Forum Index > Pacific NW History > Queets Valley history - Thursday, October 23, 2014
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RodF
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PostWed Oct 01, 2014 1:30 pm 
Evergreen on the Queets Jacilee Wray, NPS Thursday, October 23, 7 pm Olympic NP Visitors Center Friends of Olympic NP hosts its fall membership meeting. Jacilee Wray, Olympic NP anthropologist, will preview her upcoming book River Near the Sea: An Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley. Our Most Inspirational Friend Award will be presented to Larry Nickey, the Park's retiring fire and search and rescue officer, and incident commander at the Oso landslide disaster. Please join us! The history of the Queets valley begins with Native American use by the Queets people, who continued to access their traditional territory and harvest resources as the first settlers began to homestead in 1897, followed by another influx of homesteaders in the early 1900s. Additional settlement came in the 1920s when homesteads that had been sold were purchased by families prepared to carry on the self-sufficient life embraced by the early pioneers. The Kellys, who homesteaded in 1908, turned their homestead and additional homesteads that they purchased into a famous ranch-type resort that operated into the 1940s. Between 1940 and 1953 the federal government acquired private property on the Queets (and the Coastal Strip) as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Through condemnation proceedings these lands were acquired for public purposes and formally added to Olympic National Park in 1958. The history of these homesteads and their addition to Olympic National Park is an interesting story that brings a landscape, once filled with homes, schools, post offices, barns, crops, orchards, livestock, and gardens to life.
Jim Donaldson, Queets homestead farm
Jim Donaldson, Queets homestead farm
Photo: Jim Donaldson on his Queets homestead (NPS archives).

"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
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Ski
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PostFri Oct 24, 2014 1:07 pm 
(edited for brevity) Friday, October 24, 2014 11:27 AM Jacilee Wray Olympic National Park Outstanding! I am awed by your ability and willingness to sort through so much information and put it all together. I always knew there was a heck of a lot of story there, but it never occurred to me that in printed form it would be the size of a phone book! I just can't sing enough praises today about what you've accomplished. Very nice to have met you and Larry and Alice and Rod for dinner! Interesting talking with both Larry and Alice and getting some different perspectives. To Mike and Patte and Mike and Matt and David - nice to have met all of you and finally be able to put faces on some names I've known for decades! What a treat! I've probably left a couple out.... not enough tea yet this morning. Thank you all again. Brian

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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tinman
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PostFri Oct 24, 2014 1:32 pm 
I really wanted to attend last night but Mother-in-law's 79th birthday took precedent. Anyone know when this book will be out?

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PostFri Oct 24, 2014 1:35 pm 
no definite date. the document needs to go through another proof-reading before consideration will be given to making it available online. bk.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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tinman
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PostFri Oct 24, 2014 2:52 pm 
OK, thanks Ski. I'll be watching for it.

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PostMon Oct 27, 2014 10:24 pm 
Two programs will take place in the Kalaloch Lodge library on Saturday, November 15. At 2:00 pm, Steve Hauf will present a program about the Spruce Divison, a unit of the United States Army, established in 1917 to supply high-quality spruce and other wood products needed for the production of aircraft for the United States war effort in World War I. At 4:00 pm, Olympic National Park anthropologist Jacilee Wray will talk about her new book River Near the Sea: An Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley which begins with the Queets people and follows the influx of homesteaders in the late 1800s and the eventual acquisition of their homesteads for Olympic National Park. Wray previously edited Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are and co-authored From the Hands of a Weaver: Olympic Peninsula Basketry Through Time. Contact Jefferson County Historical Society at 360-385-1003 for more information.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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PostSun Nov 16, 2014 2:28 pm 
At the presentation last night at Kalaloch, someone told me there are additional copies which might be available at the Amanda Park Library. forgot to add: It was mentioned last night that person(s) have been searching some of the homestead sites with metal detectors looking for artifacts. If you see anyone in the valley with a metal detector, please contact Jefferson County Sheriff's Office or Olympic National Park Law Enforcement immediately.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Chico
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PostSun Nov 16, 2014 6:20 pm 
River Near the Sea: An Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley not yet available in the catalog. As I'm in the Olympia area we have the Timberland Library system which includes Amanda Park.

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PostSun Nov 16, 2014 9:09 pm 
probaby won't be. it's an NPS publication. should at some point in the future be available online in *.pdf format.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Chico
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PostSun Nov 16, 2014 11:26 pm 
She's got some others though. I'd have to go back into the catalog to tell you what. I searched on her name rather than book title.

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Barefoot Jake
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PostWed Dec 03, 2014 12:11 pm 
My neighbor has a copy of the Queets book. I need to go ask him to borrow it. Wish I could have made the presentation at Kalaloch Lodge.

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PostWed Dec 03, 2014 1:06 pm 
there was quite a crowd there... more than I had anticipated... don't think the document will be posted online as a *.pdf until a final proof-read is done; something that's being worked on by a couple of the ladies that were there at Kalaloch. if you want to meet those people, they will all be at the Pioneer Reunion on the Clearwater next summer.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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RodF
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PostSat Oct 01, 2016 6:46 pm 
Jacilee Wray's book, River near the Sea: An Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley (NPS, 2014) is available for download at this link (624 pages, 92 MB PDF file). Printed copies are also available in regional libraries. "Today there is an opportunity to document the homestead era of the Queets and the history of the expansion of Olympic National Park, as well as the importance of this place to the descendants of the homesteaders and the indigenous Queets and Quinault people. The parks historic connections represent their heritage.This research extensively examines an array of sources to document the history of the Queets River valley, including important family accounts and Olympic National Park administrative records. This information can further our understanding and evaluation of areas as cultural places or heritage resources, even as it presents the human story of the Queets River valley near the sea."

"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
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Gregory
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PostSun Oct 02, 2016 9:03 am 
just spent three hours reading some of this..Thank you so much.

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PostWed Oct 19, 2016 10:45 am 
^ Just a wild guess, but from the comments in the narratives of Henry and Maude Kittredge (recorded by an NPS ranger), I would guess any AWS "visitors" would have been staying on the John Andrews place, not his brother Vic's. Access to the site, however, would have been via Vic's place; the trail up to Kloochman took off from the "Big Fir" trail (shown as a short spur off the main trail on your first map above) right where it makes that turn to the left (west) - from there it crossed Coal Creek and zig-zagged up the ridge spur to the lookout. I think the photo of the woman standing out in front of house - the one with the two cement gate posts - is the original house - not sure. Compare structure with the other photo showing two houses. The color photo of the partially-collapsed barn was provided by V. Heemstra and should be credited to her.
Eric Willhite, on his AWS site wrote:
Todays topo still shows the opening of Andrews Lower Field in the bottom of Section 27
John Andrews had it cleared to almost 30 acres. Sallie Williams' "A Survey of Abandoned Homesteads in the Queets Valley" (1975) put it at 29. The forest has encroached on the clearing significantly, but it still shows up clearly looking at "Google Earth". Note that the USGS topographical you used (from Wray's narrative) also shows a tiny clearing at Vic Andrew's place, not much of which remains - see photos in report here. That's an old (1958 or 1959) USGS topo that never got updated other than for the changes in the streambed - the rest of the features shown are pretty much the same as shown on earlier maps.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Forum Index > Pacific NW History > Queets Valley history - Thursday, October 23, 2014
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