Tye River Valley

This USGS map shows the Tye River Valley with Alpine (on the right) and property the Alpine Lumber Company owned (in the center). The yellow circles correspond approximately to the photographer's position in the photos below.

Lee Pickett photo looking east down the valley in 1931. The Stevens Pass Highway is on the right and runs diagonally to the center of the picture where it curves around the base of the the hill. On the left there is a bridge crossing the Tye River. This view includes Sections 28 and 29 where the Alpine Lumber Company owned property so the bridge may have been for their logging railroad. The Company started a camp in September 1919 in Section 28 but there don't appear to be any buildings in any of these photos. Alpine is about three miles from here, right center of the photo on the mountain in the background.

Another 1931 photo looking east, the Stevens Pass Highway is on the left and runs diagonally to the center of the photo. The Great Northern Railway tracks are on the right, half way up the mountain.

Looking northwest from Great Northern Railway bridge 413 at Mile Post 1726.3 in 1933.

Looking west down the valley in 1931.The Stevens Pass Highway is at left center, Great Northern Railway tracks are on the left.

View to the southwest from Embro, the old Great Northern depot at mile post 1715. Alpine is across the valley on the right, below the tops of the fir trees in the foreground.

July 10 Visit to Alpine

Alpine, WA July 15, 2011.

A few of us were at Alpine last weekend, I haven't had time to work on any photos yet. We staked out three corners of the sawmill, shown on this map as red circles:

The red x on the map is approximately 30 feet north of the railroad signal.

We scaled off the map and used the creek as a reference point so the stakes may be 10 or 20 feet off from where the mill actually was. We hung some paper plates from the trees above each stake if anyone is interested in looking at our work.

I just completed a CD with 35 pictures of Alpine, available in two styles: Mod and Ultra Mod, both free of charge. It includes all the maps you have seen on this blog, some old photos, modern photos and an introduction written by Tim Raetzloff, Senior Fellow at the planned-for Alpine Foundation. Using the information on this CD you can find the place, navigate around town, locate old buildings, and so on and so forth. If you want one send me your name and address and I will mail it to you.

mattcawby@gmail.com

The Shingle Mill

Alpine, WA July 7, 2011.

The Alpine Lumber Company shingle mill was a couple of hundred feet east of the lumber mill, it is the small building in the foreground in this photo. The smokestacks at the mill are about where we have excavated some of the concrete mill foundation.

The 1919 Annual Banquet and Dance book has a list of the mill equipment that includes one Sumner upright shingle machine, probably housed inside this building.

The Sumner Iron Works produced three models of upright shingle machines: the Standard that cut 16" shingles, the High-Standard that cut 16" and 18" shingles, and the Gold Medal that cut 16", 18", and 24" shingles. Pictured here is the Gold Medal, the Alpine mill may have used a different model though.

 

In June we found a concrete thing near the shingle mill, this may have been a base for the engine that powered the shingle machine. The floor would have been 8 or 10 feet above the engine and it was probably connected to the shingle machine by a belt. In this photo we are looking west toward the lumber mill. The concrete foundation of the mill is about 200 feet in the distance.

The Sumner Iron Works was in Everett and produced sawmill and logging equipment. The Nippon Lumber Company owned one Sumner roader, a steam donkey with a horizontal boiler. Acrowood Corporation, a manufacturer of forest products equipment, now occupies the old Sumner Iron Works factory at 4425 South Third Avenue in Everett.