[Sculpin]

[Dick B]

Sculpin. I don't have a map in front of me but this is what I remember. After the RR switch backed out of the canyon, it climbed to the west. Perhaps a couple of miles before it crossed Martin Creek and entered the tunnel. Anyone out there with a Forest Service map, or a Scenic Quad could probably give a more accurate distant reading. Also google earth and it will show Martin Ck in relation to Scenic. The ridge you describe is probably Windy Point, which has a double track tunnel that, I think, was constructed after the Wellington snow slide. I have seen an interesting picture looking up Martin Ck from the lower trestle to the upper one. All the timber at that time had been cut or burned off so there was a clear view of both trestles, and showed the elevation gain that happened thru the tunnel. Perhaps the photo was from the Lee Pickett collection. Does anyone know how to access the Pickett collection?

[Sculpin]

Thanks Dick B, I see now that Martin Creek is about 4 miles west of Scenic. This trip report describes some of the historic stuff in the area: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/kelley-creek-via-martin-creek-connector

[Dick B]

I did some googling around the internet and found a large Pickett photo collection on a University of Washington library archives site. Look for "Photographs of Washington State, 1909-1936" It breaks down his photos into various categories. One dealt with the Great Northern Railroad. and another with the construction of the 7.8 mile Cascade tunnel. The GN RR category has several shots of trains leaving a snow shed, crossing the lower Martin Creek trestle and about to enter the horse shoe tunnel. The shots also show the grade as it has exited the tunnel and about to enter another snow shed as it continues to the east. One photo shows another train on the upper grade about to enter the snow shed. The photos give you some idea how the snow sheds were constructed. One day when I have the time I may go thru the entire collection. A number of other categories to peruse.

[Bruce Albert]

Rock visually similar to that is common, but not dominant, in cobbles and boulders in the NF Sky at Index indicating a source somewhere up that valley as well. I've often thought it would be an interesting exercise to trace unique stream sediments back to their sources, but I've never followed through.

[Bruce Albert]

[Dick B]

Any idea where the raw material for the Seattle plant comes from? I assume mining at Concrete and Grotto stopped when both plants shut down. It would be interesting to know what the scrubbers are like that they put into plants now to keep the dust down.

[Bruce Albert]

I recall thinking that raw materials, at least the limestone, were brought by barge. No idea where the source is located. Since the process from klinker out of the kiln to the finished very finely milled product is to my knowledge done dry they have to have some pretty efficient dust control.

[Schroder]

[Sculpin]

[ale_capone]

I used to be a resto Mason in Detroit. Set tons of stone. There was some really cool old lime stone that would show tons of fossils when it weathered. Then there was the more common,, very uniform limestone from Indiana. My wife's family live in Alpena MI, and work at the Lafarge quarry. Largest in the US.

[Dick B]

Talking about of limestone sources. We lived in Texas for several years. There is a huge limestone quarry north of Austin. It shows up as a huge white sploch on Google Earth. A lot is used for stone work on houses. My job, when I moved there, was to oversee the development of residential property on a large development west of Austin. The first time I saw how they paved their roads, I was shocked. I was accustomed to seeing 3/4" crushed rock used as a base before paving. There they used crushed limestone. After it was dumped a lot of water was spread on it, then mixed it with a grader (called a maintainer in TX). The grader mixed the water and limestone until it kind of resembled baby poop. After enough mixing, it was spread, and rolled. When it dried it set up like concrete and made a very firm base. All was well as long as water was not allowed to seep in. If it did then we had baby poop again. They quarried pink limestone out of Marble Falls, TX, out west of us, with which they built the state capital. I was told that Texas built their capital to be larger than the DC capital (not confirmed). The San Jacinto (567 ft.) monument is higher than the Washington monument (555 ft.). Everything had to be bigger in Texas.

[Bruce Albert]

Try this for excellent maps if you have not already https://www.dnr.wa.gov/programs-and-services/geology/geologic-maps/surface-geology I suppose raw material could have arrived by rail which would widen your search a little.

[Sculpin]

[Schroder]

Here's an older operation on the Stilliguamish that supplied cement for the Monte Cristo Railroad construction