We planned an extended Taylor family Thanksgiving in Wallace, but a couple of weeks ago my mom slipped on some outside steps while raking leaves and cracked her pelvis. She's recuperating but that knocked mom and dad out of heading to Wallace for Thanksgiving. A month before that, John bought a used Subaru from a friend. He fixed it up, had it repainted, and bought a trailer to bring things from Los Angeles.
Our kids are all in different places this Thanksgiving. Allison is heading to Las Vegas to visit Tate's family. Paige and her family are in Pasadena, coming to Seattle for Christmas. Eric and Tanya are going to Tanya's house for Thanksgiving. That left Carolyn and me on our own and we left for Wallace on Friday afternoon. That evening in Wallace we walked to the theater and bought tickets for Saturday night's show.
Wallace in the rain
It rained constantly until Wednesday. The mountains received some snow.
Installing bead board
Saturday morning I masked the bathroom's upper walls and painted two coats on the ceiling. I spent the rest of the day cutting and installing bead board in the downstairs bathroom. Because of a horizontal metal seam in the wall, I had to cut a dado on the back of every piece to fit around the seam. Each piece is attached to the wall with construction adhesive and brad nails.
Sixth Street Melodrama
On Saturday evening we walked to the Sixth Street Melodrama to see "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
The stage
The front half of the stage was a San Francisco apartment with a family and other apartment dwellers. The back half of the stage was a radio station broadcast booth. Sometimes the radio station was lighted, other times the apartment, depending on the scene. The play covered the period of Thanksgiving 1941 to Christmas 1941. The radio station broadcast various programs such as the Lone Ranger and Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. We enjoyed it.
Old mining car incline
On Sunday we went to church. The small branch is buoyed up by stake high council members and their wives. After church we took Gypsy on a walk and ended up at the site of the Hercules Mill. Since last summer, the mill, hillside, and surrounding area have been remediated as a superfund site. The old contaminated soil was removed or covered with new soil and gravel. Like all mills, the inner workings took advantage of gravity to move material from one part of the mill down to another. The rocks from local mines were dumped in at the top and out from the bottom came concentrated ore. Looking up on the mountainside we could see what looked like an old trail near the top of the mill site. Carolyn said let's go investigate and she and Gypsy were off scrambling up the mountain.
Top of the mill
When the site was remediated, the original concrete foundation blocks were left in place. The narrow asphalt path to the left of the road is the original Northern Pacific rail bed and heads 75 miles to Plummer, ID. Notice the old railroad bridge crossing the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.
The Hercules Mill in 1920
Here's that same bridge in a photo of the mill from nearly a hundred years ago.
Another view of the mill
In the photo two previous to this one, Carolyn and I are standing about at the location of the steam engine on the upper track.
Grinding mill balls
The ore was crushed to powder in large ball mills. These ball bearings rolled around with the ore rocks and crushed them to powder. Using a flotation technique, the silver, zinc, and lead were separated from the waste rock.
Ball mills inside the Hercules Mill
Old grinding balls embedded in sludge
Mill foundation today
The mill was built in 1910 and processed ore up until 1968. In the 1970's the mill was destroyed in a controlled burn. At its peak, the mill ran 24/7. I can't imagine the amount of noise this created with dumping rocks, rolling mills, steam engines pushing ore cars, and more. Now Wallace is very quiet, particularly at night.
Routing a relief for the light switch
On Monday I continued working on the bathroom. I added a cap railing to the top of the bead boards. I had to route out room for the light switch. I patched all the nail holes and ran a bead of caulk along the edges of the cap and baseboard. Then Carolyn painted a couple more coats on the bead board and door frame. I painted the window and frame.
New Jeep
On Tuesday we had an appointment in Kellogg at Dave Smith Motors to test drive and hopefully buy a jeep. It poured rain all day. We looked at all the colors of all the jeeps, but decided on Dozer because it was the jeepiest. We test drove automatic and manual jeeps and both of us voted stick.
Lunch
We settled on a good deal and while the paperwork was getting done we walked next door for lunch. We traded in our Rav for the jeep. We originally bought the Rav with its four wheel drive so we could drive over snowy Stevens Pass in the winter. The car never lived up to that expectation because it was much more sketchy in the snow than the truck. If there was snow over the pass we'd always drive the truck. Back at home we installed the bathroom cabinet, sink, and faucet. I think we walked to the hardware store four times today for various plumbing parts. I installed weatherproof outdoor electrical outlets on the front of the house, the garage, and carport. I also wired up several new outlets inside the garage.
Before picture of the bathroom from the 4th of July
Here's what the bathroom looked like last 4th of July, moments before Eric and I gutted it.
Finished bathroom
On Wednesday I installed the glass shower doors. I walked to the hardware store looking for a blade for the miter saw that would slice through metal to cut the door runners to length.
Another view
The bathroom is finished. Carolyn did a good job choosing the tile, deciding on the paint colors, and all the other details. We reused the tub, toilet, and mirror, but installed a new sink and faucet.
Wiring up the winch
When we were here in October, I started installing a winch on my ATV. While in Wallace on this trip, I installed all the wiring for the winch. It was a considerable challenge. The main wires from the winch are the gauge of jumper cables. Unfortunately, the wires were 6" too short to reach the electrical compartment under the seat. I had to splice extensions on the cable. While I had the ATV apart and exposed, I hardwired a 12v-to-5v-USB charger that's always on. On hundred mile rides during ATV week, I had my GPS plugged into the machine's 12v accessory port. When the group would stop for a break, I'd turn off the machine and that would cut power to the GPS. After a couple of minutes the GPS would auto-turn-off to save its batteries and I'd lose my contiguous recorded track. With this new setup, I'll have an always-on port to charge my GPS and phone. I also built two charging pigtails and wired them directly to Carolyn's and my ATVs so we could trickle charge the batteries over the winter.
Back on the railroad incline
On Wednesday I took Gypsy on a walk and we went back to the Hercules Mill site, but this time we started west of the mill looking for the start of the incline where a locomotive pulled or pushed ore cars to the top of the mill. We found the start of the old rail bed and headed up.
Someone's camp
The rail bed ends where the slope of the hill gets steep and someone had setup a camp. In the old pictures there's a trestle that connects this part of the rail bed with the section Carolyn and I climbed up to a few days ago.
View from the trail
Down below the incline on the mountain is a large flat open area. This was the Wallace rail yard for the Northern Pacific. The main route was the asphalt path on the left.
Old photo of the Northern Pacific rail yard
This photo was taken at approximately the same place. The hillside is now totally covered with trees.
Another view of the rail yard
I thought this area might make a good area for Daniel to practice riding his motorcycle. I made a note to mention it to John.
South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene
The river wraps around the old mill site.
Wood pipe
An old wood pipe from the mill popped out of the hillside. I wonder if it dumped right into the river?.
Another view of the mill
Notice the white building up in the gulch? Gypsy and I scrambled up through the woods to see if we could find anything.
Old foundation
We found the old foundation of that white building. I asked my next door neighbor who has lived in Wallace his whole life about it. He knew about the building and the current foundation, but didn't know its purpose.
Thanksgiving dinner at John and Natalie's house
After several days of constant rain, Thanksgiving turned out to be a nice day. Around noon John and I started up our motorcycles and headed off on an exploratory ride. I took John over to that area by the Hercules Mill to see if he thought it'd be fun for Daniel to ride. Then we headed up Lake Creek Gulch until we hit snow. We continued through the snow up the steep trail until the snow was too deep, before heading home. Carolyn, Natalie, John, and Cat cooked all day and we feasted that afternoon. There's an interesting story behind most of the furniture in their house. Last 4th of July, Carolyn and Natalie stayed in Wallace for a week after the rest of our two families returned home. Natalie spent the week looking in Wallace antique shops for furniture, but didn't find a lot of items by the time she had to leave for home. Her flight left out of Missoula and as she approached Missoula in her rental car, she realized the timezone had changed to MST and she had missed her flight. She made a reservation for the next day and headed back to Wallace for the night. On the way she stopped in the small Montana town of St. Regis. There were a couple of antique stores there and she bought a ton of furniture which the store delivered later in the day.
On Friday, John and Natalie and their kids wanted to go back to St. Regis and look for dressers for the kids' rooms. We decided to go with them. We tossed our snowshoes in the jeep with the plan of stopping at Lookout Pass on our way home and snowshoeing to an old tunnel. First though, we were going to stop in Mullan for plate-sized cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We were dismayed to find the cafe was closed and was now a BBQ place. John and family got back on the highway and drove over to St. Regis. Carolyn and I stayed on the back roads because I wanted to show her something. Just west of Mullan as the valley heads up to Lookout Pass, Carolyn and I drove onto the abandoned route of the Northern Pacific. I've ridden this trail on my bike and motorcycle, but it's open to jeeps as well.
Just about to crest Lookout Pass
The old Northern Pacific route snakes and loops up the mountain. The I-90 highway is below and it takes a more direct route up the valley over the pass.
Same location!
This photo was coincidentally taken in the same place as the previous photo, but the camera is pointed slightly more to the right. By this point we were in 4wd climbing up through the snow.
Train wreck in 1903
In February 1903 during a heavy blizzard, a train pushing a rotary snowplow stopped for the night halfway on the S trestle above Mullan. During the night an avalanche came down the mountain and took out a section of the trestle. A pusher engine and a caboose with 7 sleeping men plunged into the snow below. Miraculously, no one was killed. The trestle no longer exists and a temporary trail wraps around the gulch to connect the rail ends. We passed the location of the old trestle shortly before taking the picture of the jeep above.
Another view
Here's another view of the 1903 accident. The rotary plow is in front followed by a couple of engines. Eight people were in the passenger car hanging off the trestle, barely holding on by the car's coupler.
Just beyond Lookout Pass
Approximately the same place
The Northern Pacific route now goes through the Lookout Pass ski resort's parking lot before easing down the other side of the pass into Montana.
Entering the tunnel
The tunnel is about a quarter of a mile long.
That's Montana out there
Light again!
St. Regis
We drove the old rail trail down the Bitterroots until we reached Taft, MT. Taft is just a big empty flat spot next to the highway, but back in the early 1900's it was a huge rough town. It was the staging area for the Milwaukee railroad where they were building a two-mile tunnel through the mountain to avoid Lookout Pass. The tunnel is now part of the Hiawatha Trail. From Taft all the way down the St. Regis River to Missoula there are *two* rails-to-trails, the Northern Pacific route and the Milwaukee route. The Forest Service is currently rebuilding trestles on Milwaukee route all the way to Missoula and it will be an extension of the Hiawatha Trail. This one will be called the Trail of the Olympian (the Olympian was another one of the Milwaukee's standard service passenger trains between St. Paul and Seattle). Most of the materials for building the Milwaukee railroad, a competitor, were brought in by the Northern Pacific. From Taft, Carolyn and I got on the highway and headed to St. Regis, an old railroad town. There's no downtown like Wallace, just a couple of gas stations and antique stores.
Cat's new dresser
The Taylors found a few items including this mahogany dresser with a marble top. We loaded the dresser in the jeep and headed home while the Taylors continued shopping.
Riding around
That afternoon we took Daniel over to the old rail yard and we all rode around and around and around. That night everyone came over for leftovers and a movie. In fact, every night while the Taylors were here we'd gather at our house to watch a movie.
Painted door
There was one last door to paint upstairs. I took the door off its hinges, setup some sawhorses, and painted the door.
Old lock on the door
New old faucet
The last time we were here the original kitchen faucet began leaking around its base. We had a new but used faucet stored in the basement that my parents gave me when they remodeled their kitchen. After another trip to the hardware store for longer water supply hoses, I installed the faucet and we were good to go.
John's Subaru
John and Natalie spent most of Saturday cleaning their house and shutting it down for the winter. Late in the afternoon I went with them to the Spokane airport. I drove their Subaru home and parked it in our carport and left it on a trickle charger.
On Sunday Carolyn and I went to church. After lunch we loaded up the jeep, shutdown the house, and took off at 3:45pm so we'd cross over Snoqualmie Pass after most of the returning Thanksgiving weekend traffic had died down. We arrived home about 10pm. It was a fun Thanksgiving week in Wallace.
