[Barefoot Jake]

Pelton Shelter, Upper Queets Valley - Spring 2015

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[Ski]

Pelton Creek Shelter - Queets Valley - ONP - 1982 - photo courtesy G. Patton

Pelton Creek Shelter - Queets Valley - ONP - 1982 - photo courtesy G. Patton

(in the email this was attached to, Gary noted that he wasn't sure if that's him or his cousin standing in the front of the shelter.)

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

[Ski]

Gary P. in Juneau had some questions regarding the Tshletshy Creek Shelter, a photo of which can be found on the previous page.

Gary, this is the best I can ferret out:

According to the hand-drawn map in Robert L. Wood's Wilderness Trails of Olympic National Park (First edition © 1970 Mountaineers, Seattle), the shelter was located at an elevation of 1360 feet and appears to be due south of Pelton Peak.

According to Robert L. Woods Olympic Mountains Trail Guide (Second edition © 1991 Mountaineers, Seattle), the Tshletshy Creek Trail was constructed in the 1920s for the Forest Service by George Shaube with a six-man crew. No mention is made of who built the shelter.
Wood places it 9.2 miles from the beginning of the trail, which would be the six-mile point along the Queets River Trail. (There was an orange metal tag nailed to a small spruce there - immediately across the river from Smith Place - the tag is on the north side of the tree.)

According to Jacilee Wray's River by the Sea - An Ethnohistory of the Queets River Valley (published Oct. 19, 2014 by NPS), the Tshletshy Creek Shelter "was built by George Shaube in the 1920's. It was located where the Tshletshy Creek drops down into the first bottom at the head of the canyon about twelve to fifteen miles up from the Queets. Sometime after 1953 a logjam caused a flood to wash it away (Marshall 1975)." (pp. 336)

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I have both old 7.5 and 15-minute topos, but they're buried in the other room. But I don't need to look at the map to be able to say that I would defer to Wood insofar as the distance stated; the Reed Marshall interviews do contain in places errata and contradictions.

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

[Barefoot Jake]

Wilder Shelter with sprinklers 2016:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Olympic-National-Park-Olympic-National-Forest-Fire-Information-831205013596015/

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[meck]

Recent pic of the North Fork Shelter (similar to the ones GGW posted back on page 9)

A few more here

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*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*

[Hesman]

meck, that was one of my favorite hikes going up the NF Sol Duc with Goats Gone Wild. Last time we saw each other we laughed about wading the cold river and all the potty mouthing involved since it was mid-October.

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You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. - Abraham Lincoln
Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. - Dr. Seuss

[Dick B]

I worked on the Quilcene RD for a couple of summers back in the mid 50s. During that time I visited several shelters, lookouts, and other buildings on the district. They included:
Boulder shelter at head of the Dungeness,
What was left of the lookout on Mt. Townsend,
The last building standing at Tull City,
The last building standing at Tubal Cain mine,
Mt. Walker lookout,
Mt Jupiter lookout,
Shelter on south shore of Lower Lena Lake,
Old cabin at Sink Lake,
Guard stations on Dose, Hamma Hamma, and Duckabush,
Old CCC camp on Penny Creek Road outside of Quilcene (crew quarters in '54),
Renovated horse barn outside of Quil. (crew quarters in '55),
Ranger station and associated buildings,
Could anyone give me an update as to the status of some of these old structures? If Still standing? or if not when was their demise and the cause?
Thanks.

[meck]

@ Dick B:  I've been to what I believe is the site of many of these over the last 8 years.  Here's what I've seen:
1. Boulder Shelter - still there
2. Townsend - No human structures left on top except for some old steel(?) cabling
3. Tull City - Only a few stacked logs forming a rough square are left
4. Tubal Cain - Maybe a few logs in rough square.  Even the old mine cart had been pretty beaten/corroded to pieces last time I was there.
5. Mt walker Lookout - The only human structures (aside from the road and some fence work) are the old wood outhouses.
6. Mt Jupiter - no structures remain on top
7. Lower Lena Lake shore - hmm don't know (not sure if I've ever been to the site of where it was).  The only structures that I'm aware of are the pit toilets and metal fire pits.
8. Sink Lake - No cabin that I'm aware of, but there is a Shelter there
9. Guard Stations - Dose is still there (though the road is washed out 5 miles before the camp ground). Not sure where the Hamma Hamma and Duck stations were but there are a few older FS cabins near both roads.
10. Old CCC camp on Penny Creek Road - I don't know
11. Horse Barn outside Quilcene - not sure where this was

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*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*

[RodF]

Dick, I'm sure several of us would be interested in what you might remember about the Lena Lake shelter and the ranger station on the Dosewallips.

Lower Lena Lake was home of Boy Scout Camp Cleland, established in 1927.  Ira Spring wrote, in his "100 Classic Hikes" book, "This was Ira's summer country of Boy Scout years, starting in 1931.  Camp Cleland had eight patrol cabins, several staff buildings, a large cookhouse, a water system, six wooden rowboats and an eight-hole outhouse.  Many are the golden memories of that basecamp, its traces obliterated by time."  USFS maps show two trail shelters existed at Lena, one near or perhaps part of the camp, and one on the north shore.  In addition, there was a satellite Camp Hilligoss shelter at Upper Lena Lake, located near its inlet from Milk Lake. 

scouts at Lena Lake

Putvin cabin at Upper Lena Lake

USFS built several ranger or guard stations on the Dosewallips in the 1920s and '30s, including Corrigenda, Miner's Creek, Muscott, Dose Meadows and Honeymoon Meadows, as well as several trail and road work camps (Jupiter, Gamm Creek, Ninemile, Tenmile, Elkhorn and Happy Camps) and trail shelters.  Some of these sites can still be located.  Might you remember which of these you worked at?

I did go search from Jack "Whiskers" Conrad's cabin site near Sink Lake, but couldn't locate it.  The Sink Lake Shelter survives, thanks to maintenance by Friends of Olympic Trail Shelters.

Some other photos you might enjoy from USFS.

Quilcene CCC at Penny Creek Camp

Mt. Townsend lookout

We have lost so many - nearly all - of the historic structures in Olympic NF and NP.  Your memories of them are valued, and the very few which survive are all the more significant to us.

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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

[Dick B]

Meck & Rod F: Thanks for the response regarding old Quilcene structures. I have some pictures I would like to forward to you. Rod, I sent you some pics some time ago which you posted for me. I still haven't taken the time to try to figure out how to do myself. If both would send your email addresses to me at "landsurveyor939@hotmail.com" I can also send you some narratives about what I remember from those many years ago. Anyhow I have pics of the following: Mt. Townsend LO as a shell, Tull City, Mt Walker LO, Jupiter LO, Corrigenda GS, old Quil ranger station, and maybe some more if I can dig them up. Photos are taken from slides so the quality is not the best.
Regarding Lena Lake shelter. As I remember it was on the SE side of the lake near the out let. We had a hellava beer party there one night after clearing the trail in from the road.
I recall the CCC camp consisted of 2 remaining buildings. On the right side, going up the road, was the crew quarters, and the left (south side) was the cook shack. Both buildings were pretty well run down, and I think were abandoned at the end of the summer of '54.
I so happen to be camping with my old buddy from back in those days. He spent several summers at Corrigenda so we will be swapping stories of those days. His first posting with the FS was at Dry Creek on the south shore of Lake Cushman. He has a humorous account of his time there. I will ask him to share it with you if you are interested.
Dick

[Ski]

Dick B:

Thank you very much.
Your contributions are greatly appreciated and are invaluable.
The National Park Service and National Forest Service weren't very good about documenting structures until very late in the game.
Archival photos and anecdotal oral histories are the de facto history.
Any and all photos of old structures (including the hitching rails and outhouses) and stories are all little pieces of a great big puzzle, and all will be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Brian

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

[RodF]

Dick B. generously shares these photos taken in 1955.

Mt. Jupiter Lookout

Mount Walker Lookout

Quilcene Ranger Station

Quilcene Ranger Station

Tubal Cain mine

Tull City

Mount Townsend Lookout

Fire crew headed to Silver Lakes

fire crew at Boulder Shelter

Corrigenda Guard Station (Dosewallips)

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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

[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.