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Sunday, August 29, 2010

A Brief Journey Up the Entiat Valley


Click on any picture to see the full-size version.

Grandpa Harold built this home on a piece of land in the Entiat Valley.


A few years later he sold the home and the new owners moved it up to the road. They used Grandpa's home as a 'temporary' home while they built the cinder-block home you see here, around it. The site of Grandpa's original home is behind the clump of evergreens at the base of the 'little bump' hill right-of-center in this picture.


Grandpa and Grandma Sines' family home is still standing. The exterior no longer resembles the wood 'vaneer' original home but it still has it's original shape and has been well taken care of over the years.
This Sines family and extended 'family reunion' picture, taken in front of the house, was taken after Roy and Russell returned home from serving in WWII. Front row: Ronnie Stockwell, Rose Stockwell (Mom) Back row: Great Grandma Gertie, Uncle Roy, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Atha, Uncle Russell, Grandma Mildred, Great Grandpa Martin, Grandpa Harold.


The original house on the original site.


This was taken in the barnyard to the east of the house. Ronnie is on Blaze, Mom is on Baldy, and Great Grandpa Martin is in between them.


This picture shows the same area of the property where the picture above was taken, but with the camera pointing east instead of west. Grandma had a huge garden and the current owner has one where the barnyard was. No wonder everything grows so well!



Ardenvoir Gradeschool where Mom's cousins went to school. The fire-escape on the left was used as a slide during recess.


The swimmin' hole (left of the large rock at the center of the picture).


Cooper's General Store, where Grandpa Harold got credit when he worked at the mill.


Uncle Fred's barn.


Brief, WA city limits. The schoolhouse where Uncle Ralph made his choice to serve God in 1932 is no longer standing (forest fire) but we think we saw where it used to be.


Artist's rendition of the Brief Schoolhouse



I am fascinated by the 'old road'. You can see pieces of the 'old road' along Hwy 97 as you drive from Entiat to Chelan. I love the little chunk of it you see off on the right just as you come out of the north end of the Knapps Hill tunnel. The reason it fascinates me is because of the stories Grandpa Harold used to tell me about it as we drove up to Chelan convention.
My favorite part of the road is the Knapps Hill section. Grandpa said that the cars would go up this section one at a time - and had to go in reverse to take advantage of the compression braking.
The first picture shows the lower part of the road as you head up the hill (some day when I have a 4-wheel drive I will go further up the road). The second picture is a long-shot of the tunnel, and if you click on the picture and go all the way to the right you can see a lot of the road as it goes up the hill. I can almost see a line of Model T's waiting at the bottom of the hill as one car at a time backs slowly up the hill.




View of the road from above.


Grandpa Harold's first car.


A picture found in Grandpa Harold's belongings.

6 comments:

Kim Woodbury said...

Love all the pictures. I feel the same way about the old roads, I was always fascinated by the pieces that were left and I even remember seeing wagon wheel ruts from the Oregon Trail in Nebraska.

gENA bAKER said...

Love these reminiscing photos of my dear old Entiat Valley and places and people I knew long years ago!!

Jordan Blackburn said...

I love the Entiat Valley, it seems to me like the land that time forgot. I miss the smell of cottonwood and the river. I think what I miss the most is my Grandma Alice and my Grandpa Howard. The Entiat is not the same without them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. I had also heard the stories about backing up the tunnel hill. Milt's dad, Ross Steele, was born in 1902 and lived almost his whole life in the Chelan valley. I loved him and his stories.
Patty

Anonymous said...

Hi Lane & Sylvia,
My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about Entiat to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Jane

Anonymous said...

I wanted to tell you my aunt and uncle purchased Brief and made it their home for 25+ years ...I spent my summers there fishing and enjoying the peace and beauty of the area...I met many valley folks and miss it terribly ...i used to sleep in the log home that still stands on the property