Friday Harbor's shoreline

 

I believe that this photo is in the special collections of the University of Washington.  Link needed though.

A short-term teaching residency at Friday Harbor Laboratories means that I will have the chance to create some of the trademark now-and-thens for the shorelines of the San Juan Islands...and where better to start than at Friday Harbor Laboratory itself.  The photo above isn't all that old...it was shot in 1952, roughly three decades after the labs took root on this spot on the northern shore of Friday Harbor.  As the labs have developed this chunk of shoreline hasn't changed all that much, outside of the growth of trees along the shoreline:

29 October 2020 photo 

I am struck by one thing though in the 1952 photo - the amount of wood that appears to be accreted to the shoreline looks to be quite a bit more than at present.  There are probably good reasons for this - logging and log transport via tug-and-raft arrangements was presumably more common in the middle of the 20th century.  

A look at a buried tide flat

 

The photo above is another from Port Angeles, and is part of an extensive series of photos that appear to all have been taken as the downtown area was being filled in 1914.  Many of this series are part of the Bert Kellogg collection, hosted by the North Olympic Library, but this particular photo doesn't appear to be available in that collection.  I obtained this photo from Dr. Karl Wegmann, who had collected a large set of historic photos of Port Angeles to support a report to the City of Port Angeles, and a subsequent paper.  

This particular photo was taken right about here, and the view from the same perspective looks considerably different today:

16 October 2020 photo taken looking southeast from the corner of Railroad and Laurel in downtown Port Angeles, Washington.

I like this particular historic photo because you can make out the intertidal flats that would have fringed Port Angeles harbor historically.  From the looks of it I'm guessing that it was prime habitat for clams, birds and fish, and it would have been quite cool to check out.  Its still there of course, but buried under many feet of fill...

Flagler's guns come ashore at Marrowstone Point

My favorite place to visit here on the Olympic Peninsula is Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island. The former coast artillery fort is now a state park offering the best views of Puget Sound you can hope to find, including powerful currents and marine wildlife to watch, historical military structures to explore, and let’s toss in a lighthouse (well, sort of) for good measure. All these features make it an endlessly entertaining place to visit for a day, a weekend, or longer.

The historical photo for today’s blog post really blew my mind when I first saw it. It's a shot of Marrowstone Point from 1898, when Fort Flagler was under construction. I hope you enjoy my now photo, but you really should go to Jefferson County Historical Society’s site and look at the original historical photo. There are so many fascinating details to spot. Those are enormous cannon barrels being brought ashore from a barge on the beach. And in the distance on the left is the Marrowstone Light Station keeper's residence.

Marrowstone Point at Fort Flagler in 1898 and 2020
(Historical photo courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society) 

Construction of Fort Flagler began in 1897 but the U.S. government was active here a decade earlier in the interest of maritime safety. A light to guide mariners has shone at Marrowstone Point in one form or another since 1888, but not from the traditional lighthouse tower that most of us would think of. Starting with a lens lantern mounted on a pole, the light eventually was erected atop a 20 ft. concrete building where it has been located since 1918. 

The light keeper's residence in both our now and then photos has acted as sentinel, standing at the shoreline since 1896. Just offshore, Puget Sound's unwieldy winds and dense fog can make navigating the strong currents rushing through narrow Admiralty Inlet a harrowing experience for vessels of any size. One calamitous event happened here in 1892 when the freighter S.S. Willamette rammed the S.S. Premier at full speed, killing five and injuring 18. Although neither ship sank, the damage to the Premier was significant to say the least. Take a look for yourself.  😮

The light still shines, now automated, but since the mid-1970s the site and structures have primarily served federal scientific research as the U.S. Geological Survey’s Marrowstone Marine Field Station. Their current work is focused on fish and overall marine ecosystem health. The light keeper's residence provides lodging for visiting scientists.

Marrowstone Point 1895 map
(National Archives)

I have not been able to track down information on the barn or other buildings we see in the historical photo. But on a map of the fort from 1913, the buildings are labeled as “old stables” and “old laundry.” Structures also appear on a map from 1895, but have no information. If anyone knows more, please share.

Fort Flagler 1913 map
(National Archives)

In addition to these maps, the National Archives website has several interesting photos including the document below showing the earlier structure on which the light was placed, and the front of the keeper's quarters with its fog bell. Both structures still stand and can be seen today (minus the bell).

1915 images of Marrowstone Point Light Station
(National Archives)

Sources: 

• https://www.historylink.org/File/5702
  https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=109
• "Fort Flagler, Over 100 years of History," A Friends of Fort Flagler publication, 3rd Edition, January 2013

Ennis Creek, A look down from above

1887 photo of the mouth of Ennis Creek on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Photo from the Bert Kellogg collection, hosted by the North Olympic Library System.

The perspective above, of the mouth of Ennis Creek on the central Strait near present day Port Angeles, really intrigues me.  Not only does this photo date to 1887, which is an old image for this part of Washington, but it is also looking down on the creek mouth and hamlet from above...a somewhat rare perspective for old photos like this.  The area around the Ennis Creek mouth has been heavily used, and modified, over time: Originally a Klallam village site, then the settlement site for the Puget Sound Cooperative Colony (shown in the 1887 photo above), then utterly transformed by the construction of the Rayonier Mill in 1927.  The site is now home to the Olympic Discovery Trail, and also is the site of an active toxic clean-up program.  As a consequence, the landscape now looks very different:

September 18, 2020 photo of the mouth of Ennis Creek, looking down from bluffs to the west of the site.

 

Where once there was a beach....

Filling the former beaches and estuaries of Washington's coast to create the urban shorelines that we now see has to be one of the single biggest changes made to our coastal landscape in the historical period.  Fill is ubiquitous along urban shorelines in the Salish Sea...and I often assume that the process of filling these shorelines, which basically involved moving massive quantities of mixed sediment into the intertidal zone, must have been traumatic to the coastal ecosystems.  This set of photos from near the mouth of Valley Creek in Port Angeles also clearly illustrates just the simple loss of habitat that filling brought with it.  This is an interesting view looking landward from the very mouth of the creek, taken I'm guessing in the late 1800's:

Looking landward from near the mouth of Valley Creek, Port Angeles.  Photo from the Bert Kellogg collection, hosted by the North Olympic Library System.

The photo itself focused on the first electric light generating station in Port Angeles, in the white building on the hill.  But it also provides a view of the former shoreline near Valley Creek.  The perspective from the location is now quite different:

4 March 2014 photo by Ian Miller

The modern view really hammers home the massive changes that filling has wrought on Washington's urban shorelines.

Another view of Ozette

I posted about the Makah village of Ozette a few weeks back, and went back out to the site last week to do some survey work with staff from the Makah Tribe.  While there I had the chance to replicate a historical picture of the village that was given to me by Paul Gleeson, former Cultural Resources Director for Olympic National Park, and former site manager at the Ozette archeological dig (Paul is mentioned in this article about the dig).  So Paul passed on this photo, that he suggested was likely taken in the late 1800's or early 1900's:

To be clear, I DON'T know where this photo came from, or who to credit for its appearance here (if a reader does know more about this photo, please reach out).  But it is such an interesting perspective on the village site, as it is shot from Tskawahyah Island, so provides some sense for both the southern stretch of the village site, and also what the village would have looked like approaching from the sea (which presumably was the way that most people arrived and left from the village back at this time).  Here is the contemporary view from the same spot:

View of the Ozette Village site taken on 24 August 2020

This modern photo was obviously taken at a lower tide, but some of the sea-stacks, and even individual boulders and small rocks in the inter-tidal are shared in both photos.  There are obvious differences in the vegetation on the slopes behind the village - probably not a surprise given how many people lived here.  What I really like about the historic photo, though, is it provides a sense for how far south on this point people lived...well into the area that is now part of Olympic National Park and heavily used by backpackers for camping.  

Ballard Shoreline Aerial Comparisons - 1940 and 2020

 Here's a fun comparison of the 1940's Ballard / Seattle shoreline and the current view from Google Earth.  

The now view is of the Seaview Avenue shoreline at the entry to Salmon Bay and Shilshole Bay at the location of the now Ray's Boathouse, former Anthony's, Ballard Elks Club, Sunset West Condos and the south corner of Shilshole Bay Marina.  

The bit of land across the channel is the NE corner of the Magnolia neighborhood.  

The 1940 view shows a different less developed shoreline with the reindeer ship, the SS Bering beached in front of the now Elks Club.  In the 1940's, the Tregoning Boat Company was located there.  

I believe the Ballard ferry landing was just south of (or above here) of Ray's Boathouse (to Port Ludlow and Suquamish).

The older photo also shows more beach homes across from Seaview Ave. Only a few are left now along with a few condos and misc buildings.  

From a surfing perspective, Point Shilshole is the point of land jutting out in the older photo. There's a nice wind swell rolling in and whitewater just offshore and along the shore.  

Looks like a good surf spot. We surf freighter and wind waves on Shilshole Bay so without the extra development and marina, we'd have one more downwinding and shore break spot!

Below is a Now and Then view from the Ballard Elks Lodge with the SS Bering looking out into Shilshole Bay. The ship was burned to make way for development in the early 1960'.  Now view from the Ballard Elks Sunset Cam.