2025 E. Washington Road Trip 06 - Fading Small Town: Mabton

Mabton is a small town in Yakima County, Washington, a few miles southeast of Yakima on Hwy. 22. Most travelers rush by on Interstate 22 just to the north, but I took the local road to see the small towns in the region. Mabton has had a rough recent history, with a deputy city clerk being arrested for stealing $22,000 in a fake robbery scheme, along with other small-town graft exercises. Hmmm, sounds like small towns in the Mississippi Delta - or Jackson.

Approaching Mabton on Hwy 22

A block north of Hwy 22, B Street was the former commercial strip, complete with square-front shops of the type typical in small towns. Most are now closed. It was rather sad.

Proceeding west, we reached Yakima and stopped for a coffee. The downtown looks prosperous, but there may be possibilities in the outskirts. The famous teriyaki burger joint was too tempting to resist (for a photograph, not lunch).

I took these photographs on Kodak Portra 160 film with my Pentax MG camera and various lenses. The lab that processed the film made some major chemical or timing error, and the film was very thin. This resulted in exaggerated grain and odd colors. 

The old barber shop and unused grocery were behind dirty glass. I attached a rubber hood on my 28mm ƒ/2.8 Vivitar lens and pressed it against the glass. The Pentax MG camera has aperture priority exposure measurement, so I set the lens at ƒ/11 and let the camera calculate the exposure. The rubber hood shielded the lens from external light. This was much easier than trying to point a hand-held meter at the scene through the reflective glass.  

2025 E. Washington Road Trip 04 - In Decline: the Saint Ignatius Hospital of Colfax

St. Ignatius Hospital, Colfax, Washington (28mm ƒ/2.8 Vivitar lens)

Colfax is a small city in the beautiful Palouse terrain of eastern Washington. The Palouse is known for its gentle rolling hills, which consist of wind-blown silt and dust (loess) deposits. Farmers grow wheat over much of this area. Colfax is the county seat of Whitman County. 

One of the city's notable architectural structures is the unused and long-neglected Saint Ignatius Hospital. Mother Joseph Pariseau and the Sisters of Providence built the hospital in 1893. It served central and northern Whitman County until 1968. The hospital relocated to the new Whitman Community Hospital in 1968, and a nursing home occupied the old building until it was abandoned in 2002 after a water main broke in winter. The building was neglected for years, and the city tried to condemn it. In 2015, the former hospital opened for public tours, based on claims that the site is haunted. You can book paranormal tours. Landlock Holding LLC bought the building in 2021.

When I visited the site in May of 2025, I met a workman who said he was on duty full time to do renovations. He was in process of replacing windows and making other repairs. I could not enter but could walk around the grounds.

Cornerstone (28mm Vivitar lens)

Former power plant

Nurses' residence building

All of the buildings that were once part of the hospital complex are in poor shape. 

St Patrick's Church and the former St. John's Academy occupy a lot just west of the former hospital. 

St. Johns Academy - unused?

St. John's Academy opened on June 6, 1915. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration operated a grade and high school in the building. The Parish closed the building in 1966. It looks like it has received some maintenance since then because it looks sound and secure. 

Abandoned apartment building

I took these photographs on May 9, 2025, on Kodak Portra 160 film with my Pentax MG camera. Most were with an inexpensive Vivitar SMS 28mm f/2.8 lens in Pentax K mount. $25 for a totally functional 28mm lens?? One day, these photographic bargains will disappear.  For some frames, I used Photoshop CS6 to correct converging verticals. The right way to do this would be to use a shift lens, but no more photo purchases - I promise......

2025 E. Washington Road Trip 03 - Palouse Falls and Washtucna

Palouse Falls State Park Heritage Site

Palouse Falls is a geologic wonder in east central Washington. The rock here is part of the Columbia River Basalt Group, which covers over 81,000 square miles of the earth's surface in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, western Idaho, and part of northern Nevada. Most of the basalt erupted between 14 and 17 million years ago, or the middle-late Miocene epoch. We do not need to delve deeper into the volcanic history of the region, but consider that you see these remarkable basalt outcrops in many parts of the state east of the Cascades. 

Map of the Columbia River Basalt Group, from the Volcano Hazards Program, US Geological Survey

The spectacular canyon and the waterfall at the state park are a result of immense floods that burst from Glacial Lake Missoula. Near the end of the last continental glacial era, about 15,000 years ago, a lobe of ice blocked the drainage of what is now the Clark Fork River. The water that backed up created Glacial Lake Missoula, a major body of water that may have included as much volume as the combined present Lakes Erie and Ontario. As the water level rose, pressure against the ice dam increased and caused the ice to float. The dam failed and a mass of water rushed westwards (see the figure below). Peak flow may have been as high as 386 million cubic feet per second (cfs). As a comparison, the flow of the Mississippi River at Old River Control during the record 2011 flood was 2 million cfs.

Floodwaters rushed across east central Washington towards the Columbia River valley and on to the Pacific. The waters carved an immense network of channels, canyons, and valleys, creating what we now call the Channeled Scablands. These included Grand Coulee, where the dam is now located, Dry Falls, and Palouse Falls. Flood waters even reached south deep into the Willamette Valley of Oregon, where they deposited masses of sediment. Geologists now estimated that there were at least 40 of these pulses of water that occurred over a period of about 2,500 years.

Consider the time scale. The earth is about 4.5 to 5 billion years old. The Missoula Floods occurred about 15,000 years ago, only a is a tiny fraction of earth's history. Humans may have come to North America during the last glacial maximum between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago (based on footprints found at White sands National Park). Therefore, predecessors of our present native Americans saw these floods. 

The Washington Department of Natural Resources has an excellent interactive presentation of Washington's Ice Age floods. 

Areas affected by floods (teal color), from the Montana Natural History Center, Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter. Note the ice lobe that extended south into the Puget Lowlands.

Palouse Falls from the visitor's center (Samsung phone digital file)

These amazing columns of basalt show lava flows of different ages. When the basalt cools quickly, it forms hexagonal columnar formations. Devil's Tower in Wyoming (where the UFOs land) and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland are other well-known examples. A Wikipedia article lists other examples around the world.

View southwest (downstream) of the Palouse River. The terraces outline successive
basalt flows. (50mm ƒ/2 Rikenon lens)

Do visit Palouse Falls State Park Heritage Site. It is an impressive example of geology and the amazing effects of flowing water. 

Washtucna

Washtucna is a small town in Adams County about 17 miles north of Palouse Falls and about a hour from Spokane, Walla-Walla, and Pullman. The town is at the head of the Washtucna Coulee (again, one of the remnants of the Missoula Floods) and is therefore lower than some of the surrounding terrain. 

The town looked like it had gone through a rough time economically. I saw some interesting subject material along Main Street (Route 261).

El Camino (28mm ƒ/2.8 Vivitar lens)

I took most of these photographs on Kodak Portra 160 film using a Pentax MG camera and Pentax, Vivitar, and Rikenon lenses. Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine developed the film. I scanned it with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner.

References

Camp, V.E., Reidel, S.P., Ross, M.E., Brown, R.J., and Self, S., 2017. Field-trip guide to the vents, dikes, stratigraphy, and structure of the Columbia River Basalt Group, eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-N, U.S. Geological Survey, https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175022N

Waltham, T., 2010. Lake Missoula and the Scablands, Washington, USA. Geology Today, pp 152-159DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2451.2010.00763.x

Small Towns in Washington: Packwood

Packwood is an unincorporated community in eastern Lewis County, Washington. It is popular with tourists because of the proximity to Mounts Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens. Many travelers probably zip on by on US 12, but there are some oddly painted houses and shops along 12.

Maybe Bigfoot will pump gas and clean your windshield.

This is just a hint of the local architecture. The overcast light and drizzle helped make the colors stand out. I need to return and do another pass through town.

I took these pictures on Kodak Portra 160 film with my Pentax MG camera and a 50mm ƒ/2 Ricoh Rikenon lens. This is a 6-element double Gauss design, quite conventional for the 1980s. Some elements may be multicoated. This was a $25 lens that really surprised me. Some of these 1980s optics are fully functional and still remarkable bargains. Eventually, these bargains will run out.

Nice Surprise! Tacoma with Fuji Presto 400 B&W Film (Abandoned Films 14b)

Classic B&W Film

My Indiana friend, Jim Grey, sent me some 3-packs of a type of Fuji film I had never used before, Presto 400. This was the Japanese name for their Neopan 400 Professional, a high-speed, black and white negative film with an ISO speed of 400. I read that Fuji originally aimed this product at sports and documentary photography. Sadly, Fuji discontinued it in 2013.

This film reached me via one of the handy connectivity functions that the internet can provide (sometimes). A fellow in North Carolina wrote to Hamish Gill of 35MMC.com that he wanted to donate some film to help fund the web page. But there was a minor problem. The film was in North Carolina, and Hamish was in the United Kingdom. Hamish emailed some of his regular US contacts, and, by amazing coincidence, Jim Grey was heading to North Carolina on business in a week. Jim went to see the donor and found a refrigerator full of film that had been imported from Japan. I do not know the details, but Jim sent half the film to Hamish and distributed the rest in USA. Jim generously sent some packs to me.

Tacoma, Washington

I like Tacoma! The waterfront is full of interesting industrial and railroad subject matter. On a rainy-drizzly day, I wandered around the waterfront with Presto in my Pentax MG camera. I set the exposure index at 320. Click any picture to see more details.

BNSF rail yard from East D Street (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Turntable, BNSF rail yard

BNSF rail yard (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

East D Street view south (toning as a result of scanning as RGB full color; 135mm ƒ/3.5 Pentax-M lens)

Berg scaffolding company (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Berg scaffolding company (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Crossing tracks, J Street (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

Rail cars, J Street (50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens)

Wood warehouse, East D Street, from under the 11th Street bridge

East D Street from the 11th Street bridge (35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens)

This Presto 400, I love it! It is grainy, like 1970s and 1980s Kodak Tri-X (pre T-grain technology). This Presto has a gritty sharpness to it. I hate to use the term "sharp"because it has become a semi-useless buzzword among internet photo posters ("Is my lens sharp enough?"). But I am referring to contrast and edge distinction. Regardless of nomenclature, I plan to use more Presto in the future. Thanks, again, Jim! 

This is Abandoned Films no. 14b. I used Presto earlier this year when I took portraits at the Not My Presidents Day protest. Please use the search button if you are interested in other long-lost films. 

Another milestone: this is Urban Decay's 800th post.

Not My Presidents Day Protest with Presto 400 film (Oly 19)

Last Monday, May 26, 2025, the USA celebrated Memorial Day to commemorate fallen service members. Many died in action to help maintain the federal form of government that we now enjoy. We all benefit from their ultimate sacrifices.

I thought it was appropriate to show pictures from the "Not My Presidents Day" protest that was held at the Washington State Capitol on February 27, 2025. That these people can gather and express their feeling and beliefs is a key element of our form of government. Will we be able to continue protesting in the months ahead? When will the repression start? It has already begun on some university campuses.

Read the posters and signs below and consider what they are saying. The people in individual or group portraits gave me permission to take their pictures.

The Olympia State Capitol

SNAP refers to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Oozing into Gilead

The Handmaid's Tale is a horrifying allegory of a totalitarian state (The Republic of Gilead) where white women become breeding machines for the ruling class. "The novel explores themes of powerless women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, suppression of reproductive rights, and the various means by which women resist and try to gain individuality and independence." (from Wikipedia).

"It Takes All of Us to Make the USA" 

Checking out Truth (Fraud) Social?

The protesters were vocal and energetic, but largely mellow. No fire bombs or torching buildings. 

I took these phortographs on discontinued Fuji Presto 400 film, the same emulsion as Neopan 400 Professional. The camera was my little Pentax MG with a 50mm ƒ/2 Pentax-A lens. My Indiana friend, Jim Grey, sent me some boxes of this superb film. Based on limited experience, I think it resembles the classic older style of Tri-X. I will write about Presto in more detail in a later article. Thanks for the film, Jim!

This is Abandoned Films no. 14 and Oly no. 19.