Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 74
In March 1985, the Journal published a special supplement celebrating Shelton's centennial. Several residents with deep roots in the community were asked to contribute their memories of the town's earlier years. The following was written by Ken Fredson. Ken's great-grandfather had come to the Oregon Territory in the late 1840s; his father was born in Oakland in 1888. (Oakland was the first town on Oakland Bay, established in about 1854 and eventually abandoned after Shelton began to take shape a...
On Dec. 5, 1948, The Hood Canal News asked its readers, "Can Belfair afford to lose its volunteer fire department? While the work and services of the department are well known by virtually every resident of the Belfair area, there are many who will be surprised to learn that the Belfair Fire Department is BROKE and may have to be discontinued unless citizens rally round with funds and aid necessary to continue the much-needed fire department." The local fire department was funded by community...
In the summer of 1935, 25-year-old Dave James came to Shelton to edit the Shelton Independent, the "only Democratic newspaper on the West Coast - or maybe in the world." This story is adapted from a story James wrote for a 1985 Shelton centennial supplement to the Shelton-Mason County Journal. A. J. Chitty had started the weekly Shelton Independent in 1927, much to the annoyance of Grant Angle, who had been publishing the Shelton-Mason County Journal since 1886. According to James, "Chitty was...
This is the conclusion of a story about U.S. Army war games that took place in and around Shelton in August 1941. From the Journal: "Soldiers of the maneuvering troops are finding Sheltonians eager to assist in making their stay in the town pleasant, and local residents have had nothing but praise for the character and actions of the soldiers. A reading and recreation room has been established in the old post office building, and is a favorite spot for soldiers with a few minutes to spare,...
In the summer of 1941 (about four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), the U.S. Army was anticipating a possible Japanese invasion of the West Coast, including southwest Washington. At Fort Lewis, officers of the Army's 41st Division drew up plans for "war games" that would enact, as realistically as possible, a Japanese invasion and the U. S. military response. It would be the job of soldiers from Fort Lewis to hold off invaders attacking at several points along the Washington...
A front-page story in the May 28, 1938, Shelton Daily Spokesman began: "Despite the fact that he lost the election to the Democratic candidate for county auditor back in 1884, Clermont S. Brumbaugh, pioneer resident and long active in local politics, still treasures a copy of an 1884 issue of the Puget Sound Angus, published in Port Townsend, that showed the results of the territorial election as well as the Mason County election. Mr. Brumbaugh, still active at over 80 years of age, is the sole...
In May 1956, the Simpson Lookout magazine included the following story: "I'm the Three-Spot, named after William Shorter, one of the early Simpson engineers. I'm 30 years old, and as steam lokies go, that makes me a grandfather. Steam is going out, stepping aside for the diesels. Simpson has used lokies like me since the nineties, but diesels are running the Simpson rails now. I'm just an old fellow puffing a lot of memories. They had me run out to Camp Govey during the March snows to get some...
A front-page story in the May 1, 1938, Shelton Daily Spokesman began: "As the surprise feature of National Air Mail Week comes word today from Shelton Postmaster Jessie Knight that the first-ever flight of mail would take off from Shelton between 4 and 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 18. Well-known local pilot Walter Graham, who will have the honor of taking Shelton's first and only air mail load from Sanderson Field, is in Seattle today to get final instructions." A civic group led by Mayor L. D. Hack...
Immediately after the Savoy Hotel was destroyed by fire in September 1925, the Shelton Kiwanis Club, the Active Club and the town council held a meeting to discuss the need for better firefighting capabilities. At that time, Shelton had three hose carts, which had been delayed in arriving at the fire due to lack of practice on the part of the firefighting volunteers. It was decided that the town needed to acquire better equipment, including a motorized apparatus and a larger supply of hose, and...
In 1924, Olympic Highway came down into Shelton from Hillcrest. Drivers wanting to continue on the highway had to make a left turn onto Railroad Avenue, then turn right on Fifth Street and drive up to reconnect with the highway, which for a few blocks in town was known as Alder Street. At that time, Alder did not extend beyond Fifth Street to the east. The Peninsular Railroad roundhouse was on Railroad Avenue near Fifth, and a number of train tracks crossed Fifth Street. The streets were paved...
In a letter to the Journal in the 1970s, Emma Richert wrote about her memories of Kneeland Park as it was in 1912. "It was an inlet or slough of saltwater at high tide, spotted with a big uprooted stump, rubber tires, etc., all decorated with barnacles. The wooden sidewalk on First Street crossed the slough area considerably above the water level. When walking across, it was fun to slow down and listen to the echoing sound of our footsteps. It runs in my mind that the area originally belonged...
In spring 1929, the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Washington State College (now WSU) entered into a joint venture to "demonstrate to farmers and other residents the last word in marketing of all farm products." They assembled a collection of livestock, poultry and various farm products grown in Western Washington, enlisted the expertise of several agricultural specialists, railroad officials and livestock attendants, and put the show on the road, or rather, the tracks. The Farm Marketing...
This story is from a series of articles in 1936-1938 issues of the Shelton Daily Spokesman. In June 1936, Shelton Postmistress Jessie Knight received a telegraph from Congressman Martin Smith announcing a federal allocation of $80,000 for a new Shelton post office. After several months were spent on selecting and preparing a site on Railroad Avenue, a contract was awarded to A. F. Mowatt of Seattle, and on Oct. 26, 1937, Mowatt's crew began excavation for the building's basement. November 1937...
The first settlers to make their homes near the head of Little Skookum Inlet in the mid-1880s called their settlement Kamilche, after the Native American name for the valley. Around 1889, a logging railroad was pushing its way past Kamilche up Little Skookum to reach more open water. When the railroad reached the point where Little Skookum merged with Totten Inlet, docks were built and a small community called New Kamilche took shape. In addition to homes, there was a hotel, saloons, store...
Washington's ban on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages became effective in 1916, making the state one of 33 that banned alcohol before the 18th Amendment to the Constitution made it illegal nationwide in 1919. This story is taken from the March 3, 1921, edition of the Mason County Journal. (Prohibition was repealed nationwide in 1933.) In mid-March 1921, Mason County Sheriff Ralph Potts and his deputies, aided by federal officers, raided two moonshine distilleries that were in activ...
On Feb. 7, 1940, Skokomish Valley neighbors of 70-year-old Billy Vincent feared the worst when they discovered that the cable on which he would have propelled his "basketlike contrivance" across the north fork of the rain-swollen Skokomish River was broken and Vincent could not be located. He had crossed the river in the morning, picked up a sack of feed at the John Garrison place, then started back home. Early in the afternoon, Garrison discovered the broken cable, and finding no trace of Vince...
Most people who've lived in Mason County for several years have experienced at least one significant earthquake. One of them occurred at 11:57 a.m. on April 13, 1949. The 7.1 magnitude earthquake, centered between Olympia and Tacoma, affected all of Washington, northwest Oregon, southwest British Columbia, the Idaho Panhandle and northwest Montana. Eight people were killed, and dozens were seriously injured. Although damage in Mason County was not severe, some people who were teenagers at the...
The following story is from the Feb. 2, 1939, edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. Oxbow is in the Wynoochee River drainage area. At Simpson Logging Company's Camp 5, about as far from the famous Wynoochee Oxbow as a big scowling rain cloud can blow in two minutes, twin tanks perch beside the railroad track. Offhand, you'd say they were water tanks, but loggers up in that neck of the woods will chuckle and tell you you're wrong .... they're "rain gauges" ... Oxbow rain gauges. And after...
In January 1973, the students in Virginia Pill's third-grade class at Hood Canal School, who had recently studied early Indians and pioneers, had a visit from two women who demonstrated how the early natives and pioneers made baskets and clothing. "Grandma" Louisa Pulsifer, a 91-year-old Skokomish basket-weaver, brought a basket full of cattails, sweet grass and bear grass. The children gathered around as she showed them how to split the cattails, then roll them on their knees so they would...
The idea for this story came from Jerry Sheldon, who as a boy, watched a boat being built in a shed near his home on Hillcrest. The details are from issues of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. Over a period of three days in May 1942, a homemade fishing boat called Emma M. made the 2-mile trip down the highway from a backyard shed on Arcadia Street, Hillcrest, through downtown Shelton to a successful launch at Bedell's Moorage on Oakland Bay. Emma M. was the creation of brothers Art and Bill...
From the Jan. 9, 1920, issue of the Journal: Old 1919 passed away last Wednesday night to the tune of sweet music. Three hundred couples danced at his funeral at the Peninsular Railway Club's 12th annual ball, and eagerly welcomed in the new born babe, 1920. The hall was decorated with a canopy of garlands hung from a large bell at the center. Gay masquerade hats worn by the dancers lent color to the scene. At midnight, the program was suspended while supper was served at the Hotel Shelton. Afte...
At the Dec. 5 meeting of the Shelton City Council, Mayor Frank Travis Jr. announced the city had decided not to award a franchise for cable television within the city limits. He told applicant Thomas Brokaw that this decision left the business as a free enterprise with which he could proceed, if he wished. Gay Taylor, who was already operating a private cable television system in Shelton, had been denied a city franchise in 1957. Weather made the front page of the Journal on Dec. 7. Nearly 7 fee...
The Shelton-Mason County Journal of Dec. 4, 1941, was focused on the upcoming Christmas holiday. The front page included a schedule of where and when Santa Claus would be appearing, and shoppers were encouraged to "shop early and shop in your hometown." The Shelton Garden Club announced details of its annual outdoor Christmas home illumination contest, and a two-day open house, including a dedication ceremony, was being planned for the newly completed Shelton gymnasium. Three days later,...
This is the conclusion of Jim Howell's memoirs of growing up at Simpson's Camp 3 between 1934 and 1946. We were poor and so were most others. I got two pairs of shoes each year. Ninety-eight-cent tennis shoes for summer - they usually lasted for a month or so and then I went barefoot. When school started I got a new pair of sturdy shoes. For supper our main, and sometimes only course was cornmeal mush. Pork was our main meat staple, except when an old hen quit laying and then we had chicken and...
This two-part story is from a memoir written by Jim Howell in the late 1990s. Jim was born in Hoquiam in 1929 and lived with his parents and two sisters at Simpson Logging Company's Camp 3 in the Skokomish Valley from 1934 to 1946. "Growing up in Simpson's Camp 3 in the 1930s and 1940s was a unique experience. Our houses were close to each other, but our backyard was trees for miles and miles, with small lakes and streams, hills and canyons, abounding with wildlife. The Skokomish River, down a...
