Vol 1 No. 1 - October 2006

Beginnings of the Society

Back in October 1933, the Washington Historical Quarterly published an article entitled “The Big Bottom: 1833-1933.” It was the first comprehensive history of this area. The next effort to publicly capture some of the area's history was in 1954 when the Packwood Community Study produced “Packwood on the March.” Another 35 years passed before Betty Panco penned “Look Behind You Through A Window to the Past” in 1989; it was a brief history of the Packwood area. In 2004, LaVonne Sparkman came out with “From Homestead to Lakebed,” a history of the Kosmos area. Then in 2005, Mrs. Sparkman collaborated with Irma Boyer to write “Where the Big Bottom Begins,” a history of the Randle area. Through all these years, folks collected historical information, but to my knowledge, there has never been a serious effort to start a historical society for the area east of Morton.

Enter Janice Grose. Janice is the first grade teacher at White Pass Grade School . (I say White Pass because a couple years ago both Glenoma and Packwood Grade Schools closed their doors forever, and the students were transferred to Randle Grade School . Hence the name of the adjacent High School, where all our students attend, should rightfully be placed upon the now consolidated Grade School. Anyway, I digress.) Janice comes from the pioneer Art Ray family who homesteaded in the Packwood area about 1914. As you can see, she has roots here.

In May 2006 Janice called a few of us whom she knew to be interested in local history. We discussed the idea of forming an historical society. Although our original number was only four (later growing to eleven), we were enthusiastic about the idea, and pressed ahead. Our thought was that a few people could more easily get the paperwork started than could a large group. Fast forward to September: we have to date appointed a registered agent (Martha Garoutte), an interim secretary (Janice Grose), an interim treasurer (Martha Garoutte), three interim Board of Directors (Janice Grose, Fred Little and Dave Garoutte), and submitted to the State of Washington Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. We chose the name “White Pass Country Historical Society” to capture our area of interest, from Kosmos east to the summit of White Pass. We received a employer number, printed off a membership form (by September 16, 2006 we have an enrollment of more than 25), and the beginnings of a website. We soon will make a bid for the Packwood Grade School as a building for a museum. We plan to apply for 510(c)(3) tax-exempt status and begin seeking grants in the immediate future.

There is a lot of history in this valley. Although a lot has been lost forever with the passing of the generations, still a lot remains. In many respects we have access to more information than did our forebears. For instance, when the Packwood Community Study was published in 1954, it was still believed that Packwood and Longmire discovered the Big Bottom valley in 1854. The diaries of U.S. Forest Service ranger (at Packwood) William Sethe, covering the years from 1921-1942, were yet undiscovered, and Martha Hardy had not yet recorded her interviews with many children of the original valley pioneers. This information deals principally with the Packwood area; we have yet to discover many untold stories of the Kosmos/Glenoma, Randle and Cispus areas.

And so we appeal to our present members, our future members and folks wherever they may live who have an interest in our local history to come forth with stories and ideas whereby we might better serve the community.

Report on the First Annual Meeting

We're up and running! The First Annual Meeting of the White Pass Country Historical Society is in the books. The consensus was that it was a success, although I would call it a qualified success rather than a resounding success. I mean, I had a vision of a standing room only crowd. A full house. No matter that it was a dark, somewhat rainy October night during the school week. Our goal was so visionary, so noble I expected a crowd comparable to that which came for free food to the Packwood Merchant's Picnic, or the Big Bottom Blast. In other words, we set out more chairs than we had occupants. Or recruits, if you prefer.

But we had highlights. Janice Grose's speech was magnificent! She was suffering from a sore throat, recovering from laryngitis, and positively inspired by the crowd. At least that was my impression. Then there was Margie Lloyd, who with her husband Paul (Hoss), came all the way from Chehalis especially for our meeting. Ever the source of additional inspiration, Margie unveiled a 1915-era doll intended as a gift from Frances Scalf. Thanks Margie and Frances.

We had a most remarkable portent in the attendance of an Onalaska couple – Sharyn and Lewis Packwood. Think of it. The original post office of Sulphur Springs evolved into the community of Lewis which was renamed Packwood twenty years later. That Mr. Packwood spells his name Lewis rather than Louis, and came to our very first meeting is just too much to be a coincidence.

We also had Noel McCrae come up from Kelso. That's a far piece. We certainly appreciate the interest shown by folks, and look forward to the future and ever increasing interest in this endeavor.

With apologies to those attendees I have not mentioned, may I end this summary with the acknowledgement that we did elect a Board of Directors: Janice Grose to the three-year term; Dave Garoutte to the two-year term, and Fred Little to the one-year term. The board will in turn appoint a treasurer, a secretary and a president, in no particular order. Martha Garoutte has done an excellent job as interim treasurer and has agreed to stay on. We are seeking an interested person to be secretary. As for president, it is my expressed opinion that Jan did such a splendid job of presiding over the meeting that she is easily the preferred nominee of the other board members, not that we would ever contemplate ganging up on her. She's just too swell, too organized, and too young for that!

hank you all for attending and supporting our idea. And a special thank you to the six new members who joined the White Pass Country Historical Society. We really appreciate you.

A Story From the Past

Used to be, the newspapers from the Chehalis/ Centralia area had correspondents out our way. This resulted in somewhat better coverage than we have today. In addition to the news of the week, one such fellow - using the name Simon Pure - added a little extra color to his account of an incident in March 1911.

Did you hear about our wind? No? Well now I tell you it was some wind. The night had just gin up the ghost and faded clean away into broad daylight when the sun peeped over the ridge and poked his long forefinger into Charlie's eye. About that time the neighbors begun to be cognizant of a almighty uproar in the matter of things general and special. That wuz on the 27th of last month. Well to continer as I wuz saying, there upstarted a terrific commotion in motion along the firing line of the whole universe, and space began to look skeered like and seemed to be flying for life and wuz about to leave this mundane asteroid by itself and alone way back intew nowhere, without any emptiness around and no stars to shine or moon for the dog to bark at, as George Washington was heard to observe. The whole sky looked kinder swept off and deserted like and the wind wuz hummin around the mountain corners like an hornet on tanglefoot while the trees wuz a tettering and flinging branches like a juggler in a circus. There wuz trees fell that never fell down before and for ten miles our formerly and previously and immaculate roads was continously and uninterruptedly strewed with the pillage and leaves of atmospheric pandemoniacs. Well that's the whole thing in a nut shell but as a sequel to the story one of the neighbors cows had the switch broken from off its tail by a tree branch and one of the primeval denizens of the forest smote a corner from this same neighbor's house.

Archaeology Project Explores First Settlers in the Packwood Area

By Rick McClure and Cheryl Mack

Rick McClure is the Forest Archaeologist for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest . Cheryl Mack is an archaeologist and Rick's better half. They wrote the book, “”For The Greatest Good”, the Early History of Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which will be featured for a future Recommended Reading selection. Rick and Cheryl have together and separately written many reports and papers about history and archaeology in and about the Forest . For a report similar to the article below, fire up the old computer and go to http://www.nps.gov/archive/mora/ncrd/archaeology/chap3b.htm

You'll learn more about local archaeology that you ever would have thought possible.

Rick gave a power point presentation about the Beech Creek site at one of our organizational meetings for the Historical Society. We were impressed, and Jan especially so: her secretary report for that meeting originally included almost a frame-by-frame review of Rick's presentation.

When we think of settlers and pioneers, the image that comes to mind is of a weary family of emigrants, their sole possessions in a covered wagon, seeking a new hope and a new home on the American frontier. The first people to settle in the upper reaches of the Cowlitz River valley, however, came thousands of years before the first homesteaders took up their land claims in the Big Bottom country. We don't know the names of these first settlers; we don't know what language they spoke. Archaeologists refer to them as Pioneer Period peoples. Little is known of their lifeways and culture.

An archaeological project at Packwood during the summer of 2006 focused on an early residential site that was home to a band of these Pioneer Period folk. It may well be the oldest site in the Upper Cowlitz basin. With the assistance of a cadre of 28 volunteers, Forest Service archaeologists completed the careful and scientific excavation of 25 one-by-one meter excavation units -- a total volume of 28.8 cubic meters – and recovered 36,194 artifacts, the largest sample of artifact material from any site within Gifford Pinchot National Forest . Archaeologists are currently grappling with the difficulty of processing and analyzing the large sample of material.

Most artifacts recovered in the 2006 sample are lithic debitage, the debris resulting from stone tool manufacture. Almost all is local andesite or basalt material. Cores -- the larger pieces of stone used to produce flakes -- as well as tool blanks and preforms reflect other stone workshop activities and various stages in the manufacturing process. Finished tools include projectile points, cobble choppers, and a wide variety of scraping, cutting, and punch tools. Projectile point types are primarily Cascade points and shouldered lanceolate forms, typical of other Pioneer Period sites in the Pacific Northwest .

The deep, homogeneous deposits which contain the artifact material provide few clues to the age of the site and duration of use. One of the project goals was to sample the site area broadly to try to locate dateable subsurface cultural features, such as fire hearths or structural remains. It was only in the last few days of the project that charcoal suitable for radiocarbon dating was identified within the cultural deposits, in direct association with artifact material. Results of radiocarbon dating analysis are expected later this fall. The relationship of artifact material to a pocket of volcanic ash from Mt. Mazama suggests the occupations are at least 6800 to 7000 years old.

ne of the project objectives is to look at what the site tells us about settlement and land-use. Toward that end, we will be evaluating our results against an existing theoretical model of prehistoric land use in the southern Washington Cascades. Analysis will be underway during the year ahead. Preliminary project results will be made public during a special program hosted by the Oregon Archaeological Society in April 2007, at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland .