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Volume 2, Issue 1

THE MT INDEX REPORTER

The Mt Index Reporter 2004

Town Calendars Index, Baring, Skykomish

2

Hubbitats By Bob Hubbard

3

Local Historical News from Gold Bar

5

How to reach us. And the important small print

8

Ads! — We couldn’t be here without these folks

6

Pasado Spay Van Schedule for our area

6

Wild about Wildlife Back next month!

14

Inside this issue:

This month someone purchased and donated Microsoft Publisher 2002 for Windows XP with digital imaging to us. This upgrade will drastically improve our entire publication. In the next two months you will see the changes. We just installed this newer version of the software. Previously, we were using Publisher 2.0 to put out the paper for the last year. Dur-ing the transition you will notice many changes. Because I have already prepared 70% of the October’s is-sue, I will use a combi-nation of the old style and the new one. So bear with me. I am learning all the time

with this stuff! We will still have the same writ-ers and hopefully attract new ones too, maybe you! The goal all along was to do stories that are taken from around the area. Written by locals in the nearby towns of Gold Bar, In-dex, Baring and Skyko-mish. (Grotto too) We received the rights and have installed this much needed upgrade. The older version was built on an older 16 bit sys-tem and the new one is working with a 128 bit system. It can be lik-ened to a 5 lane high-way versus a 128 lane highway. Now we will be able to put together a much better and cleaner

looking publication for the same cost I hope to eventually be able to burn a CD and then I will be able to take it to a professional print shop. I would love to find a new kind of pa-per. We hope that you like the changes and stay with us. We are very grateful for this wonderful gift.

You will see many more changes in the next couple of months by Thom Boullioun

October 2004

Skykomish gets new Superintendent From the Skykomish ‘School News’

The New Super-intendent is Desiree Gould and she and her family are moving here from University Place, Washington, a suburb of Tacoma. Desiree along with her husband Bill

and her children say they are thrilled to be here. She will be living in the teachers cottage next to the school. Her background began as an army officer, a public school teacher and a pri-

vate school administra-tor. Hert main pastime is anything that in-volves the family. She is excited about the work ahead, and says all stu-dents will succeed—No Exceptions, No Excuses.

Why is this Eagle not smiling? Ans: page 9

Index Arts Festival

Congratulations!

1st Festival a success

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The Mt Index Reporter 2004

Mark & Sandy Klein

Owners

Mt Index Village Espresso Chalet

Sled Dog Supplies 360-793-7932

In Business

Index Town Calendar Town Council 1st Mon—7 pm Museum Historical Society 2nd Tues—7 :30 pm Index Sportsmen’s 3rd Mon—6 pm Fire Commissioner Meeting 2nd Wed—3 pm Fire Hall Index Community Church Sun—10 am Index AA Meetings Every Wed & Fri—8 pm Sun—6 pm Skyland Ranch AA meeting Wed—8 pm Tipi Trek Activities Sat—7 pm NEW Bookmobile 1-800-342-1936 #7059 2nd and 4th Thurs 2:30 - 4 (break) 5—6:30 pm Index School

Index Planning Commission

Last Wed—6 pm Town Hall

Baring Lion’s Club 2nd Wed and 4th Thus at Der Baring Store

There are a lot of activities at Tipi Trek

Skykomish Calendar Town Council 3rd Mon— 6:30 pm Skykomish Town Hall

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Have scratched DVDs or CDs?

We can fix them and make

them look and play like new for $3 each

Sky Valley Video Open every day to serve you

From 10 am to 8 pm

Located in Gold Bar

On your way up the valley

Tel: 360-793-2804

VHS, DVDs, CDs, DVD-RW

Hubbitats—8 by Bob Hubbard

Quadrathuja Island Grove

Photo by Meryl Shenker, P-I photographer Way up the North Fork is a

nice remnant of older forest that is close by the road and yet relatively level, and therefore potentially easy as far as hikes go. The fly in the ketchup is that high river levels can put most of this hike out of reach unless one is willing to wade across a (usually) shallow creek. During low water times like now (Oct 7) this creek-bed (which is actually an overflow or flood channel of the river) is often dry. Even with a moderate amount of water flowing through it this channel can often be crossed by boulder hopping, keeping one’s feet dry. When this is possible a nice stroll is made available by following a crude trail I made a few years ago (and got into trouble for making) through the valley upstream from the Jack’s Pass road.

Collectively, a series of scraps and remnants of old forest in this area, somehow missed by the log-gers all these years, has occupied my attention for nearly a decade. At first, I just explored it in bushwhacking visits. Then, as favorite spots devel-oped, my repeated visits resulted in a vegetational response known as the herd of cattle effect. To minimize the trampling effect I then standardized my routes into trails, and located those where they would have the fewest intrusions into sensitive soils or un-common plant communities. In time I had a path stretching from Goblin Creek to the Jack’s Pass road, and it took a whole afternoon just to walk.

Then the Wild Sky Wilder-ness proposal came along, and I saw that the old groves were left out of it, so I spoke up and said that these should be included in the Wilderness. I took many people up and down the valley along my trails, including may-ors, city councilmen, botanists, forest-

ers, representatives of the various environ-mental groups and Wild Sky proponents, and by golly the area was included in the Wilderness Bill.

Ever since then, the series of groves has been collectively referred to as “The Hubbard Grove”, but in my lexicon each separate grove and river bar has a different name. The lower East side grove, A.K.A. the Quadrathuja Island Grove, is the subject of this month’s stroll.

I’d hoped that we could start it out as an official Wilderness hike, but as you all know, The Wild Sky Bill was “dropped from consideration” in the House of Repre-sentative. Like the rest of the Hubbard Grove, Quadrathuja Island has been called “ineligible” for Wilderness designation by

California's Representative Richard Pombo and Washing-ton’s Representative George Nethercutt.

But we can visit the various suburbs of the Hubbard Grove ourselves, and see what this valley offers us in the way of forest, river, and mountain views, and even Wilderness Val-ues. We start by driving up the Index-Galena Road for 15 miles or so beyond Index, past the place where the pavement runs out and about a half mile more, to just beyond the bridge over the North Fork, where the road turns uphill and left towards Jack’s Pass. A wide corner here offers parking. Then, a few yards back towards the river, a primitive dirt track (“the drive-way”) for a hundred feet or so we come upon the “Wrestling Trees” on the left. Here, a larger Red Alder has a smaller Western Hemlock in a nasty “trunk lock”,

(Continued on page 4)

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. . . But as you all know “The

Wild Sky Bill was “dropped

from consideration”

and looks to be just about ready to snap the little Hemlock in two. (And you thought competition between trees was passive and polite). If the younger, but much longer-lived Hemlock can hold out long enough, the shorter lived and already middle-aged Alder will die of old age, rot, get brittle, and fall apart, releasing the Hemlock. But the Alder is al-ready squeezing the Hemlock’s trunk into a flattened oval, and one good wind gust could conceivably shake the twin crowns of the Alder enough to snap the Hemlock before then. Place your bets now, and keep an eye on these guys in the future.

Soon after the wrestling trees the main fork of the driveway turns left, and a small spur bends slightly to the right and comes to a stop at a campsite in about 50 feet. Crossing through this campsite we go straight past the fire ring and out along a primitive path that continues in this direction, then starts to bend left in another hundred feet or so, entering a grove of old cedars, The trail soon turns right and starts to parallel the aforementioned creek-bed that is actually a high-water river channel.

For a couple hundred yards the trail follows above the channel

(Continued from page 3) on the right, or South bank or a few yards back from the bank). Then the trail drops awkwardly to the channel at a small side creek’s mouth, and crosses to the opposite bank (via boulder hopping) where it resumes, about 30 feet back from the upstream end of a log along the North bank. (The correct log is about 50 feet upstream, has its South end wedged under a leaning,

Maxine Popps was born in Tacoma, Washington in January 29th 1930. She had one sister who died in 1971. Her father first worked at the WPA then moved on to work at the shipyards. She was born during the Great Depression and grew up dur-ing World War II. She remembers food stamps, rationing stamps, shoe stamps, and gas rationing. She also remembers being very poor. She used to go to Mommy’s Grilled Salmon which was like a café. She

used to go to the Triple X a burger stand with her sister also. During the World War II Mrs. Popps’ father got his first ever social security cards at eleven she did too. Mrs. Popps moved to Gold Bar in January 25th 1948. Her favorite place in Gold Bar is her house which is right across from the Elementary School. Her house was built in 1908. She origi-nally lived behind the railroad tracks on 1st Street. During the time she has lived here in Gold Bar she has

seen many changes. When she first lived here the “Population sign” only read popu-lation 305. The “Welcome to Gold Bar” sign used to have writing on both sides and there were businesses on the left side of the highway. There used to be a depot; a feed store; a city hall; a Richfield Station; a house which was moved to Lewis Street; a Chevron station; a restaurant; and a McDan-iel’s service station all on the south side of the highway.

This article will be continued next issue.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MAXINE POPPS PART 1 BY SAMANTHA K. AMENN

3-trunked cedar tree whose big-gest trunk is curved like a big, ascending elephant’s tusk).

A word before proceed-ing: You are now (assuming you crossed successfully) on an island that is quite flat and low. It has two general types of terrain; high-lands and lowlands, and the dif-ference is only a few feet. At one time the whole island probably consisted of highlands but past floods have bored channels through the old surface, and these

now-dry channels, “Coulees” are discernable as low spots and are open, brushy, or for-ested by young trees. Pre-historic, or “fossil” logjams are found in several of the coulees, some so old their constituent logs are nurse-log hosts to quite large and old trees. The old-growth occurs mostly if not entirely on highland areas. The soils of the Coulees are different from the upland soils and thus support different plant communi-ties, so this is a good flower walk in the Spring, especially when some walking out on the river bars is included in the hike.

The island is roughly lemon shaped, and about a half-mile long. Since much of the center of the island has been partially logged, the trail generally follows around the perimeter, typically 100 to 200 feet in from the edge, going from middle right side down to the South tip, then up along the left side to the North tip.

From the channel crossing, the trail goes away from the channel a bit, curving down a few yards into the next coulee, then swerves left and climbs to an upland, where a grove of medium large trees still grows. The trail immediately descends into a nar-row coulee (With a fossil logjam at its head) and turns down valley, but in that brief pass, one can see a most unusual sight; a tree which was cut down 70 or more years ago, but which still hasn’t dies. Look to the side at the pass and see the stump that has bark growing inward over the top of the old saw cut, sealing it off behind a living wall of tissue and bark. Note also the Prickly Cur-rant bush and the Fringe-cup herbs growing out of the rotten center of the stump.

That’s right, this stump is still alive (Continued on page 8)

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we have some terrific cooks in the Sky Valley. We would most wel-come any and all to join our His-torical Society. We meet on a regular basis first Monday of every month. Our dues are $10 for singles, and $15 for families. Our

next meeting will be November 1st at 7 pm at the VFW Hall. 301 3rd st. in Gold Bar. Hoping to see you there! Dorothy Croshaw,

President of the Gold Bar Historical Society. An Interview with Maxine Popps of Gold Bar on page 4

Gold Bar — We have some chal-lenging times ahead of us this year. We are about to embark on a second edition of our “Historical Society” cookbook. Our first edi-tion was well received, and has had numerous requests for more; unfortunately, we are presently sold out. Hope to be going to press in the near future with the latest edition. As you all know,

Why do a story on chuck wagons? Well I was surprised that the one pictures here was selling for $9,900 today! In reading about the old chuck wagons I was im-pressed with what I found out. I’ve always known that you can buy brand new old things these days but I was quite surprised to find out it was so expensive. My search found that the chuck wagon was a folk invention of the Post-Civil war era, de-veloped by Charles Goodnight, a Texas cat-tleman and frustrated

by the inefficiency of transporting food and supplies for trail crews by the traditional methods of ox carts or pack horse, Goodnight obtained a

s u r p l u s a r m y wagon, stripped it down to its running gear, then trans-formed it into a mo-bile kitchen. In 1866, besides serv-ing as the cook’s traveling kitchen and the cowboy’s home on long trail drives, it carried provisions for the trail hands, plus bedrolls, shovels,

axes, rope, and even a few personal items. In the mid-1880’s , when trail-driving reached its height and cattle ranching reached the vast open range of the ‘Great Plains’, market demand led the then Stude-baker Bros. Mfg. Co of South Bend, Ind. To produce their version of a chuck wagon called a ‘Round-Up Wagon’, especially designed for feeding large crews. Still a useful part of the ranching industry today, the chuck wagon stands as a senti-mental symbol of the western legacy of a bygone era. Prices start at $9,900.00 for this wagon pictured on the left. See related article ’Cooking Tales’ by Lisa Stowe

trade for him. They had no children, and thought the parents had children to spare. The sister, not want-ing to give up her little brother, hid him in a pile of quilts within the wagon, where he almost died. The price offered for the toddler?

Cooking Tales

In the open spaces of North Dakota, a toddler was almost suffocated by his sister many years ago. One of thirteen children, the toddler was traveling in a covered wagon when a couple offered to

Sourdough starter. Luckily for me, my great-great-grandmother had her own starter and so my great-grandfather was rescued from the quilts.

Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour, water or milk, and a yeast

(Continued on page 7)

The Gold Bar Historical Society by Dorothy Crowshaw

The chuck wagon

Cooking Tales

PAGE 5 THE MT INDEX REPORTER VOLUME 2 , ISSUE 1

Having a Museum in any

community is a positive; it

relates to our ancestry. . .

In the 1800’s Sourdough starter was used because it traveled well.

Story and photo by D Hansen

Story and recipes by Lisa Stowe

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PAGE 6 THE MT INDEX REPORTER VOLUME 2 , ISSUE 1

Place Full

Page of

Ads on

this page

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(continued from page 5) culture containing millions of lactobacilli. It acts as a leavening and flavoring agent, and is commonly used in breads, pancakes, biscuits, and waffles. It has been around since the pyramids in Egypt were being built, and many people today have starters over 100 years old, myself included. This is possible because, when used, the cook always retains some to “start” the next batch.

The best method for getting a starter is to get some from a friend. If this is not possible, there are two ways to start your own family tradition. Both ways include the following ingredients:

Sourdough Starter

2 cups non-chlorinated water 2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar or honey 1 package commercial yeast

Combine the water, flour, yeast, and honey in a non-reactive bowl. Mix well. Cover the bowl with open-weave cheesecloth or dishcloth and leave on your counter for 2 to 3 days, stirring each day. The second way, an old fashioned method, includes leaving the bowl outside for several hours on a warm breezy day in order to catch wild yeast strains out of the air. Sometimes this method can result in a starter that is slimy or moldy; if this happens toss it and start over. After three days the starter should be bubbly, with a sour smell.

If you are not going to use the starter immediately, place it in a jar with lid, or Tupperware container, in your refrigerator. Ideally, your starter should be pulled out every couple weeks, put in a bowl, fed with equal parts flour and milk or water, and left to ferment a couple days. I alternate adding milk and water each time I pull the starter out. I find adding milk makes the starter a bit thicker.

Once you have your starter going, there are many, many recipes you can try. I have included two of my fa-vorites here. Remember to plan ahead for any sourdough recipe, giving yourself time to pull the starter out of the fridge, warm it up, and feed it for a day or two before cooking.

Sourdough Pancakes

The night before, combine 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of milk, and ½ cup of starter. Cover and let set overnight.

In the morning, add in 2 eggs, beaten, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tblsp sugar, and 2 tblsp vegetable oil. Mix well and pour onto a hot griddle as you would for any pancake. This makes a thin pancake, and this recipe serves a family of 4.

Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread

(This has a lot of ingredients, but is well worth the work if you like heavy breads)

The day before making the bread, mix a sponge of the following:

1 cup sourdough starter 1 cup warm water 1 cup bread flour

Mix well, cover, and let set 12 – 24 hours. The longer the sponge sets, the better the sour flavor will be.

Dough:

1 package yeast ¼ cup warm water 1 cup unseasoned, cooked mashed potatoes

1 cup lukewarm milk ½ cup molasses ¼ cup butter, softened

2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp salt 1 tsp baking soda

1 cup yellow corn meal 3 tbsp caraway seeds 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp wheat germ 4 cups rye flour 3 – 4 cups bread flour

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in small bowl, stir to dissolve and let stand 5 – 10 minutes until foamy. Combine yeast mixture, mashed potatoes, milk, molasses, butter, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and mix well. Add the sponge, cornmeal, caraway seeds, cocoa powder and wheat germ and mix well. Add 2 cups of the rye flour and beat for about 100 strokes. Add remaining rye flour, one cup at a time, (continued on page 9)

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The Mt Index Reporter is privately published by T A “Thom” Boullioun & friends. Using an all volunteer staff we hope that you like the information that you read here. We have received generous contributions from readers such as a printer, digital camera and now new software!. All pictures & stories are furnished by locals and they talk about the area. — This month there were 300 issues printed. We also can provide this to you by subscription and soon as a *.PDF file. That’s right soon you will be able to download a copy of the original publication and print it out on your own computer in color! It is available at several local businesses in the following towns. Gold Bar, Index, Baring and Skykomish. If you want an issue ask your local merchant to carry it. We want to make it available to you. For sub-scription info you can contact us at: Mt Index Reporter, Post Office Box 32, Baring, WA. 98224 or you can phone us at 360-793-7581 or via email at MtIndexReporter@yahoo.com.

The Small print

PAGE 8 THE MT INDEX REPORTER VOLUME 2 , ISSUE 1

“That’s right, this stump is still alive

70 years after the tree was killed..”

All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners(s). The stories and artwork furnished here are prop-erty of the providers and all the rest is considered copyright reserved for The Mt Index Reporter

70 years after the tree was killed. How is this possible, give that the living roots of the old tree need the food prepared by the leaves of the now-missing crown of the tree? I’m told this miracle is possible because sometimes a tree’s neighbor has roots which touch and form root grafts with it, and when the first tree dies, the neighboring tree can send its own nutri-ents across the graft to keep the roots of the logged-off tree alive. The still-living “Zombie” stump then starts to seal off the old chainsaw cut, just like any other wound.

This raises a question of iden-tity: since the new growth of the last 70 years has been the result of the neighbor-ing tree's photosynthesis, does that mean the new growth is genetically or in any other measurable way different from the old pre-logging growth? Or is the new growth still the result of the old tree’s cambium, which means the old tree never died? (It just got shortened a bit).

This gets potentially even stick-ier: if a stump created by loggers can be kept alive by its neighbors, why can’t a tree which dies of other causes be like-wise kept alive by its neighbors? Say a fire completely torches the crown of tree A; could tree B send nutrients to keep tree A alive? If tree A is revived thanks to root grafts and tree B’s nutrients, and subsequently re-sprouts more limbs as a result, is tree A still tree A? If we could genetically check all the growth rings

(Continued from page 4) a nest in the rotted heartwood.

Twenty feet past the cable crossing is a (leaning) Pacific Yew tree just to the left of the trail with a bird’s nest tucked away in a fold of the trunk about 7 feet off the ground.

A bit further along, the trail curves around the base of a huge cedar tree with 4 main trunks. This is “Quadrathuja”, the namesake tree of Quadrathuja Island. It is a least 35 feet in circumference at the base, a big tree for sure, but not as big as a few others further up the valley. In another 150 feet or so the trail drops into another coulee, dodges right-ward around a log, and passes by a cedar only slightly smaller in diame-ter than Quadrathuja.

Now we are at the lower end of the island, and the trail turns up valley. In another hundred feet the trail turns right, but a left turn here puts you easily and quickly out on the river bars and beaches. The trail dodges inland a bit and contin-ues up valley, wobbling around a lot and passing through a series of cedar and fir groves on its way to the up-stream end of the island. Sometimes the trail follows old skid roads from the logging days, sometimes it drops down and crosses or follows along coulees, and other times it winds around the highlands, among the trunks of the remaining big trees. Most of these big trees are cedars,

(Continued on page 11)

from some big old tree, might we find that the tree has had more than one identity during its lifetime? Could a 2 X 4 in your house have two distinct genetic identities?

Continuing along, the trail drops down the coulee, turns right, and wanders across a low area with a small stream. Crossing the stream, it contin-ues parallel to the stream for a bit, then turns right and climbs back up to some

highlands, where it follows along an old skid road from the logging days. Where the trail crosses over an old logging cable, look back to your right to the nearest big tree, a mossy barked Grand Fir about 15 to 20 feet away. This tree is 19 feet in circumference at breast height. The big-gest Grand Fir in the state is reportedly 19 feet 2 inches in circumference. If any-thing happens to the old one, we may have a new state record tree here. Sooner or later though, this tree is toast: a basal scar on the tree’s north side (possibly logging related) reveals that its heart is infected by fungus, and Pacific Damp wood Termites have moved in and set up

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Index School News from Linda Tate Getting To Know Mrs. Schroeder

T ry this drive on a week-end. It takes about four hours, not counting any stops you’ll want to

make. It also involves well-maintained gravel roads. Take US 2 up over Ste-ven’s Pass. Travel about three miles down and just as the highway divides turn left on the Smith brook Road. Follow the road up over Rainy Pass, passing the Lake Valhalla trailhead. At the top of the pass are a pretty farm and some great huckleberry picking in early February. Con-tinue down the other side taking

(Continued from front page)

This eagle is a clip art. I was thinking of using it but it just didn’t look right. It seemed to be frowning or it looks un-happy. I don’t think that I could really use it in this paper but I liked the pic. Perhaps the bird is un-happy because of the rain fall during the Art Festi-val in Index. Who knows. I hope that you all like the new look that the Mt In-dex Reporter has. Thanks to every body for all the help with that I have been getting and the story ideas from everyone in the area. Thanks to everyone. — Editor

For the last two years I have been substitute teaching for both the Monroe and Sultan School Districts. I have my Masters in Teaching from city University in Bellevue. I abso-lutely love to teach.

I have two daughters, Maggie who is in the 7th grade, and Sasha who just started kindergarten.

Maggie raises and sells pure-bred Mini Rex rabbits. We have baby rabbits around all the time. I also have a dog, named, Sam. He is an Icelandic sheep dog, a very rare breed. We got Same from a shelter two years ago and he has been every-

one in the family’s baby ever since.

I love to read children’s books, learn about history, exercise, and be with my family.

I am so excited about being the K—4th teacher this year. We can look forward to sharing a year full of discovery, learning , and fun!

In hope of meeting everyone I am hosting an open classroom next Wednesday, Oct 20th from 1:30 - 2 :30 I hope you will be able to come by to visit with me and enjoy a cookie with some juice. Mrs Schroeder

a hard left at the Y (its marked to Lake Wenatchee) and winding down into the little Wenatchee River Valley. Continue to the Valley bottom where you’ll cross the Little Wenatchee and take a right. At the crossing there is a lovely spot for a picnic. It was a campground that was flooded several years back. Head down river right toward Lake Wenatchee and through the gorgeous orange and reds of the changing vine ma-ple and you’ll hit pavement again just before the lake. Continue fol-lowing the main road or take the lakeshore road that veers

off at the (no longer standing) site of the Old Cougar Inn. Both routes lead back towards Highway 2. Stop at the State Park for a picnic or at Kahler Glenn Camp grounds (follow the signs by the State Park) for a meal – anything from nachos and chili, burgers, to prime rib and chicken Dijon. Then head out to Highway 2 and head back across Stevens Pall or into Leavenworth for fresh fruit and an overnight! Karen Sample

A Great Place to Find Fall Colors by Karen Samples

Amy Johnson, R.N. will be at the school on

October 19th and 20th from 10 am until 1:00 pm

to do this years health screenings for hearing, vision and scoliosis. The public is welcome to come in

for any or all of these screenings.

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Chinook Expeditions 1-800-241-3451

P.O. Box 256, Index, Washington 98256

SKAGIT RIVER

VOYAGER CANOE EXPEDITION

October 23rd—24th, 2004

Marblemount to Sedro Wooley

$ 245 Per Person

Everything is provided on this custom canoe trip. Up to 12 passengers paddle in our 32 foot voyager river canoe. Along

the way you’ll discover our custom riverside kitchen and campsites. We prepare and serve hearty & wholesome meals both days. You’ll be treated to comfortable accommodations with a warm campfire and custom kitchen. This is a great

opportunity to explore the new and spectacular autumn scen-ery and awesome salmon migration. We’ll see lots of wildlife

and the return of the Bald Eagles. Join us on this unique river adventure.

Professionally guided by Shane Turnbull.

And the guides of Chinook Expeditions Information and trip details @ 800-241-3451

http://www.chinookexpeditions.com

Here’s are things to do and places to go. Check it out! LET’S GO!

GOLD BAR — The Skyland Ranch presents the Night of Doom 2004. fea-turing Tipi Trek. Covered areas in case of rain. Games and a raffle. Haunted trail, hayride and concessions for kids and adults alike. Fri and Sat the 29 and the 30th. $7 each and activities start at 6:30 pm till midnight. 43100 Reiter Road. For more info call KC @ 425-418-9824.

INDEX — The Haunted House and the Witch Mobile are back. Ride the Witch-mobile from the Index General Store to the Trap Grounds. Come to the Sky Country Club See ad on page 15 in this paper.

BARING —

SKYKOMISH —

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(continued from page 7) mixing well after each addition. Add 2 cups of the bread flour, one cup at a time, mix-ing well. Let the dough rest about 10 minutes for the cornmeal and wheat germ to absorb liquid. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead 10—12 minutes, adding more bread flour as needed. Caution: this dough is stickier than white bread, so avoid adding too much flour during the kneading, which can result in dry bread. Lightly coat the dough with warm butter and put in the rinsed bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free area for 1 to 1-1/2 hours until doubled.

Punch down, turn out onto floured surface and knead lightly for about 3 minutes to work out any air bubbles. Form into three round loaves, lightly grease them, place on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise about 1 hour until doubled. The rounds may spread out some, but they will rise a bit more during the first few minutes of baking. Uncover, cut a couple crisscross slashes in the top of each round, and bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes. Cool on racks.

Resist the temptation to cut into this bread when it first comes out of the oven. It will continue to bake for about 10 minutes and if you cut into it too soon it will end up doughy.

I cut this recipe in half, and make two loaves in pans rather than three free-form round loaves. We pre-fer the loaf shape as it is easier for toasting and this bread makes marvelous toast.

There is a great deal of history around sourdough, not only during the westward movement, but also during the gold rush in the Klondike, where entrepreneurs made more money selling sourdough pancakes than most miners did chasing gold. I hope you will enjoy learning more about it, and “starting” your own traditions. — Lisa

but a few big Douglas-firs are seen, and the trail goes right past the base of one. These Doug's are bigger and older than the trees we visited in Silver Creek Valley last month.

The trail tries to circumvent as many logs as possible, but is forced to go up and over logs and log-piles in several places. Af-ter perhaps. 1/2 mile of wandering up valley, the tail drops down to a coulee area near the island’s upper end, turns left around a big log end, regains the highland, and comes to a stop in a mossy floored grove of Cedars and one big Doug-fir tree. The river is just visible here, curving around the upper end of the is-land. If one follows the general direction of the last 10 feet of trail, one can, with minimal bushwhacking, emerge from the forest out onto the sunny, open beaches and river bar areas that line the whole Western side of Quadrathuja Island.

One can also continue up valley by leaving the trail end and bushwhacking up to the top end of the island, and working up-stream along a minimalist track just back from the riverside logjams, usually 50 to 100 feet back from the water, but not always. We’ll continue on upstream some another month:

(Continued from page 8) there’s lots to see, but for now we’ll be satisfied to explore the lush low-lands of Quadrathuja Island, with their ferns and wildflowers and groves of huge old trees.

I find the walk across Quadrathuja Island to be a good Wilder-(Continued on page 12)

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“There are Many Ways of Making a Living” by Frank Linth This story courtesy of The Gold Bar Depot Museum

ness experience. The sounds of the roads are left behind, the natural features of the island are aesthetically impressive and even scientifically unusual. The whole upper end of the island is lined with log-jams, which protect it from the erosive attentions of the river. Nurse logs and nurse stumps abound, in true rain forest

(Continued from page 11) style, and hanging mosses and lichens are everywhere. Only the presence of stumps and flat-ended log pieces mars the pristine ness of the island. But these are temporary things which will decay away with time, and Wilderness is meant to be permanent, so our chil-dren’s children can come along and see the forests which so impressed our own grandparents and their parents.

The forest on Quadrathuja Island, even though it has been partially cut, is one of those forests, and it de-serves the legal protection of Wil-derness designation, no matter what Pombo or Nethercutt think.

The Monte Cristo Car

Run July 2003 SKYKOMISH — Last year during the Monte Cristo Run in July. Bill and Ann Ottemans’ 1902 Olds, is seen approaching the Summit of Jack’s Pass, en route from Skyko-mish to Index. These old one-cylinder cars seem to be always scur-rying off somewhere. The Horseless Carriage Club and the Brass Auto Club are frequent visitors to our area. They were here last month too!

AAA celebrated 100 years last month

“It doesn’t get better than this!”

PHOTO: Rich Anderson

GOLD BAR — Friday, January 15, 1914. The only media was the newspaper and word-of-mouth. Indoor plumbing was viewed as a luxury. Jerky was considered “fast food”, and a loaf of bread could be purchased for 10 cents. Horse-p o w e r g e n e r a l l y m e a n t “horsepower.” Timber interests kept most of our residents gener-ally employed, and the mining of gold and other metals in the area

was continuing to be actively pur-sued. The changes in the last 90 years are staggering. It also held true, however, that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. The following account was printed in the Gold Bar Record, the local newspaper of a colorful time.

“An apparently one legged man was around town the first of the

week and succeeded in appealing to the sympathy of some of our local people to the extent that they gave him alms. After clean-ing up about $10 he was discov-ered walking down the (railroad) track with two of his good legs as you ever saw and further that his crutches were sectional so that he could break them down and carry them as a package. There are many ways of making a living.”

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Woodland Park Zoo Join us in what is quickly becoming a family tra-dition. The 3rd Annual/Pumpkin Prowl at Woodland Park Zoo. Hun-dreds of carved illuminated pumpkins light the way for trick-or-treaters. Family & friends entertainment, sweet station and a howling good time. This yearly fundraiser for the zoo invites the whole family to arrive in costume. Remember, the zoo is open 9:30 — 5:00 pm every day

The Index Haunted House is back at the Sports-men's Club this year.

Oct 29th & 30th. Dusk till 11:pm

Ride the Witch Mobile

From the Index Gen-eral Store to the Trap Grounds. It’s Fun!!

Tickets are: Kids un-der 10 are only $3 and Adults are $10

Decorating begins

Tuesday at the Trap Grounds Call 793-1426 For more

information

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The Mt Index Reporter Post Office Box 32 Baring, WA. 98224

THE MT INDEX REPORTER 2004

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months worth of comics from a guy that draws the comics and then puts them up on his website. He then holds a caption contest. Peo-ple visit the site and either make up a cap-tion or vote for the one that they like the best.

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I did try to get a comic strip from the big boys at King Features Syndi-cate but they quoted me

$150 per month for one 4-panel comic strip. A little ’surfing’ and I found the site called The Funny

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Pages . If you would like to verify what I am saying and you have internet access go and check it out for yourself. We can accept your material in many ways. If you have a hand written story I can re-type it and use it. The same for pictures. If you don’t have a digi-tal camera don’t worry about that. We use a combination of low-tech and high-tech methods here at the Mt Index Reporter. We can scan them or paste them up either way. If you have a picture and a story all the better. However, you do not have to be internet or com-puter savvy to be part of this pub-lication. Call the phone number shown below today.

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