Chester M. Jones (July 7, 1901 - January 21, 1973)

Chester M. Jones (July 7, 1901 - January 21, 1973)

What do you remember about Chester Jones, or do you remember him at all?  You might have seen his picture in the Harbor History Museum blog entitled “Town of Gig Harbor Incorporated”, or in the blog entitled “Gig Harbor Law Enforcement History”.  If you read Little History of Gig Harbor, Washington by Jack R. Evans published by SCWPublications, you would have seen the entry on ‘Town Marshall’.  Or possibly at the Police Department in the Gig Harbor Civic Center.

Perhaps, though, we might be able to add some additional information about the man, Chester (Chet) Jones.  We’ll start with his birth in Itasca, Minnesota in July, 1901 to Harry Jay Jones, age 23, and Melrose Robideau, age 18.  He was their first child.  Harry was a grocery merchant, and lived in Cohasset, MN.  However on July 4, 1945 when he died, he was visiting Chet in Tacoma.

Sometime between 1920 when he was living in Cohasset, MN and 1925, Chet moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he met Leona M. Lile, and they were married on December 5, 1925.  Chet got at job at Asarco Smelter plant in Tacoma where he worked as an accountant.  In 1930 Chet and Leona moved to Wollochet, a small community across the Narrows and part of the greater Gig Harbor community.  Chet and Leona never had children themselves, but over the years of their marriage they had given themselves, and their home, to many foster boys and girls.  According to an article which appeared in The Peninsula Gateway (I believe June 5, 1974) “Their home was the scene of countless picnics, water skiing parties and other activities for Peninsula and surrounding area youth.”

In 1948, Mayor Harold Ryan appointed Chet as Town Marshall for the newly incorporated class four Town of Gig Harbor.  Previously all law enforcement activities for the community were handled by Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.  His duties were mainly to control the drunks, the traffic and the parking problems.  He was also responsible for security and the handling of other minor civil disorders, however he had no arrest powers according to Harold H. Ryan.  He received a monthly salary of $125 plus an additional $15 for monthly expenses.  According to Jack Evans in his history, Chet also was dog catcher, and because the town had no public works department, he also filled in pot holes.  However, Pierce County did help the Town of Gig Harbor with paving of streets and roads.

First Police Car parked in front of Gig Harbor Hardware - HHM BUS-199-GH.jpeg

GH First Patrol Car 1948-Left to Right: Mayor HR Ryan; Councilman Antoine Stanich; Judge H. R. Thurston; Marshall C. M. Jones; Councilmen Keith Uddenberg & Fred Perkins - HHM CG-001-GGH.jpeg

Marshall Jones in Police Car on Clay Hill after moving road from tide line below to Clay Hill above - 12/18/1949 Source-Shaw Family, Frank Owen Shaw, Photographer.  HHM BD&R-050-NGH.jpeg

In 1951, Chet was a Deputy County Sheriff according to the Pierce County-Tacoma Polk’s Directory.  Unfortunately the Northwest Room, Tacoma Public Library was unable to find any information in their files on Chet regarding his life or occupations in Tacoma or Gig Harbor.

Although Jack Evans mentioned Chet’s involvement in real estate investments as early as 1932, I was unable to find any information on that earlier other than what is stated in his obituary. Polk’s Directory for Pierce County-Tacoma, does list Chet as an agent at McDonald Realtors in 1959.  It is very easy to see Chet’s interest in real estate investments tied to Woodburn McDonald and his business as you can see when you check Woodburn’s blog history.  Woodburn also lived in Rosedale, near Wollochet Bay. However, his obituary says he joined partnership with Purdy Really in 1958 following his retirement from Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.  This is also easy to understand because Tom Morris, Sr. moved to Gig Harbor in 1944 following his graduation from Washington State College and worked in banking and real estate transactions with State Mutual Savings Bank, and then in 1950 starting Purdy Realty.  Chet joined Purdy Realty as a partner following his retirement as Pierce County Deputy Sheriff.

Gig Harbor Golf Course Course History does not mentioned Chet directly, but as a partner with Tom Morris, Sr. he too had participated in establishment of the Artondale Golf Course, presently GH Golf Club.  It was back in 1954 when a group of several members of the Wollochet Community Club of which Chet was a member, put together plans for a golf course.  Membership shares sold at $500 each, farm property of 114 acres belonging to Jack and Ann Lamar was purchased and development began.  It took six years but finally in October 1960 the club was dedicated.  Tom Morris, Sr., Club President, arranged TV Channel 11 to record and broadcast the event.

Chet’s activities during the 1960 and 1970s weren’t discovered but one can assume they were filled with his real estate activities as well as his various community involvement and of course, his participation with youth and as a foster parent.

The Peninsula Gateway June 5, 1974 article mentioned above is titled “First Scholarship Awards from Memorial Fund Awarded Peninsula Students.”  

It continues “The Wollochet Peninsula Club, Inc., formed around 1965, and active in succeeding years in community affairs, sponsorship of neighborhood youth recreation, voted to ceased operations in 1973.  Through the dues and various fund-raising campaigns, the club had purchased free and clear the old Wollochet schoolhouse and several areas of adjoining property.  The current board of directors and membership decided to sell all assets and the residual, approximately $20,000 was deposited in a trust at Peninsula State Bank, and administrators appointed to govern the dispursement of the funds to C. M. Jones Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The fund honors the late Chester Jones, a long-time residents of the Wollochet Bay area, who, together with Mrs. Jones, devoted a large share of his time both before and after retirement from the  Pierce County Sheriff’s staff and real estate business, to the furtherance of youth activities in the Gig Harbor area.  Chet was Chapter Dad to the Rainbow Girls, along with numerous other related functions.  Mr. and Mrs. Jones, over a period of years, had given their home and themselves to many foster boys and girls who have benefited richly from the association. Their home was the scene of countless picnics, water skiing parties and other activities for Peninsula and surrounding area youth.

To perpetuate, for a specified number of years, the objectives of both the Wollochet Peninsula Club and Mr. Jones, to recognize and assist deserving and qualified young people of the the Peninsula area, who have a strong desire for higher education, courage to overcome adversities and a genuine concern for the welfare of others, the fund will provide a generous one year scholarship to the institution of higher learning of their choice, to one boy and one girl from each annual senior graduating class of Peninsula High School.  The school Scholarship Selection Committee will recommend three boys and three girls to the fund’s trustees and the later will make the final selection of the individuals to receive the award.”

Chet was a member of the Methodist Church in Cohasset, Minnesota, the Gig Harbor Lions Club, John Paul Jones Lodge 217, F & M, Waconda Chapter, OES, the Gig Harbor Aerie of the FOE, as well as the Order of Rainbow for Girls.

Leona passed away at age 95 in December 1997.  She worked for the Internal Revenue Service in 1942 and retired as Chief Supervisor in 1966.  She was a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Tacoma.  

Note:

• The Peninsula Gateway, 1/25/1973; 6/5/1974; 12/10/1997; 8/25/1982; 7/14/1999
• Tacoma News Tribune 1/23/1973
• ancestry.com
• Little History of Gig Harbor by Jack R. Evans - copyright (C) 1988
• Harbor History Museum Blogs (see links in blog)
• Gig Harbor Golf Club - Course History

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday May 28, 1890

Cloudy and cool.  Shower in eve. It so happened that we did nothing buttoner on siphon surface, blow- bleeder etc. till p.m. then pullout of Henderson Bay to Callis

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday, June 4, 1890

Bright and sunny again.  Slept awhile then finished our? boom ? - then to O & D get scow of brk and also a scow of sewer pipe.


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry - Wednesday May 21, 1890

No change in the weather.  ... - row out and pulled a ? of logs into piles for Mt. Tacoma Co. and in eve row to Henderson Bay and got O&D's scow of brick and a scow of sewer pipe

(His writing has become much more flowery and writing with very fine pinpoint. making it difficult to read.)

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

The Men of the Marauder The New Generation

I happened to look out the kitchen window and noticed that the Puratich have some of their nets in the driveway ready to be taken for loading on their boats for the summer fishing season.  It reminded me that it would be a good time to revisit another of the early fishing families of Gig Harbor.  With that in mind, here is Lee Makovich’s story.

The Men of the Marauder 

The New Generation

(Out of The Past by Lee Makovich)

The Fishermen’s News February 2002

“In the operation of their combination-fishing vessel Marauder, Joe and Bob Puratich characterize a new age in the modern, commercial fishing industry.  These men demonstrate a truly impressive representation of the new generation that has risen to the forefront in the fishing community.  Joe piratic is the talented skipper of the versatile, Gig Harbor based Marauder, and his brother Bob is an equally important contributor in the vessel’s operation.

“I’m the skipper,” says Joe, “but Bob handles just about everything else.  He takes care of the maintenance of the boat and all of the fishing gear.  He also deals with the bookkeeping that is involved in the operation and he is an equal partner in the boat.  It’s a fifty-fifty partnership, and as skipper, I probably receive more credit than I deserve for the accomplishments we achieve.  But along with that, I also take the blame for anything that might go wrong.  We consider ourselves to be a low profile operation, but we have a good relationship and we’ve done pretty well over the years.”

“The Marauder is as finely equipped and as modern a fishing vessel as any in the industry.  And Joe might like to refer to his operation as ‘low profile.’  But I think that could be a bit of a stretch, considering the success these men have experienced in an expanding fishing industry.  No, not low profile Joe.  Everyone in the fishing community, from the Shumagin Islands to Southern California, is aware of the success the Marauder and the Puratich brothers have achieved.

“Joe and Bob Puratich are recognized leaders in this new generation of commercial fishermen.  They are men who surely represent the new, but they also continue to represent a legacy and a tradition of a past generation.  A tradition which was handed down from father to son, to son, for nearly a century.  The Puratich family has been continuously involved in the fishing industry from a time, long before most of us were born.  From the mid teens to the present day, there has never been a time when a Puratich owned vessel was not engaged in a commercial fishery of one kind or another.  More on that in a moment.

“The 58’ seine style Marauder was built by Delta at the Duwamish Waterway in 1991.  She was one of the latest models of the vessels that Delta produced at the time and she was the third boat of that design to be built at the facility.  She was powered by a 3412 Caterpillar diesel and her Alaska limit length allowed her to be an even more versatile fishing boat.  The Alaska limit length is somewhat of a deception in the configuration of this capable fishing vessel.Of course, a side view of the Marauder reveals a rather short appearing boat.  But a view of the bow, when she’s heading straight toward you, for example, is truly impressive.  From that position, she looks like a mighty battle ship.

“I had the pleasure of a recent tour of this extraordinary example of modern innovation and technology.  Aboard the Marauder, one has the feeling of being on a much larger boat.  The pilothouse is spacious and bright, with enough room for an array of electronic equipment and hydraulic controls.  Also, visibility from the steering station is truly exceptional.  On deck, there is an ample area for all of the equipment necessary to participate in a variety of fisheries.  

“And in the working area for the crew, one finds an open and strategically configured arrangement.  All of the gear and rigging is situated in easily accessible locations, allowing the crew to work in a relatively safe and extremely productive manner.  And for this writer, I must observe that the mighty Marauder  is as efficient and effective a fishing vessel as I have ever been aboard.  If a new and innovative advancement of some kind is introduced into the industry, you will surely find it aboard the Marauder.  Joe and Bob Puratich will make sure of that.

“When I spoke to Joe recently, he and Bob were readying the Marauder for a trip to the Shumagin Islands for the first fishery of the year.  ‘We’ll have a brief opening for a pollack fishery,’ Joe said, ‘and then we will concentrate our efforts in fishing for Pacific cod out of Sand Point, Alaska until early April.  The pollack is a mid water trawl operation and the cod is both a mid water and bottom fishing operation.’

Joe Puratich iPhoto from article 

“Each year is different for Joe and Bob and some years are busier than others for various reasons.  But very often, there have been times when the Puratich brothers have kept the Marauder working for nearly 11 months out of the year.  It is not an unusual occurrence for the Marauder to work the cod fishery out of Sand Point, Alaska and to also participate in sardine and squid fishing operations in Southern California just a short time later.  Never mind that the two fishing areas are a mere few thousand miles apart.

“And then of course, the men also participate in salmon seining in Southeast Alaska, along with working an occasional, brief salmon opening in Puget Sound.  Oh, and I almost forgot. Joe and Bob might also engage in a bit of sardine or pilchard fishing out of Astoria, Oregon as well.  Did I mention that the Puratich brothers’ Marauder is a very versatile fishing vessel?  I think that perhaps I may have.

“As I mentioned earlier, the Puratich family’s commercial fishing tradition goes back for nearly a century.  Joe and Bob’s grandfather, Paul Puratich, had migrated to the Northwest from what was then known as Yugoslavia in the early 1900s.  He settled in Gig Harbor and became involved in the fishing business immediately after his arrival.

iPhone Photo of Paul Puratich from original article

“The date of his first venture into the industry remains unknown.  But we are aware that Paul was a crew member aboard pioneer skipper Andrew Skansie’s purse seiner Spokane as early as 1917.  It is believed that the senior Puratich worked as a crewman aboard other fishing boats for several years prior to that time.

“What is known for certain, is that Mr. Puratich’s first fishing vessel, the 62’ purse seiner Emancipator, was launched from the Skansie Shipyard at Gig Harbor in 1918.  His first venture into boat ownership was a major undertaking to say the least.  There is no question that the Emancipator was a substantial and effective purse seiner for her time.  The trim vessel was originally powered by a 50 h.p. Frisco Standard gas engine.

“The total cost of the Emancipator’s  construction, including everything necessary to go out fishing, amounted to the mind-boggling sum of almost $6,000.  But that was a very substantial investment for a brand new vessel in those early days of the commercial fishing industry.  Now owned by the Barhanovich family of Everett, Washington, the Emancipator remains active as a fish buyer and packer in the Puget Sound area.

“Like his grandsons, the elder Puratich was also a commercial boat owner who believed strongly in the diversification of his fishing operations.  He was not only a proficient skipper in salmon fisheries, in both Alaska and Puget Sound, but he was also an early participant in the heyday era of California and Oregon sardine fishing.  Several of the fishing boats Paul Piratic would later own were constructed specifically for the purpose of being employed in a number of different fisheries.

“In 1924, Mr. Puratich became involved in a brief partnership, along with pioneer skippers, Mike Katich and Andrew Gilich, in the ownership of the 65’ purse seiner Mt. Tacoma.  At once point in time, the Mt. Tacoma was used as a packer and trap tender while she was owned by the famed Buchan & Heinen Packing Company.  The vessel’s name was eventually changed to Pansy and she was later acquired by Donald McCallum of King Cove, Alaska.  The Pansy foundered in a fierce storm near Pavlof, Alaska, while under charter in 1973.

“Just two years later, Mr. Puratic had the substantial, 69’ purse seiner Venus constructed at the Conrad Anderson Shipyard in Gig Harbor.  Shortly after the vessel slid down the shipyard’s ways, in the spring on 1926, she was fitted with an extremely advanced engine for the time.  Puratich chose a magnificent, 90 h.p. Atlas Imperial diesel to supply power for his new fishing boat.  That four-cylinder diesel was a truly innovative engine selection in the mid-1920s.  Puratich retained the Venus for just a couple of years.  She was then sold to the Snug Harbor Packing Company and many years and many owners later, she was left to die on a lonely beach at Halibut Bay, near Sitka, Alaska in about 1973.

“Perhaps one of the most classic of the various fishing vessels Mr. Puratich owned was the sleek, 66’ combination purse seiner Lone Eagle.  The vessel was of course, named in honor of Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight with the Spirit of St. Louis.  Well, Puratich’s Lone Eagle may not have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean as the other “Lone Eagle” did, but she surely covered a wide area of the Pacific Ocean during her tenure in the fishing industry.  Sadly, the good old Lone Eagle was lost when she collided with the United States Navy destroyer Crosby, 18 miles northwest of Point Arguello, California on April 8, 1940.  Thankfully, there were no injuries or loss of life reported in the accident.

“The Lone Eagle was also the training ground for Joe and Bob’s father, John Puratich.  There are several nostalgic photographs that show John aboard the Lone Eagle at a very young age.  Like Joe and Bob, John (Johnnie) Puratich, literally grew up aboard his father’s fishing boat.  In 1945, Paul and John Puratich decided to combine their resources in the construction of a new sardine seiner.  The California sardine fishery was booming and the men wanted to have a vessel built which would be able to compete with any fishing boat on the entire West Coast.

“The goal was surely accomplished when the brand new, 86’ Puratich sardine seiner slid down the ways of the Peterson Shipyard in Tacoma in the winter of 1945.  This new vessel was truly as fine a sardine as any that had ever been employed in the fishery, past or present.  Powered by a state of the art, 400 h.p. Enterprise diesel, the new vessel was capable as well as one of the most beautiful fishing vessels I have ever seen.  She was named Marauder, a name used again some 46 years later, when Joe and Bob had their new seiner laughed at Delta on the Duwamish Waterway.

“As we are all aware, the sardine fishery fell on extremely hard times just a few years later after the original Marauder was built.  Consequently, and perhaps fortunately for the Puratich family, the sleek beauty was sold to California interests and she never returned to the Northwest.  Her name was changed to Southern Explorer and she continued to operate in several fisheries in Southern California and Mexican waters for the next 18 years or so.  She met her demise when she reportedly ran aground and sank near the breakwater at Los Angeles on October 23, 1968.

“  Paul Puratich eventually retired and his son John acquired the 70’ purse seiner St. Anthony in the late 1940s.  The St, Anthony was built at the Skansie Shipyard at Gig Harbor in 1930 and was one of the last of the heyday vessels constructed at that facility.  She was powered by a 135 h.p. Washington diesel and she was also a versatile vessel, fishing for sardine and salmon along the West Coast for a number of years.  She was also used as a packer on several occasions, prior to the time John Puratich acquired the vessel.

“I should mention here, that Paul Puratich was lured out of retirement in 1947 by top producing, seine skipper Spiro Babich.  Paul was persuaded to go along with Spiro’s son, the late Pete Babich, and help out in Pete’s first year of running a purse seiner at the Salmon Banks.  Pete skippered the Invincible that summer and he once told me that Mr. Puratich was a great help to him in his first year as a skipper.  ‘He never told me how to run the boat,’ Pete said, ‘but he would offer advice and encouragement on many occasions.  I admired him very much for his assistance, and he certainly helped to make my job easier.’

“As for the versatile St. Anthony, she was soon repowered by a 343 Cat diesel and Puratich sold the vessel a few years later.  John purchased the limit seiner St. Janet and he and his sons operated that vessel until the launching of Joe and Bob’s current fishing boat, the Delta built Marauder.  A terribly tragic event occurred in the mid-1960s that caused the demise of the St. Anthony, along with the loss of her entire crew.  After she was sold, the St. Anthony became involved in the Alaska king crab fishery.  All aboard were lost when she foundered during a violent storm off Puale Bay, Alaska on December 3, 1967.

St. Janet - Harbor History Museum SmugMug Bfsh-209-GH.jpeg

“The late John Puratich was a pioneer in the Northwest hake fishery as well.  And typical of the Puratich fishing operations, he kept the St. Janet busy for most of the year.  Bob and Joe went out fishing with their father when they were very young.  Bob was just seven years old when he first spent time aboard his father’s fishing boat and Joe began when he was about eight years old.  These men have never known any other way of life since they were practically babies and they have no intention of changing that way of life at any time in the near future.  Joe and Bob Puratich have a great boat to work with and then of course, they are the men of the Marauder, the new generation.”

Crew of St. Janet - Harbor History Museum SmugMug BC-002-GH.jpeg

• Out of The Past by Lee Makovich, The Fishermen’s News February 2002
• iPhone Photo 

Note:

• Out of The Past by Lee Makovich, The Fishermen’s News February 2002

  

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.

Emmett Hunt's Diary entry May 14, 1890

Just the same and reminds me that the heavy underclothing must go --- peacefully if, it will, forcibly it must.  Still the pipe fitting is not done but will be by tomorrow night.Out handrails complete and thoroughly braced - our excusion seats complete - painting almost done and soon we reach that glorious time when these 10 hour days cease and we get abundant opportunity work as long as there is anything to do --how I long for it -- how I dole to work 7 days in a week and 20 hours day.  Yetthere are times when "things are not what they seem" and we must expect to make some sacrifices etc. etc. etc. etc.


© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.