Harbor History Museum Blog: May 2017

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Emmett Hunt's Diary Entry August 15, 1888

Ditto. Took a load of hay to W. Bay for G.H.L. then returned and lay by scow for Tac. Mill Co. till night and at 10:30 took it to the mill & anchored awaiting its unloading.

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Richard Marvin Peterson (9/20/1929-5/16/2017)

Services for Marvin will be held at 1:00 PM June 1, 2017 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 6730 N 17th Street, Tacoma, WA 98406

Richard Marvin Peterson - 1948 Peninsula High School Yearbook (Harbor History Museum)

Once you met Marvin, you would never forget him. He had a marvelous tinkle in his eyes and a great sense of humor. He was also a wealthy resource of history especially as it related to the Arletta/Cromwell/Rosedale area.

You can get a sense of his humor in the Peninsula High School Yearbook for 1948 reading information beside his picture: Marvin Peterson “Pete”. Hobby: Bookkeeping (keeping dates straight); “Study is a waste of time, and I sure hate to waste time.” Chorus 3, 4 years; Pup 3 (note: should this read Pep Club?) Football 1, 2, 4; Track 3; Service Club 3; Bus Driver 4; Lettermen’s Club 3, 4.

Fortunately for us, he recorded an oral history on his life and his family in August 2009. This is an attempt to sum up what he had to say in that interview. You are welcome to visit the museum and read a copy of the complete interview in the Gig Harbor Harbor History Museum’s Resource Room. Perhaps you had the opportunity to visit with Marvin and his wife, Shirley, on the days they volunteered as docents. If you did, you would have received a most interesting history lesson. You would have also been able to see a picture of his parents and a few of his 13 brothers and sisters at their farm in Arletta.

Marvin’s father, Konrad Berteus Ingeborg Peterson (1888-1972), immigrated to the United States from Skveiren, Nordland, Norge where he was born February 20, 1888. He arrived in Hayland, North Dakota in 1911 to work on a cousin’s farm in Hayland. Konrad was drafted June 5, 1917 into the US Army during WWI and served in France during the conflict. It was North Dakota where Konrad met and fell in love with a young lady name Cora, 14 years his junior. (Cora was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1902.) They were married in November 1920.

They married and many, thirteen, children followed. Not all the children are listed on the Family Tree on ancestry.com. Marvin lists them from oldest to youngest: Janice (1922), Elise (1924), Eileen (1925), Klarion (1926), Orlando (1928), himself Marvin (1929), Pat (1931), Lois, David (1937), Gail, Konrad (1943), Kathy. He listed Konrad twice, and I only put the date of birth for those I found on ancestry.com. And then I found a photocopy of Cora’s Find-a-Grave page where it is stated she gave birth to fourteen children and lists then as: Janis Geneva; Albs Audrey; Beatrice Eileen; Klarion Berg; Brenton Orlando; Richard Marvin; Patricia Ann; Lois Yvonne; Gail Lorraine; Eunice Orinne; David Wendell; Marianne Olive; Kathleen Berneice; and Konrad Bryce. So it is easy to understand Marv when he said in the oral history interview: “I guess that’s all - I don’t know how many I’ve got there.”

In 1928, Konrad and Cora decided to move to Arletta because they knew someone in the area, although Marv didn’t know exactly who it was, and I was unable to find out. Hans, Konrad’s brother didn’t move to Gig Harbor area until 1930. Back to the move, Konrad bought a brand new 1928 Chevrolet and drove to Gig Harbor; Cora and the children: Janis, Audrey, Eileen, Klarion, and Orlando came by train. They rented a house in Rosedale until the house was built. Marvin was the first child born to them in Washington. Once here they bought 24 acres with Hans, Konrad’s younger brother. Hans later bought another farm across the valley.

Marvin says that “As we grew up we had all kinds of children around so there was something to do all the time. Anyway as we got a little bit older, we ha a lot of work to do. We had wood stoves in the house and we had to cut all our wood. Everyday we had to fill the wood box in the kitchen - and kindling. We always has a job to do to clean the chicken house, clean the barn and feed the pigs because we had all those. And, then - I don’t know - we went to school at Arletta. We had one mile to go and we walked that every day - morning and night.”

In talking about their farm, Marv goes on to say “The place was called the Station at the time because there was so much activity going on always.” When Rosemary Ross was told about Marv’s passing, she had this to say; “I'm so sorry to hear about Marvin. I know he has been ill for some time. Yes, we were neighbors. He came from a big family. One of his sisters was my age and she (Lois) served as maid of honor at my wedding. I'm an only child but when I went there, there was always room for one more at their table. He and other brothers used to pick me up on Sunday evenings to go to Christian Endeavor at the Presbyterian Church (different religion now). He was kind of like a big brother to me. He will be missed at the museum and in the whole community.”

Mark driving, Klarion sitting on radiator,Orlando laying on the fenderLois and David on top, girl standing looking at camera unknown (Harbor History Museum)

The house was located one mile north of the Arletta store on Ray Nash Road (about the 4900 block). Although their house wasn’t very large, there was a bunk house for the boys and as Marv’s tells it “we slept out there all summer long ’til winter when it got so cold we couldn’t take it any more. But then the oldest were always usually gone.” They went to Tacoma to live at the YWCA after high school to work because they couldn’t get back and forth. Those still in school worked all year round after school and during the summer. Cutting wood, fixing the well, felling trees on their acreage and basically keeping everything on the farm in working order including the crops. But there was fun and games as well, especially after supper in the evenings. And of course there was the Arletta dock where they could fish. He says that they hung out mostly in Arletta because of the dock, or Horsehead Bay; Rosedale was like a foreign country to them.

When Marv was in high school he worked at Coleman’s Camp; a YMCA camp for kids from Seattle, and also for Kopa Chuck Lodge cutting grass. He attended Gig Harbor Union High School for the first 3 years, and then transferred to Peninsula High School after it was built for the final year. He would ride his motorcycle from home to Cromwell where the bus was garaged at the Cromwell School. On his way there, he rode by Warren waking everyone up so when he returned with the bus they were ready, then to Horsehead Bay for more students, and finally to Peninsula High School in Purdy.

While Marv was in high school his father had a gill net boat so he and his brother (he doesn’t mention which one but I’m thinking it was probably Orlando) would take the boat over to Dash Point, fish some, come back to Gig Harbor and go to school. This was before Peninsula was completed.

After graduation, 1948, 49 and 50 he fished with Emmett Ross (Ronald Ross’ dad) on his boat “Westland”. Marv fished with Nick Tarabochia on Tarabochia’s boat “Planet”. It was a purse seiner. They fished for salmon in the fall in the Puget Sound and then for dog fish livers in the ocean waters. This was probably 1950, the same year he was drafted to serve in the Korean Conflict. Or Korean War as it is now called. He actually received the draft notice while fishing; so he called them up and said “I’m out in the ocean. I can’t come in and I was supposed to report.” The Draft Board told him to “Report when you can.” Took his basic training at Fort Lewis and was suppose to go to Korea as a trainer for an infantry replacement. But just before they were to leave, he got transferred to Salzburg Austria for two years.

Mending nets; netshed in background. From Left: Dick Meyer, Emmett Ross, Marvin Peterson, John Ancich, Ronald Ross (Harbor History Museum)

After the war was over and he had returned home, he decided to take a trip to Illinois to see a girl; but not the one he married. When he arrived in Illinois his cousin visiting from Norway was staying with a young lady, Shirley and her family. This gave both Marv and Shirley an opportunity to get acquainted and still visit with the cousin. When Marv returned to Gig Harbor he and Shirley started a mail correspondence. A year later, Shirley went to Oregon to visit an aunt, and she came to Gig Harbor. Two weeks later, they became man and wife.

Shirley, being a good sport, went fishing with Marv but he decided it wasn’t that good of a good life. He went to work for Pacific Northwest Bell and US West and spent 36 years with them. They have three children, Lisa Helming, Mike and Tom Peterson.

Mark was a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, the Norman Male Chorus, Sons of Norway, a docent at the Harbor History Museum, a volunteer at the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University where his uncle Hans Marius Peterson’s Oral History, photographs and other documents are held, and Nordlandslaget. He was also an accomplished acanthus carver; a form of Norwegian decorative woodcarving.

NOTE:

HHM Oral History - Marvin Peterson
Ancestry.com
Haven or Rest Obituary

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Emmett Hunt's Diary Entry August 8, 1888

Warm. Did nothing till late in PM then towed hoisting donkey from Old Town to RR Wharf, docked Fox Island scow and towed a shingle float to L???up Harbor.

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Carney Lake, Pierce/Kitsap Counties, Washington

Once again it is an unidentified newspaper article which caught my attention.

Harbor History Museum Article in Research Room - iPhone Picture

The headline reads “Drilling Near Vaughn Abandoned at 6,700 Feet”. The pictures accompanying the article is captioned “Oil Venture Fails”. Now, aren’t you too intrigued about oil drilling on the Key Peninsula?

The search begins, and I must admitted it hasn’t ended. But it has thrown up several roadblocks. But before I tell you about the search, let’s read the article.

Drilling Near Vaughn Abandoned at 6,700 Feet by Earl Luebker, Staff Correspondent

VAUGHN, March 7. — A thick crust of volcanic rock has caused drillers to abandon their efforts on the Pierce county exploratory well near here, officials of the Standard Oil company announced today.

The final string of drill pipe was pulled from the hole known as Hebert No. 1, near Carney Lake this morning after drillers had attained the depth of 6,700 feet and still hadn’t cut through the bothersome layer of lava. Work began on the well in October, and after 132 days of drilling through the rock, the company had spent some $200,000.

The well was begun as a joint venture of Standard and Union Oil companies, but on Feb. 18 when a depth of 5,650 feet had been attained, Union officials decided not to drill any further. Standard then took the well down to the 6,700 foot level before concluding that the chance of finding oil was too remote to justify the large additional expense that would be required.

Commenting on the history of this exploratory venture, a Standard geologist said:

“After considerable seismograph work, and surface geological exploration we found what appeared to be a favorable sub-surface structure-an underground dome which could have trapped a quantity of oil or gas. We suspected that an ancient lava flow overlay this area, and expected to hit this lava at about 600 feet. However, it was our hope that the lava might be a relatively thin crust at this point. At the outside, we did not expect it to exceed an approximate thickness of 5,000 feet.

“The drillers struck this lava flow at 620 feet, as we expected. But they never got out of it. When we were still drilling through the lava at 6,700 feet, without any indication of how much thicker this formation is, we concluded that it was not worth while to go any deeper.”

Standard has drilled two other unsuccessful wells in Washington, one near Bellingham and one near Everett, in the last five years, but company officials stated today that they would continue to explore for favorable locations in the state despite their oilless search so far.

Some of the men involved in this specific well included Ken Akers, a cathead or man charged with uncoupling the drill pipe as it comes from the hole. Also involved were Sheldon L. Clover, Director of WA State Division of Mines and Geology; Harold Billman, Union Oil Co., paleontologist; Tom Ethrington, Standard Oil Co. geologist; Bob Patterson and Walter Dale, consultant geologists.

An email to the Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room identified the news article as published by the Tacoma News Tribune, March 7, 1950, page 1.

Another lead led me to Kitsap Sun article “Remember When” written by John Haughey on January 30, 2000 which reads “50 Years Ago - January 30, 1950. Drilling has been resumed at the Union Oil Co.’s test well in Kitsap County, w. L. Stanton, the company geologist, reported today. Work was halted Dec. 31 because of the loss of tools in the hole. The well is at Carney Lake, near the Pierce County line.”

Brian Kamens, a volunteer at the Northwest Room, Tacoma Public Library told me that the Union Oil Co. also searched for oil at a site near Longbranch in 1947 and 1948. These efforts were abandoned as unsuccessful. But the story behind these two was interesting in and of themselves. Louis E. Swaboda thought he had smelled oil and thinking he could pipe it into his house for heating and cooking, he hired a drilling company to drill the well. The two employees of Tacoma Pump & Drilling Company hit an gas pocket which nearly killed them. The well names are Swabodi water well No. 1 and Swabodi water well No. 2. and are described in the Oil & Gas Exploration in Washington, Information Circular No. 15, Division of Mines and Geology, Sheldon L. Glover, Supervisor, State of Washington, Department of Conservation and Development, August 30, 1947. In 1951 through 1953 they also explored for oil in Grays Harbor County with no success. I imagine it was very disappointing to know that oil drilling in southern California was so successful both on the coast and inland, especially around Santa Barbara area, but could not repeat the successes in Washington State.

iPhone Picture

Used with permission of Tacoma Public Library, Northwest Room-Richards Studio D25992-4-Richard DeRemur & Larry Swinney, Tacoma Pump & Well Drilling Company

Brian Kamens mentioned to me when I visited the Northwest Room at the main branch of Tacoma Public Library, there was drilling for oil conducted at Annie Wright School in the 1940s. Looking through their Washington Oil files, there were several articles in the 1940-50s where oil was drilled for in the surrounding areas as well as over in and around Spokane.

Another full page article that I found interesting was explaining the long history of oil exploration in our state. Most of my connection to oil exploration took place in the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the world. Or in Texas. But I never considered oil existing in the Pacific Northwest of Washington. And as far as natural gas, I always think of Wyoming. So I found this exercise most interesting.

Another government report issued by the State of Washington Department of Conservation and Development, J. B. Fink, Acting Director and the Division of Geology, Harold E. Culver, Supervisor entitled “Report of Investigations No. 4, Preliminary Report on Petroleum and Natural Gas in Washington” by Sheldon L. Glover was issued in 1936. Mr. Glover tells us in the opening paragraph that “The first well of which there is record was put down in Snohomish County in 1892; since then, drilling has been almost continuous in one part of the State or another, with recurring cycles of more intense activity.” He goes on to say “Some 200 wells in all have been drilled to date, but relatively few of these were located where formations and structural conditions were favorable for the occurrence of petroleum. During the last few years, some of this prospecting has been successful. Natural gas has been developed and put to commercial use, and oil in amounts considerably greater than mere indications has been struck in three different wells.”

But for our purposes of local interest, let’s consider the information contained in a newspaper article in The Tacoma Sunday Ledger-News Tribune, January 10, 1960. The article is titled “Hunting for Oil in Olympics in Early Days. Explorers Covered Wild Area on Foot’ by Harold Otho Stone. Mr. Stone actually participated by accompanying D. C. Nutting, Commander of the Navy, Construction Officer and Kitsap Oil Company personnel on this hunt in August, 1913. Mr. Stone was publisher of the Bremerton News. The group consisted of 10 men who went by boat to Clallam Bay. He and Edwin S. Keith, Bremerton merchant and government geologist and Edgar L. Gale, Bremerton postmaster spent considerable time together fishing and hunting. Around the Hoh and Forks rivers they met John Huelsdonk, the Iron Man of the Olympics. Huelsdonk showed them a blow-hole in a swale where gas was escaping. He lit a match and when it was thrown in the vapor ignited and burned with a bright flame. However, it most likely was just swamp gas.

iPhone Picture

However this encouraged the men to keep going along the Hoh. Before they left, Huelsdonk offered to take the men on an excursion to the south fork of the river to find a herd of elk. To get there it was necessary to cross over a rushing torrent of the Hot, so Huelsdonk took it upon himself to carry each man across on his shoulders.. Huelsdonk was a German immigrant who, along with his wife, Dora, were the first settlers on the west side of the Olympic Mountains in Jefferson County approximately 30 miles up the Hoh valley in 1891. It is the wettest area in the continental US receiving more than 12 feet of rain a year. He had come to Washington Territory at age 21, working with timber surveying parties in Seattle.

All in all, however, the three men’s search for oil had been unsuccessful. But they had had the opportunity to spend time in the Olympic Peninsula great rain forest, meet some great people and enjoy some of the world’s best trout fishing.

As Stone writes “Two years later, America was at war and the oil boom burst like one of the bubbles forced upward by the gas that seeped from the springs along the Hoh. Now, nearly 50 years and two major wars later, hopes for an oil strike in this region again rise and fall. Perhaps one day a rich field may be discovered, but Nature seems jealous, preferring to preserve her treasured forests and mountains undefiled. Instead, she still reserves her store of petroleum to be uncovered in other, less comely places on earth.”

Note:

Report of Investigations No. 4 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN WASHINGTON
Hunting for Oil in Olympics in Early Days, Explorers Covered Wild Area on Foot - Tacoma Sunday Ledger-News Tribune Jan. 10, 1960
Drilling Near Vaughn Abandoned at 6,700 Feet by Earl Luebker, Staff Correspondent -Tacoma News Tribune March 7, 1950
HistoryLink.org Essay 7480 - John Huelsdonk (1866-1946)
Northwest Room, Tacoma Public Library, Main Branch

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Emmett Hunt's Diary Entry August 1, 1888

Cooler again J. W. Whitman all day today.

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Emmett Hunt's Diary Entry July 25, 1888

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Henry W. Woodworth (1836-1916 ) and Adeline J. Woodworth (1835-1919)

When we are interested in learning the history of a community, whether it is the heart of the community or the greater community as a whole, it is easy to get caught up on the most familiar names. Those are the names everyone throws out when you ask a question about who did what or when. And, of course, those names are very easy to research; just type in their name in the search bar, and more leads than you can possibly follow show up.

But what about the name or names you randomly run across and can find little or no leads when you do a search? Are those names less important, and might as well be forgotten? In my opinion, it is those unknowns that we should get to know. They too make a lasting impression on the history we know today.

Those of you who have lived in the community all your life may already be familiar with these names; perhaps you hear your grandparents talk about them. You may or may not have just forgotten the names.

Today’s name, “Woodworth” will be familiar to several people for two reasons. One, they know the Woodworth water tank on Peacock Hill. Or, perhaps they connect the name “Woodworth” with the construction company started in 1921 in Tacoma because they constructed the intermediate and end piers on the Narrows Bridge in 1948 as well as the paving on the bridge itself and the road approaches. The company is still in business today, although the name has changed.

Although the connection with the water tower is right, the connection to the construction company is not. I first became familiar with Henry’s name when a woman came into the museum about three years ago with a picture she had found. She didn’t know anything about it other than she thought the man was Henry Woodworth. He was I believe sitting on the steps, with a woman standing near him in from of a two story frame building. On and off, I have tried to discover Henry’s story, along with the history of the Woolworth Addition on Peacock Hill.

Woodworth Addition Plat Map filed August 22, 1890

Henry was born in Madison, Wisconsin on September 1 (or 11) 1836. By age 21 he was living with his father, Samuel (60); mother, Julia (40); brothers Henry (19); Jason (16); George (14); Wesley (9); Elihue (7) and sister Charlotte (12) in Freeborn, Minnesota Territory.

Two years later in 1860, he and his first wife, Clara A. had a son whom they named George E. Unfortunately the trail on Clara and George evaporated as I was unable to find any additional information on them. But we must remember that Minnesota was involved in both the Indian Wars as well as the Civil War during 1861-1865.

Henry enlisted in Company F, Minnesota 4th Infantry Regiment on October 11, 1861. He mustered out (discharged) on July 19, 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky.

When Henry returned to Freeborn, Minnesota he met and married Adeline Jerusha Hudson in Nunda on May 2, 1866. They had no children and this has been confirmed on the information on file at Retail Veterans Home, Port Orchard.

Adeline was born in New Hartford, New York on November 11, 1835. As a young girl her family moved first to Minnesota and then when she was 11 to Wisconsin. At age 15, she married Theodore B. Lilly, who was 10 years older than she, in Walworth, WI.

The country was suffering the after-effects of the Civil War as well as The Long Depression of 1873-1878, farmers and industrialism were at odds, and the weather didn’t always cooperate. Many families joined the migration west and the Woolworths were one of those families. Several veterans and fellow Minnesotans wound up in Gig Harbor. Did Henry know some of them, did he come with some? I don’t know. Because in 1870 Henry and Adeline were already living in Vermillion, Clay County, Dakota Territory.

One of Adaline’s brothers, James had served in Company F, 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry so perhaps he introduced Adeline to Henry even though they had served in different units. Unfortunately James died that same year as Henry and Adeline married.

The town of Vermillion and Clay County were established in 1862. When the Woolworths lived there it had three hotels, three general stores, and a bank as well as three sawmills, three drug stores, a barbershop and a flour mill. It also have four churches representing the four major protestant faiths - Baptist, Methodist, Congregational and Episcopal. The University of South Dakota had been established in 1862. So as you can see, this was a very thriving community.

But just as the town flourished a huge flood washed away the town. Fires were also a hazard and commonplace and the town was hit by the diphtheria epidemic. So it’s easy to understand their desire to move further west.

Henry W. Woodworth and his second wide, Adeline, arrived in Gig Harbor in 1889 from Wisconsin. They homesteaded on Peacock Hill and two years after Dr. Burnham plotted the Town of Gig Harbor in 1888, on August 22, 1890, Henry and Adeline plotted their “Woodworth Addition”. It consisted of eight square blocks of residential property which today is bordered on the east by Peacock Hill Avenue and Vernhardson Street on the north.

C, E, Shaw residence near the corner of Benson St. and Woodworth Ave. (1946)

Surprisingly, the very next day Artena Land and Improvement Company filed a plat for the Town of Artena, bounded by Peacock Hill Avenue on the west and south of Vernhardson Street down to the waterfront. Unfortunately while the owners were clearing and burning portions of their Artena Plat on August 29, 1890 the fire got out of control. It rushed down the hillside, alighting the retired steamers, Welcome, a 127 ft stern wheeler, and Alida, 115 ft side-wheeler. Both ships burned to the waterline.

By 1910, they moved to Port Orchard to live at the Retsil Veterans Home. It was there he died September 10, 1916 as at 80, and Adeline died on July 24, 1919 at age 83. At the time of his death they had been married 50 years.

But before Henry and Adeline moved to Retsil Veterans Home due to ill health, how did they spend the 21 years they lived in Gig Harbor? Yes, we know about the “Woolworth Addition”, but what else? The 1900 US Census lists his occupation as farmer. For me, there is still so much missing information on this family.

Notes:

Ancestry.com
Vermillion Chamber of Commerce - History
City of Gig Harbor Appendix A
Harbor History Museum

Harbor History Museum Blog

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