Section 27

Alpine, WA May 17, 2011.

I was scouting around Section 27 today and got a picture of the Alpine vicinity from the Tye River.

You can see my position in relation to Alpine on this map.

This is a very interesting area. The Stevens Pass Highway, from 1924 until maybe 1940, was on the far side of the river bank. You can see a culvert pipe where the road has washed out, but the grade is still visible to the left of the pipe, curves around to the left of the transmission tower, then continues east about 1000 feet where it crossed the Tye River. In the area marked Centerline of road, there is an old railroad grade, possibly the Alpine Lumber Company logging railroad. The Alpine Lumber Company, Nippon Lumber Company, and C.L. Clemens owned 200 acres in Section 28 near Profitts Pond, according to a 1936 Metskers map. I haven't seen any evidence of where the railroad crossed the river but today I found what looks like an old grade near the area marked Gravel Pit on the map.This looks promising and will be explored later, maybe Sunday.