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The Cle Elum depot was once a communication center for the railroad as well as for the community. During the first half of the 20th Century, the telegraph with Morse code was the primary means of communication between communities and up and down the railroad. On September 16th, in commemoration, or actually in celebration of the telegraph- the depot once again resonated with the clicks and clacks of Morse code. The depot’s bay window train order office was set up as it might have appeared in 1947. Our wire chief and telegraph operator, Mr. LR Keith did a wonderful job of putting the equipment together and get the telegraph up and running. Using vintage telegraph equipment, but with a few new variations, such as a modem connected to a phone line to a dialup Morse hub, Cle Elum was able to communicate with the outside world. Once again South Cle Elum was an on line community. Mr. Keith transmitted the first telegram to all points at 345pm. The first incoming message was received from International Morse Telegraph Club President Lavina Shaw. Following this, six more telegrams were copied which came from offices in Spokane, WA to East Syracuse, NY and between Vancouver, BC and Montreal, Quebec. Veteran telegrapher LR Keith of Ritzville claimed “Never-ever was the response to the telegraph so well received as at Cle Elum that day!” The sound of the telegraph was a magical sound. Even though most of us couldn’t understand what the sounds of the Morse code meant, we knew that it was linking us with the rest of the continent. The sound of the telegrams being typed out brought the feeling of sense of urgency. The telegraph has arrived at the Milwaukee Road Cle Elum office, or known by its historic telegraphic call sign, “CM”. “73” (telegraphic shorthand
for regards)
The South Cle Elum Railyard benefited greatly this past weekend by a visit from Boy Scout Troop 325, based out of the First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach, Washington. The 12-strong troop helped move a truckload of topsoil to lay the foundation for an herb garden that will supply the Depot Cafe kitchen, and transported dozens of wheelbarrow loads of gravel to build a 50-foot long wheelchair-accessible pathway from the depot ADA path to the caboose display. Long-time volunteer Mike Burbridge from Bellevue was there the full day as well, toting that shovel, lifting that rake, to remove loads of rocks from the garden area, and shouldering a lot of gravel along with the Troop. Yours truly ran the portable compactor to get the caboose pathway smooth and solid. Troop 325 members included: Adult supervisors: Bob Plaag, Ass't Scoutmaster
Scouts: Denny Ramey, Sr. Patrol Leader
This is the first Scout Troop we have had assisting work at the South Cle Elum Railyard National Historic District, and we are most honored and grateful. The installation of the ADA pathway to the caboose means now all but one of our significant features at the railyard are accessible to wheelchair patrons. And we'll that that last one (the caboose shack) taken care of shortly! Photos of the work party will be posted on our website. Thanks, one and all! -dmg
After almost seven years
of hard work and about $1 million later (cash and in-kind), we will be
celebrating the grand re-opening of the South
The Depot Cafe will be open at 7am that day, under the august management of our VP, Brian Lee. We will have special events July 1-4. This also coincides with "Pioneer Days" in Cle Elum, an annual community celebration which has a terrific parade at about 10am down the main street of Cle Elum. A major highlight will be the unveiling of a 14' long diorama of the Renslow Trestle in H-O scale, constructed by our HOTL group, headed up by former CRF board member Ron Cole and current CRF board member John Stenger. The diorama will be mounted on a custom display case created by John Wayne Trail Rider Tom Short. Additional exhibits at the depot will be added over the course of the summer. We will also be installing two 1915 tri-color signals later this summer, which were reconditioned by the Mendenhall brothers and father, under the project management of Dave Sprau. I want to particularly acknowledge the ongoing support of the Casey Albert T. O'Neil Foundation and the Dean S. Edmonds Foundation, both of which have provided invaluable annual funding since our humble beginnings. The Town of South Cle Elum has also provided great support for the project, through hotel/motel tax funds, managing two USDA Forest Service grants, and nominating us for the 2006 state historic preservation planning award, received from the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation last month. The 2,200 foot-long interpretive trail through the railyard, with 18 signs encapsulating the history of the Milwaukee Railroad at South Cle Elum, will be complete as well. CRF board member Mark Borleske has headed up this project for the past two years, with major funding support from Mark and Rae Lembersky, the National Park Service, and both foundations mentioned above. The interpretive trail is wheelchair accessible. Hope all those in the area can make it for this long-awaited event! A map to the depot is available on our website, listed below. The South Cle Elum Railyard
National Historic District is a collaborative venture of Washington State
Parks and Recreation (the
-dmg
Hello Everyone Mark down July 1st, 2006 on your calendars.....that's the weekend of the grand opening of The Depot Café! It's been a long time coming but we are finally there. Everything is coming together nicely now. The kitchen should be completed in a couple of weeks. Parks will have the ADA access to the building completed and a certificate of occupancy by the end of this month. We are looking for a site manager now so hiring can get underway for cooks, counter and wait staff. Phone service gets set up tomorrow. I'll post the number as soon as it's official. The Depot Café will
be serving breakfast and lunch in the beginning. It will be a basic menu
using quality ingredients served in a beautiful environment. We will also
be offering catered events and banquet facilities in the evenings. Please
contact us if you have needs for a reunion, rehearsal dinner, birthdays
or anniversaries. We can comfortably accommodate 40 guests and we can serve
anything from burgers and hot dogs to steak and lobster.....you choose!
Interpretive Trail Work Party
On Saturday, April 15th, we had a hugely successful work party on the Interpretive Trail. It represented a major milestone where we have dug holes and set the posts for the interpretive signs on the trail. This was done under the supervision of Archaeologist Fennelle Miller. A crew of volunteers from the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders really got down to business and got the hole digging underway. Many thanks to Tom Short, Jim Westall and Ray Ewing. We also received the metal signposts which will support the interpretive trail narrative panels, which are due in May 2006. The signposts were fabricated by Roger Repenn of Renton. They are metal and have a nice powder coat finish and are exceptionally well constructed. Roger was accompanied by his wife Judye who helped deliver the signposts right to the depot. Once the holes were dug for the Interpretive Trail (think about playing 18 holes on a Saturday morning), the trail crew broke for lunch. Archaeologist Miller was satisfied that the historic and archeological integrity was not harmed, and her on site work was completed. After lunch the trail crew mixed cement and set 18 interpretive signposts in their holes. With the sign posts in place, we now await installation of the interpretive panels, measuring 18 x 24 inches, which are currently being fabricated by Fossil Industries of Deer Park, New York. The prototype of a Fossil sign was installed by the caboose last Fall. Installation of the interpretive panels on the signposts is expected to take place in mid to late-May. On behalf of the Cascade Rail Foundation, I wish to thank everyone who participated in this effort of getting the interpretive trail advanced to this point. We have made major progress April 15th, there is another work party on the Interpretive Trail Sat. April 22 and work parties at the depot every weekend through Memorial Day weekend. Respectfully,
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission held their latest meeting in Cle Elum yesterday with a dinner at the depot planned for the evening. Mary Pittis and I attended the meeting in the morning and accepted two awards from the commission acknowledging the Cascade Rail Foundation's ongoing efforts to work with Parks in the development of the South Cle Elum site. After staying to listen to
some of the ongoing business we broke away to head over to the depot to
prepare for last nights function. We arrived at the depot to find Steve
Klingle hard at work putting the finishing touches on the south platform.
Fascia is on, stairs installed and clean-up complete.
Metal plates and cups were cleverly wrapped in bandanas with a stick to serve as a "Hobo" dinning service. Throughout the building various items were displayed both for the 1948 "theme" year and showing the progress made on the building from 1999 to date while a mix of music from the 30's- 50's played in the background. Rounding out the experience were Mark Borleske as a conductor, Kathie Technow as an early day traveler, John Stenger as a brakeman and Mary Pittis as the sassy waitress. I think the commissioners and other Parks personnel had a great time taking it all in as they ate Hobo stew, salad, cornbread muffins for dinner and home baked pie for dessert. I know I did! The evening really made all of the hard work that everyone has put into this worth it. This Saturday, March 18th, we have aboard meeting at the depot from noon till 4:00PM. Everyone is welcome. We will be focusing on start-up planning (hopefully setting a date), and operations in general. Development of the South Cle Elum Railyard is a cooperative effort between Washington State Parks and the Cascade Rail Foundation. To be removed from this list
just let me know!
Brian H Lee
It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated everyone and a lot has gone on. Last weekend we had a very productive couple of days. On Friday the 17th I loaded up the CRF van with cabinet parts and headed over the big hill to meet with our Food Services of America (FSA) rep to go over menu items. Now that we have a cost breakdown for food I can get to work on pricing and menu layout. We need to have this done for submission to Parks for review. Saturday morning started
out with Donovan and myself working on assembly of the cabinets. Woodway
Woodworks & Cabinets www.woodwaywoodworks.com built them for
us (in a knock down form for easier transportation) and they were primed
and received a first coat of paint by K&K Finishes
Saturdays board meeting was productive as well. We elected Bruce Reason to the board. Bruce is no stranger to the project. He has been coming out to work parties and been following our progress since the beginning. One of the biggest things we had to address was our opening date. We have long considered May 1st as our "soft" opening date with May 26th, Memorial Day weekend as our target date for the grand opening of The Beanery Café (yes, our officially registered name!), but that is now in question. Due to some permit and design issues the parking area and ADA paths may not be completed in time for the soft opening. We are now considering moving everything back about one month. We will know more in another week or so after Parks gets some permitting issues resolved. Yesterday Dick Pittis and I installed the rest of the light fixtures in the kitchen. At long last we have full lighting. Some cook is going to be mighty happy in that space!! Steve Klingle from Lake Easton State Park has finished up the gas piping and is waiting on an inspection of that. Once it's passed the fire suppression system will be installed in the hood and we'll be ready to fire things up. The next work party will most likely be on Saturday, March 11th. As always, cleaning will be needed. I'll hope to get the last cabinet in place and install the countertops. A final coat of paint needs to be applied to the cabinets. If the weather is good we still have paint to scrape from the exterior of the windows and a bit more to do on the interior as well. Development and operation
of the South Cle Elum Railyard Historic District is the cooperative effort
of Washington State Parks and Cascade Rail Foundation.
Brian H Lee
We had a very productive weekend work party this past Saturday, all things considered. Several folks were held to the west side due to wind, rain, snow in the mountains and Super bowl plans. I hope everyone came through the weekend relatively unscathed from any of the above! Bruce Reason showed up first
thing armed with a truck load of cleaning supplies. An extension pole with
a custom attachment made for an excellent ceiling and upper wall cleaning
tool. Shortly following him were Rachel Baisa and new friends, Phil and
Judy Doolittle. Rachel and Judy went to work with Bruce while Phil and
I worked to clean up the freight room. Chris Scarlett showed up soon after
we got started and things started to fly!
At lunch time Doug showed up from the B&B with a pot of Ken's Railroad Chili and fresh cornbread. At the same time Rachel broke out quite a selection of fruits, cheeses and some fantastic sweet breads from a Mexican bakery in Sunnyside. I highly recommend the one filled with pumpkin!! After lunch Erin and John Coppin helped to cover the broken windows on the caboose with plywood while finishing touches where put on the depot cleaning. Chris and I finished out the day by re-installing the trim in the kitchen that needed to be removed for the hood installation. From now until our opening in May there will most likely be something going on at the site every Saturday. Cleaning will be an ongoing item as well as some additional construction tasks. We didn't get to the cabinets last weekend but I anticipate that will be happening on the 18th of February. We will also have a need for touch-up painting for those of you painters out there. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Development and operation of the South Cle Elum Railyard Historic District is the cooperative effort of Washington State Parks and Cascade Rail Foundation. Brian H Lee
Happy New Year Everyone! The new year brings an exciting time for the Cascade Rail Foundation and Washington State Parks. We are working hard to ready the depot for our grand opening in May of this year. The crew at Lake Easton State Park is working to finish up the gas piping for the kitchen, installation of the decking on the south platform and the heat system in the freight room. At the state level preparations are being made to send the parking lot surfacing job out to bid. Our group is working on marketing plans, restaurant planning and construction, website updates and modifications, fund raising, a written acquisition policy for our ongoing artifact collecting and developing guidelines for recruiting new board members and individuals to serve on a resource council. If you feel you can help out in any way you may reply to me or contact any one of us through the "Contact Us" link on the website. Now on to the work party! On Saturday, February 4th we'll be holding our first work party for the year. I have an ambitious goal for Saturday but there is still a lot more work to do after this part is completed! We need to reorganize the
freight room to give Parks enough space to work on the heating system.
Hopefully we'll have a couple of trucks on hand to help move things over
to the substation for storage.
Please let me know if you can attend and what portion you can help out with. We have some cleaning supplies on site but would welcome anyone bring rags, towels or buckets from home. The same goes for tools to help in doing finish work. Official hours are from 9:00 AM till 4:00 PM. Some of us will be on site earlier and some may stay later! Development of the South
Cle Elum Railyard is a cooperative effort between Washington State Parks
and the Cascade Rail Foundation.
Brian H Lee
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