2024 E. Washington Road Trip 03 - Chesaw, Brodie, and Wauconda

This is Part 3 of my September 2024 Eastern Washington Road Trip. 

Reaching Chesaw Road south of Molson, I turned east and drove through beautiful mountainous terrain.  Scattered about on the farmlands and hillsides, I saw an occasional abandoned house or barn. Some were a distance from the road, and I could see silhouettes against the sky. 

House, Chesaw Road

These are handsome old houses - how many families lived here over the years? Why did they leave? Where did they go? Are they happier now somewhere else? Did they move to a city?

Unoccupied house, Chesaw

Chesaw is an unincorporated community in Okanogan County. It thrived during a brief gold rush from 1896 to 1900.

Beaver Lake from Chesaw Road, southeast of Chesaw

Continuing south and east from Chesaw, I drove through the beautiful Okanogan National Forest. This is quiet country with infrequent traffic (and only intermittent cell phone coverage).

 

Brodie house

Log cabin, Brodie

Bodie fixer-upper house

Bodie was another gold-mining town that thrived for about 20 years starting in 1888. The mines played out, and the town finally closed completely in 1934. I arrived late afternoon and wish I had more time to explore.

Serious driveway, Toroda Creek Road, Wauconda (135mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens)

Wauconda Cafe & Store, 2423 State Rte 20 - closed for good?

Wauconda Cafe & Store

A pay phone! Alas, kaput.

I thought I'd buy a snack, but the Wauconda Store & Cafe appears to be closed permanently. The buildings looked recently renovated with fresh paint. In this lonely terrain, these wayside stores are far apart. To be cautious, I always made sure I had plenty of gasoline in the car because stations can be far apart. From Wauconda, I headed east on State Route 20 towards Republic. To be continued....

I took these photographs on Kodak Portra 160 film with a Pentax Spotmatic F camera and various lenses. 

2024 E. Washington Road Trip 02 - Molson

 Molson was another mining town that went through a rapid boom and bust.  It is at 3700 ft elevation about 2 miles south of the Canadian border. The town was founded in 1900 and soon had 300 residents. At its peak, it featured a saloon, general store, dance hall, hotel, and blacksmith shop - the normal bits and pieces of a remote mining town. Mines extracted copper, antimony, lead, silver, and gold. Mining in the area ended around 1938, and today, Molson is an agricultural area. 

Empty farmhouse, Molson Road south of Molson (50mm ƒ/1.4 SMC Takumar lens)

Molson's historic buildings are now clustered together in the Old Molson Ghost Town Museum. A local man, Harry Sherling, formed the museum in 1960 in remembrance of the rich pioneering history of the town.

Walker & Odell office, 1906

1896 Poland China & Molson Gold Mines assay office

Molson Post Office or bank? (35mm Super-Takumar lens, 1 sec exposure)

I usually prefer to visit historic structures in their original locations, but in this case, they were preserved at the museum. The air is so dry here, the wood seems to last for decades. This is a dramatic contrast to where I lived before in Mississippi, where rain and humidity quickly destroyed any building whose roof had failed. 

After walking around for a couple of hours (and changing a flat tire), I headed south on Molson Road and caught up to Chesaw Road again. I love this dry high altitude terrain with the pure brilliant light.

Lonely barn, Molson Road

I used KR1.5 skylight or polarizing filters for these frames. But I over-polarized, a mistake I often make. Look through the viewfinder at maximum polarization and then back off about 50%. This is especially valid in dry high altitude air like this. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Portra 160 film with my Pentax Spotmatic F camera. 

Return to the Olympia Brewery (Abandoned Films 13a)

Kodak T400CN, expired 2005

The Film

Dear Readers, you may remember that in February (2024), I used some long-expired Kodak T400CN black and white film. Because it was old, I exposed it at EI=100 rather than the original 400. The results were successful, and the film is convenient because the infrared scratch tool in my Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner cleans flaws and minor scratches. 

In preparation for an upcoming trip, I bought some more T400CN film from an eBay seller who said they had been stored in a refrigerator. I shot identical scenes at 100, 200, and 400. The roll came back really thin. The 100 frames scanned adequately, but the 200 and 400 were hopeless. I must give credit to the Coolscan scanner because it extracted so much data from the 100 frames. And having the ICE function to clean scratches and dust saves an immense amount of time.  

Results in Tumwater

Here are some more frames of the old Olympia Brewery in Tumwater. These are the 100 exposures, with minor adjustment in the brightness after scanning. 

(50mm F/2 Pentax-A lens, yellow-green filter)

35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lens at ƒ/4

The back of this building was peeled off. I heard that a company removed machines, and peeling off the wall was the only way to remove large equipment. Of course, now this eyesore sits here year after year. 

Waiting for a seat (50mm ƒ/2 lens at ƒ/8)

This concrete hulk is next to Custer Way. The back, with the peeled off wall, is within sight of the historic Schmidt House, which is owned by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. The foundation built the 15-acre park along the Deschutes River waterfalls. 

Turn the corner to Capital Way. The Pacific Highway, formerly Route 99, runs over a 1938 bridge. It was decorated with Art Deco and Native American motifs. 

View of Rte 99 north over 1938 bridge. (Photograph 1951-1960, Item P40_N02, courtesy of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation)

Figure on northwest side of Capital Way (Rte 99)

Totem post, northeast side of Capital Way (Rte 99)

Former North Pacific Restaurant

The North Pacific Restaurant burned on June 25, 2024. Once popular with brewery workers, it had been unoccupied for many years. The "Cafe" in the color picture above is at the same location as the South Pacific (probably the same building). As of November 7, trucks were removing the debris and timbers. 

Factory walkways under the Rte 99 bridge

More walkways

View south past former powerhouse

Summary

This roll of T400CN had lost at least 2 stops of sensitivity compared to when it was new (ISO 400). But I think the frames of the old brewery, taken on a grey day, look fine. They have a classic vintage black and white look, a bit gritty (grungy?) with some grain. 

The frames above are from 50mm ƒ/2 and 35mm ƒ/2.8 Pentax-A lenses. I am impressed at the resolution of these modest-priced lenses (click any picture to expand it). Pentax made excellent glass in the 1970s, 1980s, and later, easily the equal of the big name companies. These mid-century lenses may not be as "sharp" as the newest optics, but does it make any difference?

Next roll: try at Exposure Index 50?

Trains Through Chehalis, Washington

Chehalis is the County Seat of Lewis County, Washington. It is south of Centralia and is overshadowed economically by the larger city. But Chehalis has a well-preserved downtown with late 1800s and early 20th century buildings. It was primarily a logging and railroad town in the late 1800s.  It also hosts the BNSF rail line, which cuts right through the center of town. 

Thundering through, get out of the way! (West Main Street, March 23, 2024, Panatomic-X film, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, yellow filter)

These enormous freight trains come thundering through town. The lights flash at the West Main Street crossing, the barrier arms swing down, and you wait. The ground starts to vibrate, and these trains roar through at 40? 50? 60 miles per hour?

Track debris

Milky Way dairy transportation company

Milky Way is the largest milk hauling company in the Pacific Northwest. One of their terminals is right next to the rail line off West Main Street.

DrinkAMugAMilkAMeal (Samsung mobile phone photo converted to black and white)

Line off Prindle Street (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, dark yellow filter)

Chehalis is a nice little town. The Willapa Hills bicycle trail starts here and continues west to Pe Ell. Eventually, it will be graded and paved all the way to Raymond. I need to explore Chehalis in more detail.

I took most of the photographs with a Hasselblad 501CM camera using Kodak Panatomic-X film, all frames tripod-mounted. 

On the Waterfront at the Chehalis River - South Aberdeen, Washington

Chehalis River basin (based on USGS National Map data, from Wikimedia Commons)

The Chehalis River drains a broad area of western Washington's coastal hills and lowlands. This was an immensely rich timber area from the late-1800s to the mid-20th century. Logs were floated down the river in vast quantities to timber mills and processing companies along the riverfront between Aberdeen and South Aberdeen. 

2004 aerial photograph of South Aberdeen, with the Chehalis River in the foreground

This is a view from 2004, when a friend flew me from Olympia to the coast. In 2004, the waterfront just to the right of the highway bridge was occupied by a mill and lumber storage. Today, the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport occupies at least one building, and a roof truss company is in another.   

Chehalis River view east or upriver

For over a century, State and national agencies proposed to convert the lower stretch of the Chehalis River into a canal between Grays Harbor and Olympia. The project floated around for at least a century, but was never funded. Considering the environmental impact and cost, we are unlikely to ever see this idea again.  

The Lady Washington sometimes moors here at the historical seaport. It is a replica brigantine launched in 1989.

Concrete building of unknown purpose

I need to return and explore the Chehalis River waterfront in more detail.

Fun viewing at Rte 107 and Minkler Road

Further upriver in South Montesano, a collector has some interesting old trucks and a Studebaker Lark in his yard. The Lark was a decent car for the early-1960s, but it was not successful enough to save the company.  

Never-finished Satsop nuclear power plant

Continue upriver, and you reach the astonishing concrete monoliths that were once intended to become the Satsop nuclear power plant units WNP-3 and WNP-5. The State of Washington intended to build five nuclear power plants. One was completed and went into operation. The other four were bogged down with massive cost overruns, managerial failures, incompetence, and technical changes. In 1983, the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), better known as "Whoops," became the biggest municipal bond default of all-times. 

Today, two monumental cooling towers loom over the valley at Satsop. The incomplete containment buildings look like brutalism architecture run extreme. When our society collapses and we lose history records, future residents of the valley will look at these monoliths and wonder if aliens or the gods built them. What were they for? Were they religious structures? Is a King buried beneath?

I plan to return to the site. It is not quite an urban decay topic. These things will not decay; they are too strong. The concrete will harden for centuries, millennia. But they are grotesque.

The black and white photographs above are Kodak Tri-X 400 from my Fuji GW690II camera, the "Texas Leica," with a 5-element Fujinon 90mm ƒ/3.5 lens. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film in Xtol.

On the Waterfront at the Wishkah River - Aberdeen, Washington

Grays Harbor, map generated from https://graysharborwa.mapgeo.io/datasets

Geologic Setting

Aberdeen is a seaport at the east end of Grays Harbor, an estuary on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Grays Harbor is one of three major estuaries on Washington's Pacific coast. Willapa Bay, south of Grays Harbor, is the second, and the lower Columbia River is the third. Grays Harbor (with no apostrophe) was named after Captain Robert Gray, who entered the bay in 1792 during one of his  fur-trading voyages along the north Pacific coast of North America. 

An estuary is an embayment or river mouth that experiences mixing of salt and fresh water. Grays Harbor is an excellent example, because the tide enters the Pacific mouth of the bay and mixes with fresh water from the Chehalis, Wishkah, Hoquiam, and Humptulips Rivers. Sediments and flora reflect this mixing of waters. Marshes often form in brackish water.  

Puget Sound is a much larger geological feature in the Washington coast and is classified as a sound. Some of the river mouths and embayments that enter the sound, like Budd Inlet here in Olympia, can be considered small esturaries, but none of these are as extensive features as Grays Harbor, Willapa, or the Columbia River.   

Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and the Columbia River were dangerous entrances during the sailing era. Hundreds of vessels floundered in the waves and the treacherous sand banks, especially in winter. This is why Puget Sound was such an amazing resource. It provided calm water that did not freeze in winter. Sailing vessels could escape from the rough Pacific Ocean into relatively sheltered water. Seattle is one of the great natural harbors of the world (along with Victoria (Hong Kong), Sydney, New York, Busan, Rio de Janeiro, Halifax, and others).   

Aberdeen 2004 (Hasselblad Xpan Panoramic camera)

Aberdeen

Aberdeen was once one of the largest timber processing and shipping ports on the Pacific coast. Timber companies floated vast amounts of lumber down the Chehalis River to numerous mills along the waterfront.  The city expanded greatly in the 1920's when lumber exports grew in response to factors like the opening of the Panama Canal and the earthquake in Tokyo, which resulted in fires that burned much of the city. 

Aberdeen had a tumultuous history of union organizing, epic labor strife, criminal syndicates, violence, murder, and Communist organizing. This is fascinating stuff, but this history well beyond the scope here.

The photograph above is a 2004 aerial view of South Aberdeen in the foreground and downtown Aberdeen in the distance. The Chehalis River flows from left to right in the foreground and then curves left and flows towards the open water of Grays Harbor. I took this with a Hasselblad XPan panoramic camera from my friend's cloth airplane. 

Wishkah River

The Wishkah River is a tributary of the Chehalis. It drains a wooded and mountainous region of Grays Harbor country north of Aberdeen. It flows south through Aberdeen, with some old bridges and interesting infrastructure. The photos below are of the downtown area along the Wishkah.

East Wishkah Street lift bridge

This is the type of bridge that pivots up. You can see the counterweights hanging from the frame on the opposite side of the river. 

Wishkah River and the old Northern Pacific Railroad swing bridge

Pilings and debris, Wishkah River

South F Street

Northern Pacific swing bridge

I could not find much information about this bridge. It is unusual for swing bridges because the pivot is at the edge of the channel. Only one side projects over the water. The electric light is on, but I do not know if the bridge can swing. Freight trains cross it regularly. A sign said no trespassing, but plenty of homeless people cross. Someone may even live in the turret under the central pivot. 

Junction where swing bridge meets fixed track

I like these complicated pieces of early 20th century industrial infrastructure. This was massive construction, but I am sure it needs a lot of maintenance now.  

A homeless tent community occupies East River Street. While I was taking pictures, a few of them walked by and were very polite. Do they live here in winter? It would be pretty grim with the long wet nights and cold wind blowing in from Grays Harbor. 

I took these photographs on Kodak Tri-X 400 film with my "Texas Leica," the Fuji GW690II camera with a 90mm ƒ/3.5 Fujinon lens. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol.