Alpine, WA

Matthew Schuh, known to youtube as Shadowmeboy filmed this video close to Alpine.

Alpine

The last 2 weekends Alpine has turned up everywhere. The car on the left is an Sunbeam Alpine . The other 2 are classic Hillmans. These were in Black Diamond. Teresa A Anderson took the photos. The 2nd photo is of the Alpine logo on the car. The 3rd photo is of a business in Meadowbrook, a former town - now part of Snoqualmie. The business is Alpine Coachworks, as you can see. I have no idea if they prepared Cinderella's coach for the fairy godmother.

Another My Search for Alpine Monday. This excerpt is from either 2008 or 2009. Great Northern Day has been cancelled the last 2 years because of covid. Great Northern Day in Skykomish

Each year in September the Skykomish Historical Society and the Great Northern Railway Historical Society sponsor "Great Northern Day" on a Saturday. Veterans of the Great Northern Railway, railfans, and anybody who has an interest gather in the small museum in Skykomish, Washington to talk about the history of the railroad. The Great Northern Railway ceased to exist in 1970, nearly 40 years ago, and the number of railroad veterans is smaller every year. Some who come are model railroaders in search of information that will make their model railroad layout accurate in every detail. Some are people who like to take pictures of trains, and like to see old pictures of old trains. Some, like me, are interested in the history - history of the railroad and history of the towns and people who once lived there. We gather in Skykomish; in 2008 the gathering was on September 13. Skykomish was once an important stop on the Great Northern Railway. Electric engines were connected to trains in Skykomish to pull the trains through the "new" Cascade Tunnel. A power plant to electrify the railroad by converting the AC from the power grid to DC for the electric motors once stood in Skykomish. It is long gone, and the roundhouse is long gone, and almost everything else is long gone. More than 2000 people once lived in Skykomish - fewer than 300 live there now. But a renaissance may be at hand.

Skykomish is in the process of moving almost the entire town. Actually the downtown is being moved out of its space and moved back again. During the time that the Great Northern Railway used Skykomish as its west Cascade headquarter, there was oil stored in tanks. Those tanks leaked into the soil and, ultimately, into the south fork of the Skykomish River. In 2006 a project began to remove the oil and clean the soil. To accomplish this end the buildings in the town must be moved from the locations where they have stood for 100 years or more. After the contamination in the soil is removed the buildings are placed back in the original positions on new foundations. The McEvoy house, which stands next to the Cascadia, looks to be in the best condition it has seen in 100 years. The project has been a strain on Skykomish and Skykomish businesses. If Skykomish survives the move, the town may be in the best condition that it has ever been. A new "Town Center" is planned for Skykomish. The "Town Center" will include vintage Great Northern Railway engines and cars. The old Great Northern depot will move back near its original location on the south side of the railroad tracks.

Sky lives on into a 2nd century. The other towns of the upper Sky Valley - Heybrook, Halford, Baring, Grotto, Miller River (Berlin), Tye (Wellington), Corea, Scenic (Madison), Embro (Alvin), and Alpine are gone or much reduced in size. Index, at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Skykomish River is also reviving some. Index has purchased Heybrook Ridge to the south and the granite "Climbing Wall" on the north, to preserve the character and appearance of the town. The combined effort to buy those assets cost nearly 2 million dollars, and will continue to need financial donations for some years to come to properly maintain the assets. Index has at least one other worthy project that isn't yet complete. The Bush House was a well-known hotel and restaurant from 1898 until the turn of the millennium. Reputedly, 3 United States Presidents have stayed there. The record isn't entirely clear on the first 2, but President Truman certainly stayed there during his campaign in 1948. The Bush House is now in a state of near collapse; it will be a shame if it is not preserved, but the cost for it will certainly run more than 1 million dollars to repair. I hope that Index may find the energy to preserve this portion of its heritage. I have never stayed in the Bush House, but I and my family enjoyed several wonderful dinners there during the 1980s and 1990s.

If we go ahead with a project to preserve Alpine from further destruction by the forest and weather, it will probably cost an amount similar to what Index has spent on their projects.

But I have gotten ahead of the story. I had begun to search for Alpine in June of 2008 and in mid-September 2008 I still hadn't found it. I hoped that someone would be able to help me find Alpine. In that I was almost successful at Great Northern Day, and I had a chance to have enjoyable conversations with a number of people.

Several people suggested that I talk to Pat Casey. Pat is known as the "Foss River Hermit". He lives well up the Foss River Road, near the Foss River trestle of the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad. The Foss River trestle was built by the Great Northern Railway, the predecessor of the BNSF. I called Pat Casey a few days later and met him in Skykomish the next week. With Pat I walked along the BNSF railroad tracks to the site of the Tonga Station on the old Great Northern. Pat owns the southeast corner of the old Tonga townsite, but most of it is owned by Longview Fibre. When we walked the land in September 2008 it had already been surveyed in preparation for logging. At the site of the old depot we found bricks, broken crockery, and the remains of what appeared to be at least 2 wood stoves. Whatever else may be under the growth will probably be crushed by heavy equipment logging the area. That will be a shame. But Pat had never visited Alpine in the 45 years that he had owned a place on Foss River and didn't know exactly where it might be or how to get to it. Pat did have a suggestion. In Startup, at the little white church that was now an art gallery, I would find Bill Schlicker. He owned property in the general vicinity of Alpine. If he didn't own Alpine he would probably know who did own it. Pat also mentioned his brother-in-law, Jack Christensen, who lives in Edmonds. Jack is a former Northern Pacific and BNSF engineer. He is a noted artist, usually painting railroad scenes, and as a local railroad historian he often speaks to groups about railroading. Jack is also my neighbor, only about 8 houses down 9th Avenue, but we had never met. He is a very interesting man, but he really had no information about the town of Alpine.

Several people at Great Northern Day in Skykomish also suggested that I talk to Ted Cleveland. I had met Ted 2 years before when he had been one of the speakers at Great Northern Day. Ted was born in Skykomish. He worked for the Great Northern Railway. He had been the fireman on the last electric engine that had left Skykomish to pull a train through the Cascade Tunnel on May 31, 1956. Ted had been mayor of Skykomish twice. When I called Ted he remembered Alpine. He had ridden the train through the vicinity of Alpine hundreds of times. But more than that, he remembered Alpine. He remembered seeing Alpine as a boy, when he was 5 or 6 years old, he had walked into Alpine with his father. The buildings had been empty. There was no one there but the wood and concrete evidence that this had once been something. But as to how to easily get there now he didn't have an answer. Ted did suggest, as Pat Casey had, that I talk to Bill Schlicker in Startup.

It was the last person I met at Great Northern Day, Matt Cawby, who had the most immediate interest in Alpine. Matt is a photographer from Mountlake Terrace, WA. I quickly infected Matt with the Alpine Flu and within 2 weeks he found Alpine and took photos which are at his web site. Matt is noted for photographing Boeing jets, but he also is interested in trains and the history of the Great Northern Railway. He and his dog walked into Alpine and took pictures, then matched the present day photos to archive photos at the Skykomish Museum. Unfortunately it was a few more days before Matt let me know how to find, and more importantly how to get into, Alpine. By then I had visited the little white church in Startup, talked to Bill Schlicker, gotten permission to visit Alpine, and learned the shortest way in. For Bill Schlicker did indeed own Alpine, but confirming that had been a task in itself.