[Magellan]

Wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing them, fellas.   

[RPBrown]

Rod,

One of the photos from the USFS website shows Whiskers, in 1936.  He was a beloved character in the Quilcene area.  He worked off and on for the Forest Service during the 1930s.  Times were tough during the Depression.  In his spare time he was earning money trapping marten around his Sink Lake cabin and chasing cougar all over the Eastern Olympics.  He also had a lean-to type shelter on Tunnel Creek, downstream of the present day trailhead. 

Whiskers is front and center wearing the crusher.

[RPBrown]

Photos of "Whisker's Inn", about 1940.  My late aunt was really good friends with Whiskers and would hike to Sink Lake to visit him pretty regularly.  She would start hiking near her house on Mt Walker, at the old Rainbow Trail.  About 12 miles one-way to Sink Lake back then.  On this trip she was with her then boyfriend Rusty.  I remember her telling me on this particular trip Whiskers wasn't home. 

You can still find the flattened remains of his cabin.

[RodF]

Thanks for sharing the Whiskers photos, RP.  Where was his cabin located?  I looked past the shelter around the northwest and west sides of Sink Lake, within a couple hundred feet of the shore, with no joy.  Couldn't even find any cedar stumps, which can be the longest-lived clue a cabin was once built nearby.  The south side looked swampy, so I didn't look there.

Were there two buildings?  On the left edge of the first photo above, I see the eve of another roof.

I also tried to locate the lower Townsend Creek Trail, which would've branched off the lower Notch Pass Trail above WTA's new Townsend Creek footlog.  Again, no joy, and most of the area upstream has been logged.

Townsend Creek Trail 1948

This 1948 Olympic NF map shows Townsend Creek and Notch Pass Trails, CCC Camp at Penny Creek, Bark Shanty and Sink Lake shelters, and lookouts on Mt. Townsend and Green Mtn.

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"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir
"the wild is not the opposite of cultivated.  It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva

[RPBrown]

Hey Rod,

The other building was his wood shed.  The trail to Whiskers cabin peels off the main trail just past the shelter.  Nowadays you have to look really close to see it.  Whiskers wasn't trying to hide from anyone and was a really friendly guy.  He built the cabin mainly for trapping marten and chasing cougar.  He also built it (according to my aunt) to stay away from booze, which he had a hard time doing when he spent time in Quil.  I'll post a few more that I think I already posted a year or two back.  These are all from my aunt's personal photo albums.  This particular group of photos is when Whiskers led the Army pack train from Fort Lewis to the B-18 (Douglas, "Bolo), that crashed near Bull Elk Pass, Sept 9, 1941.  10 pack mules were used to haul the bodies out.  My aunt went back up there with Whiskers Sept 28, 1941, the day after the Army left.

This is my aunt and is labeled "The way to Whiskers".  Taken 1941

Jack "Whiskers" Conrad

My aunt with Whisker's cougar hound Chink, at his cabin

[Pyrites]

Nice Family photos.

[Ski]

Smith Place - Queets Valley

George Albert Shaube constructed a small cabin on the Queets River in 1923 where he lived with his wife Alta (nee Northup) until 1929, when he sold his claim to Oscar Smith of Tacoma. He moved down to the Killea Guard Station so his son Lorne could attend school.

Michael Lujan graciously provided the photos of his Grandfather, George, and the cabin under construction in 1923.

George Albert Shaube - 1891-1967 - Port Angeles, Washington 1956

George Shaube homestead cabin Queets Valley 1923

George Shaube homestead cabin Queets Valley 1923

George Shaube homestead cabin Queets Valley - Alta (Northup) Shaube at left with son Lorne - 1923

(photos courtesy M. Lujan - used with permission)
(photo of George Shaube in Port Angeles may be from 1953. awaiting confirmation on date. 10/03/16 BK)
(first photo of cabin under construction shows L to R: Fred Grindle, Ross Cooper, and George Shaube)

==

Mr. Larry Vaughan of Des Moines, Washington, graciously provided the photos of his Grandmother, Marion V. Wood (nee Granstrom.) She married Harold Wood on June 19, 1929, in Tacoma, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Smith. They lived east of Montesano, near Brady, for the next thirty years and then retired to Olympia for ten years.
After her marriage to Harold Wood, they spent the summer at Oscar Smith's cabin (Smith Place) on the Queets River.

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view of southwest corner of Smith addition - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view looking east - L to R woodshed, bunkhouse, original Shaube structure, Smith addition - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view north of barn - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view of southeast corner interior of Smith addition - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view of northeast corner interior of Smith addition - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - two women holding fish in front of porch - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - view west from vicinity of Smith Place - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - Marion V. Wood on horse - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - Marion V. Wood in front of fireplace on north wall of Smith addition - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Smith Place - Queets Valley - ca. 1929 - Harold Wood at left - barn in background - photo courtesy L. Vaughan

Wood-Granstrom wedding 06/19/29

(photos courtesy Marion V. Wood, Larry Vaughan - used with permission)

(* see also HERE )

(* notes on photos above: This set of photographs was original sent to me by Mrs. Marion V. Wood of Des Moines, Washington about 2003 or 2004. I was unfortunately unable to follow up with an in-person interview.
There appears to have been some confusion about a couple of the photos: the photograph of the man with the three women holding the fish is most certainly Harold Wood, and not Oscar Smith (as is noted in Jacilee Wray's "River by the Sea" historical narrative (pp 237). Smith was born in 1884, and would have been 45 years of age when the photo was taken.
From the appearance of the lower eyelids, it appears the woman at left in that photo is Marion V. Wood. The woman in the middle might have possibly been a relative of Shannon Martinson, but I am unable to confirm that at this time. 10/03/16 BK)

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"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."

[graywolf]

Wow, those are some great photos!
Thanks for posting these Ski.

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The only easy day was yesterday...

[puzzlr]

Thanks for posting those cool old photos in a forum like this. It's where they are most likely to be appreciated by people who know the area well. And good work on the captions and related metadata -- that makes them even more relevant.

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Mid Fork Rocks • flickr

[Ski]

^ Thanks puzzlr and graywolf.

I would encourage anyone interested in the area to grab a copy of Jacilee Wray's "River by the Sea - an Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley" (NPS Oct. 19, 2014 92MB *.pdf format) quickly while it is available for download
HERE. (* error message on first screen. click "continue to this website" and find the download button. *)

While Jacilee's book is the definitive, most complete, comprehensive, and accurate historical narrative of the area, I am yet finding little boo-boos here and there as I am re-reading the document right now.
I have a good deal of material here which supplements her work, which unfortunately is inside no fewer than five dead computers that are sitting next to me.
I am still kicking myself for never getting up to meet with Mrs. Wood before she passed away - I'm sure she would have been able to answer some questions.
I'll make an effort to get the data extracted from these machines here and get it posted in the "Queets history" thread I posted some time back.

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"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."

[graywolf]

Ski,

I really appreciate the work that you have done (and continue to do) documenting the history of this valley.

Thank you!

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The only easy day was yesterday...

[jask]

Ski asked me to add the two Three Lakes shelter photos and any other structure pictures I might have to this thread.  I probably have more but we sometimes took slides and not photos from those trips in the 80's.

Three Lakes shelter 1985

Approaching shelter 1985

Bear camp shelter 1980

Bogachiel ranger station 1981

[Ski]

thank you jask!

( or should that be tusen takk ? )

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"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."

[Pyrites]

The best breakfast in my life was above Three Lakes Shelter, at a dry camp on the Tshletshy Creek - Quinault divide, with my now Spouse. Instant oatmeal, cocoa, hot Tang. Garnish the oatmeal with low-bush huckleberries picked without getting up. Yum.

Probably within weeks of when photo was taken.

Then down into Tshletshy with fish rods. (Always take a flashlight, even on day walks. Oops.)

[Ski]

Smith Place - Queets Valley - Olympic National Park 080917

Smith Place - Queets Valley 080917 01  view looking east at front of structure  Queets Valley - Olympic National Park

Smith Place - Queets Valley 080917 02  view looking east at northwest corner of structure  Queets Valley - Olympic National Park

Smith Place - Queets Valley 080917 03  view looking west at northeast corner of structure  Queets Valley - Olympic National Park

Smith Place - Queets Valley 080917 05  view looking west at northeast corner of structure  Queets Valley - Olympic National Park

Smith Place - Queets Valley 080917 05  view looking north at southwest corner of structure  Queets Valley - Olympic National Park

* earlier photos of the Smith Place structure elsewhere in this thead here:

Shaube Lujan photos 1923 and Wood Vaughn photos 1929

Martinson photos early 1930s

Gary Patton 2006

GoBlueHiker 2008

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"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."