have a lot of husband, Wes, first bought a home here in unhappiness to bother anyone else with,” 1976. he said. Elaine Minerich has lived in South Cle It’s an observation many politicians can Elum since 1976. She likes the small town only dream about making. ■ and the quiet here. “It’s 100 percent better than the West

Tough Crowd

The

wants to send you to the movies!

Zo

pay Sign up or switch to and we’ll send you 2 FREE FREE movie tickets 2 to the Grand Meridian!

Call (509) 925-1414 for details or stop by our office at 401 N. Main St.

18 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Zopay

No Bills No Stamps No Checks No Due Dates

Ronald

By DON GRONNING staff writer

A far cry from its mining town days

Factoids: Location: About two miles north of Roslyn on SR 903. Population: There are 350 Post Office boxes, with about the same number of people living in Ronald, although it’s estimated several hundred more people live on the outskirts of town. Origin of name: Ronald was named after mine Supt. Alexander Ronald in the late 1880s.

This article originally appeared in the April 27, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

A

typical winter in Ronald starts at Thanksgiving and goes until about April. “Sometimes a little longer, sometimes shorter,” said John Vukonich, 21, who was born and raised in Ronald. He works at the Ronald General Store, a store that has a little of everything. “The main thing that goes out is beer, pop and ice,” he said, especially around the Fourth of July, which he said is the busiest time of year for the store. “It gets hoppin’ in the summer, but when it gets cold it drops off like a brick in a lake,” said Tina, who also works at the store. She wouldn’t

give her last name. “I wasn’t raised here,” she said, although she has lived in Ronald the last 27 years. She is amazed at the amount of change in the last few years. “It’s pretty crazy how many houses appeared out of nowhere,” she said. She said the growth started happening about the same time Suncadia resort started being developed. She is ambivalent about the large luxury development located a few miles away. “I’m no fan of Suncadia, but I think when you buy property you should be able to do (Continued on next page)

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 19

his house in downtown Ronald in the winter of 2006. That and his cars. He has several, including a 1979 Porsche and a classic Mercedes. Chase looks at the growth in Ronald as both good and bad, or maybe neither good nor bad. “This area has always had to sell its future,” he said. Young people al er onald Gen R e th at have had to ks or ald, w hing. d raised in Ron , which has a little of everyt an rn leave to find bo as w ss h, who Store, a busine John Vukonic work. Now, with Suncadia and (Ronald continued) the construction what you want with it,” she said. “This jewel is not going to sit jobs, there is work here, but the gap She said that for such a big undiscovered with that many people between rich and poor is spreading. development, people have a hard time on the other side of the hill,” said There used to be plenty of work in locating it. Chase, referring to the West Side of Ronald. “I probably get 20 people a day the state. Hard work. Work in the coal mines. who can’t find it,” she said. “Every inch of the (state Route) 903 That’s what Julia Wallgren’s father, Dave Chase was raised in Ronald. corridor is getting developed.” Chase Joe, did. He immigrated to the U.S. His father and grandfather worked in said. from his native Croatia, one of many the coal mines. He moved away then He probably is best known in Croatians who made their home in moved back 17 years ago. He agreed the area for feeding the 80 elk Ronald. Ronald is changing. that appeared in a pasture behind Her husband, Bill, also worked in

20 | OUR TOWNS 2008

the mines. Wallgren, who was 89 when this article was written, has lived in Ronald all her life, the last 70-plus years in the same house. Her three children attended Ronald School, as she did before them. In some ways, she misses the old days. “People didn’t have much, but they enjoyed life,” she said. “Before, life was very simple. People didn’t have to have everything to be happy.” She had her share of hard times, though. Her husband died when he was just 54. “He got the flu and died the same day,” she said. “It was Christmas Eve, 1968.” The last of the coal mines closed in 1963, she said. She went to work at Safeway in Cle Elum in 1957, one of the few women working full-time there. She worked six days a week, and started at about $1 an hour. In addition to the mines, Ronald may be best known for the 1928 fire that started when a still blew up. Wallgren was 10 years old at the time and remembers the fire. “The fire was in the middle of the day,” she said. “It was a windy day.” They heard an explosion and saw a smoke ring rise into the sky, she said. “The fire was getting away and going toward the powder house,” she said. Explosives were kept there and the

Hitch yo on ins ur horse up i cold d de to enjoy and come rinks and fr good eats, iendly folks.

Serving

Breakfast

Every Sat. & Sun. 7 am Open Weekdays: 11 am

Hwy 903 Ronald, WA 509-649-3301

miners were called out to help put the fire out. It was extinguished, but not before it claimed 32 houses. The only person to die was the person tending the still, who died from burns that night. That same night her younger sister was born. Ronald is famous for its bootlegging past, but it is also famous in black history. During a miners’ strike in the late 1800s, black miners were recruited from back east to work in the mines and break the strike. They didn’t know they would be strikebreakers until too late, but by the time they arrived they were prepared. “When the colored men came from the east to take over the striking miners’ jobs, the miners met the train with guns,” Ethel Craven, told interviewer Charles Lovell in 1983. “They didn’t know that the colored men had guns.” Craven, who died in 1993, was one of the early black pioneers and a historian for the vibrant black community. Her son, William Craven, became the mayor of nearby Roslyn, the first black person to hold such a position in the state. He worked as a custodian for the school and had a side job as a gravedigger. The family had a sense of humor, if this ad for his brother’s grave digging business was any indication.

Historic Tidbits: “If you want an old fashioned burial, I’ll be the last one to let you down,” Wes Craven’s ad read. Ronald may be quite a bit different today than it was when the mines were going and it had 11 businesses, a school with six teachers and a population of about 600. But the people who live here still like it and care for one another. If you stop by the Old No. 3 tavern, as this reporter did, you can hear that concern expressed in the conversations between the patrons and the waitresses. After the good-natured joshing, the waitress became concerned when one of the regulars told her of a hearing problem. “You need to go to the doctor, I worry about you,” she said. Mary Friedley moved to Ronald about 16 years ago. She works at the Post Office, located in the same building as the Baptist Church. She lives with her three dogs near work. The weather doesn’t bother her. “When I get snowed in, I just walk to work,” she said. She didn’t say if it was the people or the natural beauty of the area that drew her to Ronald. She had a friend who lived here that she used to visit and she liked the place so much she moved here. She hasn’t looked back. “I just love it up here,” she said. She isn’t alone. ■

Hooch History Ronald used to be a regional hub of bootlegging the Upper County was a hotbed of bootlegging during the Prohibition days, when a still blew up in Ronald on Aug. 18, 1928. The resulting fire claimed 32 homes that day. Daily Record reporter Alma Burns wrote a 1974 story looking back on those days. One grocer in nearby Roslyn sold a railroad carload of sugar a month to feed the 250-gallon still, she wrote. “And I wasn’t the only grocer,” he told Burns. Another grocer told her he used to sell 10-12 carloads of lemons and oranges a year to feed the still. When suspicious produce suppliers asked about it he “told them these people like lemon in their tea,” she wrote. People described the Ronald still as a smooth operation, all underground, with a still room connected to the Danadio Garage by tunnel. Barrels of “White Mule” whiskey were loaded into furniture trucks for transport to Seattle. After the fire, some residents didn’t want the whiskey to go to waste. “With pitchers, pails, dishpans and bedpans, residents scooped up the amber liquid,” Burns wrote. “No one seemed to mind the ashes and bits of charred wood that floated to the surface.” “Half the town was burned out. The other half was drunk,” she quoted an unnamed person as saying.

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 21

22 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Come & see what Wind Energy can do for you.

Puget Sound Energy’s Renewable Energy Center located 17 miles East of Ellensburg on the Vantage Highway. April - November | 9am - 5:30pm | 7 days a week

This article originally appeared in the May 5, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

Thorp Factoids: Population: 273 Location: About nine miles west of Ellensburg off Interstate 90 Origin of name: Named after F. Mortimer Thorp, an early settler

Rich in history, people By DON GRONNING staff writer

I

f you have driven I-90 to Seattle, you probably are aware of the name Thorp. The Thorp Fruit stand, with its huge letters, is clearly visible from the roadway. But you have to drive a little farther to get to Thorp itself. The historic Thorp Mill dates back to the 1800s and is the only gristmill in the state that has its original machinery and equipment. But its present is also rich in culture and people. People like Joy Fields, a volunteer firefighter and EMT who works as a paraeducator at Thorp school, where she provides individual

assistance to students. “I’ve had family in the Valley for 100 years,” said Fields. She grew up in Thorp and jokingly describes herself as one of the town kids, so called because they lived in the three-block area that was old Thorp. She was a sophomore at Thorp High School when Sig Egbert came to work there. He is assistant principal and now Fields’ granddaughter attends Thorp, the third generation of Fields to attend school with Egbert. Fields jokes that he may be there for another generation. (Continued on next page)

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 23

and caught the animal. You notice that people are friendly in Thorp, but you also notice they like their her livestock. Take d an e Sh . pe or in Th hildren. Howard Barlow, rks in her garden Kathy Sanford wo Thorpe to be closer to their grandc a sculptor. He husband moved to keeps chickens (Thorp continued) in his backyard. He keeps them for the Fields said Thorp has changed over eggs, but also because he likes them. the years. “They make good pets,” he said, “When I was little, we used to have holding Lester, his big gray rooster. two stores and a gas station,” she said. Barlow and his wife, Lori, moved to After a devastating fire in February Thorp about four years ago. (2007), Thorp finds itself without a “I grew up in Olympia,” he said. store. He came to the Kittitas Valley to go Fields was among the firefighters to school at Central Washington who battled the blaze that destroyed University, where he earned a master Robin’s Grocery and Grill Feb. 28, of fine arts degree in 2000. 2007. “I fell in love with the area and “I was there 16 hours,” she said. “It never left,” he said. The Barlows live was devastating.” in the old firehouse. Lori is a teacher The store had been around since who works in the Mattawa Elementary 1909, she said, and its loss was deeply School, about 40 miles southeast in felt in the community. Grant County. But it didn’t destroy the town’s She and others from the area spirit, which is one of the things that commute to Mattawa daily, he said. she likes most about living in Thorp. “There are actually a lot of people “We’re still in the good old days, who teach out there,” he said. where neighbors help neighbors,” she They carpool. said. Barlow said the relatively Just the other day, she said, her inexpensive price of housing was one daughter noticed her neighbor’s mule of the reasons he moved to Thorp. He was out. They got in their pickup suspects it is also a reason other artists

moved here. these days, and said that gives him “We could afford to buy places that an opportunity to get to know his others didn’t know what to do with,” neighbors. He said most of them are he said. nice people. While he loves it now, it took him “But there are also a couple of some time to get used to the area grapes,” he said. when he started school at Central. He also misses Robin’s Grocery. “At first I missed all the green and “It was so nice to have it right here the city,” he said. It took him about in town,” he said. “It’s sad to see it three years to come to appreciate the gone.” Kittitas Valley. Tallman also has animals, in his “Now it’s home,” he said. case, cats. He likes his cats, a mother His neighbor, Hubert Tallman, is cat and her adult offspring, but he also a relative newcomer to Thorp, said they haven’t really reduced the although he and his wife, Doris, lived number of mice on his place. in the Upper County when they met. “They catch them and play with She was from Cle Elum and he was them until they get tired,” he said. from Roslyn. “When we decided to be together, we picked Thorp,” he said. He was a career military man, a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, who served three tours in Vietnam, he said. “I love Thorp, I really do,” he said. He works as Howard Barlow is one of the artists who moved to Thorp. Seen here with the chickens he keeps in his backyard. a mailman

SEE IT ALL ONLINE FIRST!

63()3

/&84
 3&46-54
%BJMZ3FDPSE/FXT SPEFP 888

24 | OUR TOWNS 2008

$0.

Courtesy of the

@

DAILY RECORD

Historic Tidbits:

‘Entire community insulted’

But they don’t kill the rodents. “Then they let them go,” he said. The mice retreat to the backyard. “Now my place is infested,” he laughs. Kathy Sanford was out doing yard work when this reporter stopped by. She said she and her husband, Jerry, moved to Thorp from the West Side of the state about two years ago. “We were tired of the rain,” she said. The Sanfords’ son and grandchildren were already in Thorp, so it seemed like a logical place to move to when they retired. She likes having a larger garden and appreciates the natural beauty of the area. “The scenery is really pretty here,” she said. Aloa Mitchell is another who appreciates the natural beauty of the area. She was saddling her horses and preparing to go for a ride at the Lazy H Ranch, located across the tracks near the downtown area. “I like it here,” she said. She likes the wide variety of birds she sees on her rides, the red-headed woodpecker, the pygmy owls, the blue and white herons, the bald eagles and Canadian geese, as well as the little finch that inhabit the area. She likes the fact that Thorp isn’t that remote but is still rural. People know that Thorp, which was founded in the 1800s, can’t remain static. Barlow, the sculptor, expressed the fear of many in the Kittitas Valley. “I hope development doesn’t spoil it,” he said, although he fears it may be just a matter of time before Thorp is discovered. “We’re going to enjoy it while it lasts.” If Thorp’s century of history is anything to go by, it will likely last a long time. n

‘A shameless exhibition of depravity on the streets of Thorp’ Those were the headlines for a 1906 story that appeared in the Ellensburg Capital newspaper. “The people of Thorp are very indignant over an incident that occurred a few days ago, and if the Capital is correctly informed they are justified,” the paper reported. It went on to tell of a party of men and women from Ellensburg who arrived in Thorp after an afternoon of drinking. “One of the depraved females, as the story goes, marched up and down the main street of the village blowing a horn,” reported the Capital. “When a good sized crowd had collected she deliberately raised all her clothes above her head and gave an exhibition of the hoochee cochee dance. Then, blowing her horn, she marched back to the starting point where the performance was repeated.” The Capital writer was as offended as the citizens. “The miserable creature, of course, was drunk, as were her beastly companions,” the reporter wrote. That didn’t excuse them for exposing the children of Thorp to “a display of degradation seldom equalled in the haunts of vice and never exceeded it its vileness.” The writer opined that the people of Thorp would have “been justified had their wrath taken a violent form. As several were heard to remark ‘a load of birdshot would not have been out of place.’”

Thorp schools valued

Thorp has had a school dating back to 1895. The Thorp School consists of 174 students, kindergarten through high school. The local papers, then as now, covered school activities. Here are some of the items noted in a history paper written in 1973 by William Fields. The Dawn newspaper, whose motto was “Keep in the Middle of the Road,” reported that: • Sept. 17, 1895, Thorp school opened with 60 students. • Dec. 21, 1895, “Mr. Hinman is the teacher. There is perhaps only one person in the community whom he can speak to without a downward glance.” • Feb. 4, 1898, Thorp schoolteachers average salary was $48 per month. The Ellensburgh Localizer, a paper published 1894-1900, reported that: • June 29, 1895, “The Thorp baseball nine had a game with the Ellensburgh nine on Sunday; the Thorps were badly worsted, scoring 3 to Ellensburgh’s 30. They can, perhaps, play some other game better than baseball. They were scarcely in it at all with the Ellensburghers.” • Jan. 25, 1896, “The boys of the public school have formed a non-tobacacconist league. Any member caught chewing the vile weed is fined a dollar; the dollar goes to purchase books for the library. The girls have formed a similar league, only they discard gum instead of tobacco. Consequently the boys will chew gum and the girls will chew — their tongues.”

JOSEPH GUGGINO Artist in Residence

C U S T O M

P I C T U R E

F R A M I N G

300 W. Third, Ellensburg, WA 98926 509-962-2799 Mon.- Fri. 10-5 Sat. 12-5

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 25

This article originally appeared in the April 14, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

By DON GRONNING staff writer

Factoids: Location: 38 miles west of Ellensburg off I-90 Population: 500 Origin of name: Easton got its name because it was the first town east of the Cascades, according the “History of Kittitas County,” book. It had a counterpart, Weston, on the West Side of the mountains.

26 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Unusual things hapen in Easton or so the story goes

S

usan McKee has two miniature horses, tiny horses the size of dogs. That isn’t that unusual, but how she acquired the first horse is. “I went home for lunch one day and here is this miniature horse and a goat,” said McKee, who operates the Easton Post Office. “I didn’t know where they came from.” So she kept the horse for a couple days until she found the owner. She took the horse back and two more times it got out and appeared at her door.

The third time she asked the owner if she could keep it and he agreed. The miniature horse joined her three other horses but she felt like she should get it a buddy its own size, so she acquired another miniature horse. Unusual things happen to some people who live in Easton, the old railroad town. At the opposite end of town from the Post Office is CB’s general store, motel and coffee shop. There, a man who didn’t want to be identified told this reporter that he had won $6 million

in Washington’s lottery a few years ago. CB’s is also home to a morning coffee Improbable? group that gathers daily. Maybe. Impossible? Who’s to say? “They’re waiting for me when I get That man wasn’t the only person this here,” she said. reporter encountered who didn’t want to Fitzgerald especially likes the local be quoted but had plenty to say. school, where two of her children “If you really want a good story, see attend. if someone will tell you about the local “Everything about it is good,” she politics,” said another man, who insisted said. his name not be used. The Easton School District is one of He said that, like other parts of the the smallest districts in the state, with state, the town seems divided between the 111 students in kindergarten through long-time residents and newcomers. high school. “The newcomers are for change and There are 34 high school students growth and the old timers want things to — eight seniors, eight juniors, seven stay the same,” he said. sophomores and 11 freshmen, said McKee, from the Post Office, said the Easton School District Superintendent area has seen change in the 19 years she Suellen White (who retired in 2008). has been here. The school combines with Thorp for “The town has stayed the same, but the Photo courtesy the Frederick Krueger Collection at Central Washington some sports, but the Easton Jaguars outlying areas have seen growth,” she said. University. A group of loggers takes a break from working with a steam ‘donkey’ have their own basketball and volleyball There are 522 Easton Post Office boxes teams. And the Easton archery team is in this circa 1914 photo, which has Easton denoted on the back. and when the mail comes in, the tiny Post the wdefending state champions. Office is full of people coming and going. Transportation land near town about nine years The Easton school underwent an extensive Don Fronsdahl was one of those people. He first ago. $4.6 million renovation and expansion that was bought property in Easton in 1983 and moved here “We adopted that with the help of DOT,” he said. completed in 2004. in 1993 from Kent. His friends had property nearby The committee keeps the park cleaned up and built White said she and her husband, Bill, have felt so he bought some. a couple of covers that people use to get out of the welcomed by the people of Easton, both long-time What does he like best about Easton? weather. Each year a free fishing day takes place residents and newcomers. “It’s folksy, I guess,” he said. “It’s a small town.” there a couple weeks after the Memorial Day Parade. She doesn’t think there is much animosity It’s a small town with a big Memorial Day Parade, Tami Fitzgerald moved to Easton about eight between newcomers and longtime residents. which Fronsdahl helps put on. Celebrations like this years ago from Sydney, Mont. She works at CB’s, “This isn’t as bad as other places I’ve lived in,” don’t just happen; they require work and planning. where, in addition to the other services, Lotto she said. “That takes up about two months,” he said. The tickets are sold. You can’t talk about Easton without talking parade, which began in 1991, is something the “We had a local guy hit a $1,000 a while back,” about snowmobiling. The local 4-H Club has a town takes pride in. she said, which led to the conversation about snowmobiling group and people come from all The parade committee has also established winning things, which led to the $6 million lottery over to snowmobile in the Easton area. That’s what Easton Ponds Park on some state Department of tale. (Continued on next page)

Each Office Independently Owned & Operated

T HE M OUNTAIN T EAM . COM

From the Cascades to the Columbia Phone • 509-656-2371 Toll Free • 800-356-3750 Fax • 509-656-0150

RE/MAX Northwest Realtors • Easton 2480 E. Sparks Rd./PO Box 457 Easton, WA 98925

Laura • 509-674-1120 Larry • 425-443-7911 Tom • 509-674-1120

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 27

History Tidbits: A hotel with 12 rooms and six fireplaces was built on land homesteaded by E.L. McGinnnis about a mile east of Easton, wrote Jenkins. It became known as Halfway House because it was thought to be halfway between Yakima and Seattle. Riders of the Lake Jenkins wrote Easton was platted Ea sto n RV Resort in between flags by the Johnson Brothers in 1902, and balloons durin float peer out Memorial Day Ce g who operated a general store there. lebration Parade the Easton in 2006. “When the railroad construction (Easton continued) started saloons sprang up like drew Martha Bennett and her husband, Dean mushrooms and soon there were 12 Bulpin, to the area about two years ago. operating,” wrote Jenkins. “We enjoy snowmobiling,” she said. But a Thanksgiving Day fire claimed all but She and her husband both commute to one in 1907. jobs in King County, on the other side of the That one was built of brick and cement mountains. She said the people in Easton and was converted to a jail. It was the first have been friendly. of several fires in Easton’s history, according “I love the people here,” she said. “It feels to Jenkins. In 1913 and again in 1934 fires like home.” devastated the business district. Easton figured prominently in the history Logging and mining were also an of transportation between the eastern and important part of Easton’s past. western parts of the state, according to Morris Today Easton is evolving or devolving, Jenkins’ entry in the book “History of Kittitas depending on whom you talk to. There is no County.” denying it is a beautiful area with plenty of Indians had a well-traveled route in the outdoor recreational opportunities. area when white settlers started to arrive in Lake Easton State Park is nearby. It is easy the mid-1880s. Cattle were driven over the to see why it is attractive to outsiders and pass as early as 1869. In 1881, 3,000 head guarded by residents. were driven over the old wagon trail that Larry Everett sells real estate in the area. He became a toll road, at a toll of 33 cents per said the same amount of money that would head, wrote Jenkins. buy a modest house on a small lot in Seattle By 1886, railroad service was established. can buy a nice house and 10-15 acres in For years the railroad used Easton as a site to Easton. hook auxiliary locomotives to the trains for “Instead of having a neighbor right next the pull up over Stampede Pass. door, you can look out and see elk,” he said. ■

Early-day Easton through the pages of the Cle Elum Echo: Twenty-round prizefights, sleighing parties and an arrest for attempting to wreck a train were some of the items chronicled in the Cle Elum Echo, Easton’s closest newspaper. Del Ames wrote a paper for Professor Glauert at Central Washington University in the 1970s. It is kept with a file on Easton at the Ellensburg Library. Ames examined old issues of the Cle Elum Echo. Here are some news items he highlighted: • June 12, 1902 — Eddie Kyer, champion lightweight of Easton, was knocked out in the 15th round of a 20-round boxing match by Old Yellowstone. • Oct. 30, 1902 — Cases of pilfering became so numerous at Easton lately that the railroad company found it necessary to put a detective on the grounds. • July 16, 1903 — Northern Pacific is putting in a new turntable at Easton. It is at this point where the “battleships” are put on the tracks to pull over the Cascade divide, and dropping down to Lester to return with eastbound trains. • March 19, 1903 —Easton reports that roads are impassible and ranchers are compelled to walk into town. • March 10, 1904 — A sleighing party of 65 drove from Easton to the home of E.L. McGinnis on Saturday night. • Aug. 13, 1904 — The forests and valleys north and west of Cle Elum for miles are a mass of flame. This has been the driest summer since 1884. • Aug. 27, 1904 — The forest fires have crossed the Cascade Range and are now dangerously close to Easton. • Aug. 26. 1905 — The son of J.R. Sovereign, president of the Knights of Labor, was arrested in Easton on charges of attempting to wreck a train.

114 THORP HIGHWAY - THORP, WA 98926

Fruit Stand

Gibson’s So Fresh... Come see for yourself!

28 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Start Your Adventure in Upper Kittitas County with Year-Round Fun!

Fall

Hunting • Wildlife • Photography Bird Watching • Horseback Riding

Spring Winter

Mushroom Hunting • Back Packing Kite Flying • Biking • Fishing • Hiking Snowmobiling • Cross Country Skiing Downhill Skiing • Majestic Scenery

Summer

Rock Hunting • River Rafting Water Skiing • Camping • Boating

Cle Elum/Roslyn Chamber of Commerce 401 W. 1ST • Cle Elum, WA 98922 • 509-674-5958 • www.cleelumroslyn.org

Paid for by the City of Cle Elum hotel and motel tax dollars

See us online today...

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 29

Snoqualmie Pass

This article originally appeared in the April 27, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

By DON GRONNING staff writer

Factoids: Location: About 55 miles west of Ellensburg on Interstate 90. Population: According to Susan Black, former editor of The Cascade Times, there are about 300 full-time residents. There are 229 regular Post Office Boxes and 10 large boxes at Bob’s Chevron and Deli. Origin of name: People seem to agree that Snoqualmie comes from the Snoqualmie Indians, a tribe that lived west of the pass and spoke Salish. Depending on what source you use it means, “People of the Moon,” or “Plenty of Waters.”

30 | OUR TOWNS 2008

P

eople know about the snow at Snoqualmie Pass. If you don’t live there but have to cross in the winter months, you may keep your eye on the state Department of Transportation’s Web cams to see road conditions. Or you may one of the hundreds of thousands of skiers who flock to The Summit at Snoqualmie Pass ski area each year. But the community of Snoqualmie Pass is about more than skiing and driving. It’s where people live and work. Many of the estimated 300-400 full-time

residents come from elsewhere, even if it was a long time ago. “I came here in 1968,” said Dick Smith, who was 85 when this article was written. “I was looking for a summer retreat.” Smith came from Mercer Island, or as he calls it, Misery Island. He currently lives in Alpental, a Snoqualmie Pass neighborhood located in King County. The Snoqualmie Pass community is partially in Kittitas County and partially in King County. Smith, who sells real estate and designs

chateaus, said he grew up around snow on the East Coast. “I used to deliver newspapers on skis,” he said. If Smith is separated by time from where he lived before he came to Snoqualmie Pass, Polo Ortiz, 33, is separated by distance from his hometown in Michoacan, Mexico. Ortiz has been working the last eight years at Bob’s Summit Deli and Chevron, where the Post Office boxes are located. Ortiz lives in Easton with his wife and baby and drives to Snoqualmie Pass each day to work.

The high country of Snoqualmie Pass reminds him of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, where he was raised. “I like the mountains,” he said. He also likes the small-town nature of Snoqualmie Pass. “I’m not a city person,” he said. The snowfall in the winter of 2006-’07 was about the same as the year before, he said. Still, it was bad enough to keep him from getting home a couple times. “I have a room in the back,” he said. “This is like my second home.” Heather Griggs, 31, has worked at the ski resort for nine years. For the first four years she worked there she commuted from Ellensburg. But then she moved here full-time. “It definitely was a change,” she said. “You find yourself craving a real hot day.” Griggs snowboards, so she enjoys the snow, but she also appreciates summers. “In the summers there are lots of beautiful hikes,” she said. The Snow Lake Historic photos courtesy of the Frederick Krueger Collection at CWU. Trail is popular, she

C

L to R Dr. Abel W. Li M.D. Dr. William R. Meyer, O.D. Leo Oltman, L.D.O. Dr. Scott Oltman, O.D. Dr. Bob Davis, O.D., F.A.A.O.

NEW LOCATION

said. Jessica Meacham, 28, works as a waitress at the Family Pancake House. She moved to Snoqualmie Pass eight years ago from Port Orchard. “I had a friend who worked at the Pancake House who said I should come and check it out,” she said. People in Snoqualmie Pass are like people elsewhere, she has found. “Most are pretty nice,” she said. Meacham enjoys snowshoeing in the winter and hiking in the summer. “I don’t think people know how nice it is here in the summer,” she said. Brian Canfield, also appreciates the outdoor recreation in the area. “For six years I was a weekend warrior,” he said. He came to Snoqualmie Pass from the Olympia area where he grew up to snowshoe in the winter and hike in the summer. He moved here full-time in October 2006. He sells real estate in the same office as Smith. Canfield said living here full time is different than when he used to commute. “You have the benefits of a small town,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like a city.”

And when he wants to go to the city, the drive from Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle takes less time than driving in traffic from Lynnwood to Seattle. Snoqualmie Pass has changed over the years, with more full-time residents and developments. “The price of housing is terrible,” Smith said. He said homes that sold for $175,000 when he first moved here are going for $500,000 now. The upscale Village at the Summit has homes that cost upward of $1 million. Susan Black, former editor of the Cascade Times weekly newspaper, said the growth has been steady since she and her husband, David, built their home here in 1992. “We’ve seen a lot of growth, but it’s been consistent,” she said. She and her husband, the former head of the Kittitas County Planning Commission, also own the cable (Continued on next page)

CZbW[ObS3gSQO`S

[ORSW\YWbbWbOaQ]c\bg • Treatment of Cataracts, Claucoma, & Eye Infections • IMD Exams & Local Surgeries • Larges Selectionof Eyeware in Central WA

C AT C H T H E V I S I O N ! 2201 W. Dolarway Rd. Suite 2 • Ellensburg /

925-1000

925-9611

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 31

Historic Tidbits: (Snoqualmie Pass continued) television company at Snoqualmie Pass. The snow that is the lifeblood of the area also causes problems with traffic. That’s where Allen Minerich comes in. He is a 26-year veteran with the state Department of Transportation. He worked out of Cle Elum for most of that time but last year became assistant maintenance superintendent at Hyak. “November (2006) was a record setting month for snowfall,” he said. The eight feet of snow that fell in November kept the 12 snow plows, six graders, five snow blowers and four liquidizers that the DOT keeps in the area busy. Actually there have been Novembers in which more snow has fallen, but not many. According to DOT records, in 1994 more than 10 feet of snow fell in November, in 1973 more than 11 feet and in 1955 more than 12 feet. On the other hand, in many years less than a foot of snow falls in November, including in 2002, when only an inch fell during the month. Whenever the weather forecast called for more than six inches of snow this season, the DOT’s Active Resource Management system kicked in. Crews from other areas, some as far away as Pasco, were called in to help. “That really helped us keep the pass

open,” said Minerich. Drivers today have it far easier than in the early days. Former Daily Record contributor Yvonne Prater wrote “Snoqualmie Pass, From Indian Trail to Interstate,” published in 1981. She tells the history of Snoqualmie Pass and the area in that book. She writes that “Without fanfare, motorized traffic first went through Snoqualmie Pass in 1905, when Bert Harrison and a partner drove a 1898 Fryer-Miller automobile from Indianapolis to Seattle.” It took the men two days to get from the Kittitas Valley to the summit, she said one of the men’s sons told her. In July of that year, Charles L. Ray and John Kelleher of Ellensburg drove their high power Winton over the pass. They camped out along the way. By 1909, 105 cars went over the pass, she wrote. In August 1913, two men rode motorcycles over the pass from Seattle to Ellensburg “in the unbelievably short time of 12 hours,” Prater wrote. There are difficulties in driving the pass now, as anyone caught in the 50vehicle pileup last February 2007 knows, but nothing like it used to be. Winter is long but for the people who have made Snoqualmie Pass their home, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Griggs, the former Ellensburger, said she is happy she moved. “I see myself living here awhile,” she said. ■

First woman to drive across the pass from Ellensburg Yvonne Prater tells the story of several interesting personalities in her book “Snoqualmie Pass From Indian Trail to Interstate,” but the story of Clara Wasson illustrates the difficulties facing early drivers. Wasson, a widow with three children, was the first woman in Ellensburg to own and drive a car, according to Prater. She first drove on a family outing to meet relatives for a Fourth of July picnic in 1914. Wasson gave Prater an interview before she died at age 102 in 1981. She had just learned how to drive before making the 1914 trip. “I doubt I had driven 25 miles before that trip to Snoqualmie Pass,” she said. She arrived safely at the summit, where she met family members and had a picnic. Unfortunately, the family coming from the West Side broke an axle on their Buick and had to leave the car at the summit. The smaller children were rowed across Lake Keechelus and a train was flagged down to get them back to Seattle. The rest of the family got in Wasson’s Ford to drive on to Ballard. She really didn’t want to drive and tried to get her brotherin-law to do it. He said, “No, a Buick is a lot different from a Ford. I wouldn’t know a thing about a Ford. You drive and I’ll sit in the front seat,” Wasson told Prater. On the way she ran over a dog and forced a motorcycle off the road but finally made it. “I just kept going until we got there,” she said. She was able to caravan with another car for the trip back to Ellensburg, a two-day trip. “Mrs. Wasson recalled that her hands were blistered from the trip,” wrote Prater, who quoted her as saying, “I was so exhausted. I don’t think I tackled Seattle again very soon after that, but it was a glorious ride.”

Staying informed is easier than ever!

www.dailyrecordnews.com With the simple click of your mouse, many resources are available to you. Not only can you read today’s news, but you can also place a classified ad, purchase photos, change your subscription, and much more!

32 | OUR TOWNS 2008

www.dailyrecordonline.com $5 per Month - or -$1 per Day Full access to entire newspaper archives.

Liberty

This article originally appeared in the March 31, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

A living ghost town

By DON GRONNING staff writer

Factoids: Location: In the north central part of Kittitas County, 15 miles east of Cle Elum, 20 miles north of Ellensburg, off U.S. Highway 97. Population: 14 full-time residents, although there are more vacation homes. In the entire Swauk Basin area, where Liberty is located, there are about 180 homes. Origin of name: The story is that postmaster “Bull” Nelson, aka Gustaf Nilson, told some miners, “You’re at Liberty here boys, so set down, lay down or do as you please.” When the original name of the post office had to be changed from Swauk because there already was a Sauk, so Liberty stuck.

I

t was the discovery of gold in 1873 that first made the town of Liberty possible. But it is the persistence of its people that allows it to exist today. They have survived the ebb and flow of gold mining, an assault on the town by a mining company and, in the 1970s, an effort by the U.S. Forest Service to force the occupants out. It took an act of Congress to allow the 19 occupants of the town to buy their property

from the government, which finally happened in 1981. But it wasn’t the persistence of the inhabitants that impressed Harry Kirwin, an itinerant journalist who lived in Liberty from 1939-1941. It was the Saturday night dances at the Wildcat Dance Hall that caught his attention. The people in Liberty mostly kept to (Continued on next page)

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 33

(Liberty continued) themselves, except for the Saturday night dances, when they “get cockeyed drunk and holler all night long,” he wrote friends in Seattle. “Now and then there is the occasional melee in the only street we have and the next day the boys go around with shiners and busted noses,” Kirwin wrote. “The ladies also swing haymakers side by side with their kinfolk.” Although he lived a block and a half from the dance hall, he only attended one dance. “It is too close to nature to suit us,” he wrote. Wes Engstrom is a modern-day resident of Liberty. He put together “The Spirit of Liberty” a self-published book and CD on the history of the mining district, which includes the Kirwin quotes. Like many before him, Engstrom came to Liberty in pursuit of gold. “The biggest nuggets in the state were found here,” he said. One nugget found in 1901 weighed 70 ounces.

Liberty is also one of the only places in the world where crystalline wire gold is found. The fine, delicate looking crystalline wire gold is valued at about 10 times what gold is worth, Engstrom said. An example of crystalline wire gold from Liberty is in the Smithsonian Institute. Engstrom is a retired Boeing executive. He describes himself as one of the 206ers, a name given to people who moved to the area from the 206 area code on the West Side of the state. He didn’t strike gold, at least not

the kind you turn into jewelry, but he did uncover a gold mine of history. He credits his mother-in-law, the late Henrietta Fackler, for much of what appears in his book. She led the fight to save the resident’s homes from the U.S. Forest Service. Fackler uncovered much of the history while trying to prove that Liberty was a bonafide town and that its people weren’t squatters, as the Forest Service claimed when they tried to evict them in 1971. At one time the Liberty area had a schoolhouse, a post office, a store, a Women’s Literary Society and the Wildcat Dance Hall. In 1963 Fackler helped keep a mining company from destroying Liberty by diverting Williams Creek through the town. She was recognized in 1989 by Kittitas County as one of 100 people who made a significant contribution over the last 100 years. Liberty was formally recognized as a historic district in 1974. Some people may think of Liberty Cafe when they think of Liberty, although it really isn’t in the Liberty historic district. It is located on Highway 97, just south of the Liberty Road turnoff. Bill and Jerry Snyder have owned and operated the cafe since 1988, according to their daughter, Kelly Thomsen. Thomsen, a graduate of Cle Elum High School, spent 21 years working for the state as a juvenile counselor

g n s i R r p e staura S l a r e n n i t M

34 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Serving you since 1960.

"%#
)%
 $'"
&' $(
()*'$)

* ")
$
 
(
)
,*!
') %$
%
$
 
) (
* " $
,(
&*'(
'%#
)
%'()
'+ 
*)
$)%
)'
& (
$
#%+
)%
)(
&'($)
"%) %$
'&" $
)
%'  $"
*( $((
* " $
$
(
()) %$

$
)/(
&'+ %*(
" 
)
%
('+
(

),-
%'
 '"

%-
%*)(
*'
'%*&(
$
# "-
*$ %$(

$
)
 /(
)
,(
'$#
)
,*!
!
%,"
$
%&')
*$'
))
$#
%'
%*)

-'(
.
'
, 
)/(
'(&%$(  " )-
'+')
)%
)

%'()
'+ (/
%$)'%"

27510 Hwy 97, Cle Elum, WA Phone - (509) 857-2361

before opening a coffee shop, Liberty Latte, next to the cafe. Both the cafe and the coffee shop attract regular visitors. “They come for the pies. It’s different than Applebee’s,” Thomsen said. She said people come to camp or snowmobile or hike. “They’re surprised people live out here,” she said. Nancy Holter is another businesswoman who set up shop in Liberty at the Liberty Trading Post. “I like it here,” she said. “The winter’s a little long, though.” She has been here 12 years, migrating from Redmond. Her husband, Del, used to come over to mine gold with the late Jacob Hirsch, an old-time miner. Harry Mamizuka was raised on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. He has been in the Northwest for some time, but moved to Liberty a couple years ago. Mamizuka, who is retired from Chevron, said Liberty is like a gathering place and that people are willing to help each other. “It reminds me of the old days in Hawaii.” Liberty still has a Fourth of July celebration, but it is far more sedate than the celebrations of old. In those days hundreds of people would show up from throughout the county. The Liberty program for the two-day, 1916 event is showcased on the wall of the community hall.

Friday & Saturday All You Can Eat Beef Ribs $14.95 Prime Rib $14.95

Always Serving Homemade Meatloaf Homemade Country Fried Steak Homemade Pies Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

Don’t Forget to Try Papas Mountain Burger

3/4 lb’r with turkey, ham, bacon & swiss

Historic Tidbits:

Among other things, the two-day event featured bronco riding, horse racing, foot races, women’s nail driving competitions, greased pole climbing and a tug-of-war. Even then the dance, or grand ball, as it was called, was the highlight. Featuring “imported music,” it took place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The current parade and barbecue is a little more laid back. “Whoever shows up at 11 a.m. can be in it,” said Engstrom. “We used to have a bigger one but when it got to be about 500 people, we sort of lost control.” The celebration is really a fundraiser for the fire hall, which also serves as the community hall. There is still some interior work to do but the structure is largely complete. The money to pay for it was donated. So far about $45,000 has gone into the building, said Engstrom. This sense of community is what ties the people together — both in the past and today. When Mamizuka talks of his adopted home, he probably expresses what many people in the area feel. “I just love Liberty,” he said. “I’d never give this up.” ■

The story of the Liberty frogs has to be one of the most fantastic bits of history in “Spirit of Liberty” by Wesley Engstrom. According to a 1938 Ellensburg Evening Record newspaper story, miners blasted six frozen frogs from a tunnel in the Jordan gold mine.When thawed, the frogs croaked, changed color and jumped higher than most frogs their size. Because of the mineralized shale the frogs were found in, it was thought that they came from the Eocene age, 50 million years ago, the newspaper reported. Prof. George F. Beck, head of the science department at Central Washington College of Education, took two of the frogs for further study. But Beck didn’t know what to feed them and the frogs died. The remaining frogs were kept by miner Ollie Jordin, who turned them loose in the yard, where they found their own food. After surviving being frozen and dynamited, the Jordin frogs were stepped on and killed while firefighters were putting out a house fire at Jordin’s home. Beck’s papers were lost, so it’s unknown what he discovered about the frogs. In addition to the newspaper story, Engstrom writes that Jordin told the story on audiotape in 1972. True or not, it makes a good story.

since 1909 What does that mean? We respect the importance of local news coverage. You live, work and play in Kittitas County. You take your community involvement seriously and so do we. We take our responsibility to you seriously with 12,000 daily readers and 1,115,362 visitors to our website since 2006! That is why you find over 500 local stories a month in the Daily Record. Because we know that you are seriously local.

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 35

Vantage

Residents want to retain small-town life, values

Growth on the horizon? By MIKE JOHNSTON staff writer

Factoids: Location: 29 miles east of Ellensburg Population: about 85 full-time residents Origin of name: “According to the History of Kittitas County, Washington,” Vantage is derived from the name of the name of the W.D. Van Slyke family, who started ferry operations shutting people and cargo across the Columbia River on a ferry from the early 1900s until late 1917 when Grant and Kittitas counties took over ferry operations.

36 | OUR TOWNS 2008

This article originally appeared in the March 31, 2007 edition of the Daily Record.

O

ne of the 66 post boxes now in use at the small post office tucked away in a corner of the Vantage General Store belongs to Charlotte Gonzales, who has lived off and on in the unincorporated community 28 miles east of Ellensburg for the last 20-plus years. Gonzales, who runs the post office and clerks at the store, on Friday afternoon said there are 150 post boxes available, so there’s room to grow — just as there’s room to grow in Vantage. Indeed, many expect more residents will come in the next few years from a residential development planned

immediately to the south. Yet she would like to see the kind of growth that somehow maintains the small-town feel to the community — homes and businesses perched on a bluff over the scenic Columbia River gorge with the busy Interstate 90 freeway passing through it. Gonzales estimates there are about 85 full-time residents in Vantage, up by maybe 10 from a few years ago. “It will grow some, I know, but I’d sure like it keep that quiet, peaceful atmosphere, at least in the off season when we don’t have concerts,”

said Gonzales, referring to the Gorge Amphitheatre near George that causes a spike in late spring and summer business from visitors going to and from the concert venue. “I love it here. You don’t have the hustle and bustle like in town, in Ellensburg. There are so many cars in Ellensburg when you go shopping.” Gonzales’ sentiments are similar to other Vantage business people and residents who were asked about its future.

Poised for growth

Harold Kortum, who was 83 when this article was written, has lived in Vantage for 29 years and is chairman of the Kittitas County Water District 6 Board of Commissioners, which operates a wastewater treatment plant serving Vantage. The district has 115 customers. He agrees Vantage is poised for growth. “I’m hoping for successful growth, the kind that fits into our community,” Kortum said. “It will be residential growth, and I believe it will be good growth.” He is referring to Vantage Bay, a 76-acre planned unit development that could have more than 300 homes south of the freeway along the Columbia River. County commissioners approved the development’s preliminary plat in November 2006 and it has five years

A sign near the street through Vantage seems to sum up how local residents and business people feel about their small community east of Ellensburg. Perched on a bluff along the scenic Columbia River they expect people will continue to be attracted to it, and they foresee what some believe will be significant residential growth in the near future. to meet all requirements before selling lots. Kortum said the district is working with the developer, BCSCBN Inc. of Woodinville, in a plan to update the district’s plant and expand its capacity with a low-interest loan from the state. “Like many of the people who now live here, others are being drawn to

tery’s s u l B Family Restaurant by the

Columbia River in Vantage

Come for the Food... Stay for the View. Burgers • Fresh Fruit Shakes • Espresso 

 

  




  

Vantage’s beauty and peacefulness and to the river,” he said.

Potential

Greg Montaño, owner and operator of Blustery’s Restaurant at Vantage, lives in Ellensburg but wants to move to Vantage in the near future. He has 30-plus years of experience in the restaurant and catering business and

took over Blustery’s last May just as the Gorge’s concert season began. Montaño has also established a sub sandwich business next door and a catering business that offers food to Vantage visitors outdoors. His sense is that Vantage will see steady, moderate growth. “It has a ton of potential, just a (Continued on next page)

Golden Harvest FAMILY RESTAURANT

Conveniently located on I-90, Exit 136 Check aily rD out ounch Lu ls! Specia

Stop in today for Great Family Dining right next to the Columbia River! 509.856.2223 • 511 Main Street,Vantage

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 37

Tidbits:

(Vantage continued) ton,” he said about Vantage. “In the summer this place really buzzes, but the potential isn’t just for the summer.” He said Vantage area business and resort owner Bryan Stockdale has a vision to fully develop a year-round conference and retreat center, and Montaño wants to be part of making it a reality. “He (Stockdale) wants to see Vantage grow into a place where people can obtain the help they need in their personal lives,” Montaño said. “Sure, there would be businesses to serve them, but that wouldn’t be the main focus.” The fire-damaged Wanapum

Inn, owned by Stockdale, is being viewed as a potential conference center location after much repair, remodeling and expansion, he said. A helping hand Jean Wagner, who was 67 when this article was written, got to know Vantage when she and her husband lived in an RV there in 2004 while he worked to inspect new Bonneville Power Administration lines under construction. Her husband died suddenly in December 2004. Stockdale later offered her a job working at the general store, and now she also works at the Vantage

Vista Shell station. “I just didn’t know what to do with myself after my husband died,” Wagner said. “Working here has helped me. The people here have been very, very nice. I haven’t met anyone I didn’t like.” She planned to move from Vantage before summer to take care of family property in Wyoming and Montana. “I’m going to really hate leaving.” Stockdale said the goal in his businesses is to help “build a sense of community and fellowship. A place of rest, sanctuary and fulfillment.” He sees a period of “gentle” growth coming. “My hope is that living and working here has a wider purpose than just business and just maximizing the dollar,” Stockdale said. “My approach is to encourage a sustainable community in which its values are upheld. ■

Vantage Bay target: sell lots in fall 2009 Skip Coddington, project manager for the Vantage Bay development south of Interstate 90 in Vantage, said the tentative goal is to gain final subdivision approval from Kittitas County in late 2008 and begin lot sales about fall 2009. The 76-acre site east of Huntzinger Road is being developed by BCSCBN Inc. of Woodinville. Planned is up to 315 houses built as second homes or retirement or recreational homes in a gated community with its own water system. Coddington said there was “tremendous demand and growth” in developments along the Columbia River. He said the development company has agreed, in principle, to spend up to $200,000 in engineering plans to help Kittitas County Water District 6 update and expand its wastewater treatment plant. The plans will be part of the district’s application for a low-interest loan from the state public works trust fund to improve the plant. He said this was a cooperative effort knowing the plant needs to be upgraded. The funding will be repaid when the state loan is approved, he said, and hookup fees will be paid to the district as homes are built.

Cave B Estate Winery Join us for… Hands-on Wine Making Activities
Wine & Cooking Seminars
Winemaker’s Dinner
Kids’ Activities


Grape Stomping Competition
Vineyard Tours
Tractor-driven Hay Rides
Barbecue Lunch in the Piazza
…and more

Friday - Sunday October 3rd - 5th Come experience our biggest event of the year! Admission is Free! For details visit www.caveb.com or call: (509) 785-3500 ~ Cave B Estate Winery, 348 Silica Road NW, Quincy, WA, 98848 38 | OUR TOWNS 2008

Ellensburg’s a very happening place with its year-round festivals, shows and rodeo. We’re a major stop on the Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s circuit, draw in

thousands of music aficionados world-wide with a three-day jazz festival and host one of the biggest western art shows around. We’re also quickly becoming known for our newest additions, the Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering, Ellensburg Film Festival and Dachshunds on Parade. For more information about our community, our events and festivals or for relocation information stop by the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Information Center. Our dedicated staff have been serving our community for 100 years and would love to help you discover the many secrets you’ve yet to discover about Ellensburg.

ELLENSBURG we’re at the CENTER of it all.

(509) 925-2002 • (888) 925-2204 www.VisitEllen.com www.ellensburg-chamber.com www.ellensburg-video.com ELLENSBURG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

609 N. Main St. • Ellensburg, WA

OUR TOWNS 2008 | 39

The Rehab Center KITTITAS VALLEY HEALTH & REHABILITATION

3,000 Square Feet Therapy Gym

Occupational Therapy Kitchen

Short Term Rehabilitation Experts Long Term Care Professionals

EXPERT NURSING & THERAPY SERVICES • Daily PT, OT and Speech Therapy - Monday through Friday • Hip Surgery & Other Orthopedic Surgery Recovery • CVA, TIA and Brain Injuries Treatment • All IV Therapies including TPN for In-Patients • Convenient Bathrooms in all Resident Rooms

24/7 Admissions

1050 East Mountain View Avenue • Ellensburg 40 | OUR TOWNS 2008

509-925-4171