The Spirit of Ski Tur Valley

By James G. Bennett

When they acquired their cabin building site in Ski Tur Valley in the fall of 1967, things didnt turn out exactly as they envisioned. Jim and Louise Bennett and their five children thought they were going to build a simple, uncomplicated, leisurely, and totally carefree retreat in the mountains. Most their Valley neighbors felt the same way. But in fact, what they really acquired was forty years of beauty, adventure, excitement and testing. The vision of having a cabin in the mountains was exciting and compelling, but what they actually experienced turned out to be far more so.

There were no phones, no power with television and computers, and only seasonal river water when they built their Castle in the Mountain. In the cold of winter it was two miles over snow just to get to their cabin from their parked car and back.

They experienced this wilderness area as it went through many changes, beginning as a rough undeveloped development to its present status as a highly coveted and well organized mountain recreational community. The history of that evolution contains volumes of exciting stories of adventure for residents and visitors alike. Mother Nature with the help of Murphy and his law, contributed to these adventures in many unexpected and unusual ways. Everyone was put to the test!

That evolution was fueled by what the author calls the Spirit of Ski Tur Valley, a Spirit which bonded members of the community into a vital force that overcame many threats to their pristine retreat. Some of those threats came from Mother Nature herself, in the form of blizzards, floods, and avalanches, but others from high powered land developers intent on destroying the Valley as members knew and loved it.

THE SPIRIT OF SKI TUR VALLEY is filled with true stories, some poignant, some of evacuation from flooding, of rescuing ill-fortuned hang-gliders, of bears breaking into left over birthday cake. There are tales of Mr. Bates, and Old Blaze, the truck that rescued his owner after ten years of separation.

Because he was involved in Ski Tur Valley from its inception in the late sixties, and had lived there full time on a couple of occasions, Bennett was asked to collect stories from community members and present them in book form along with other background history. This remarkable book is based on a family log, kept by his wife Louise, along with contributions from the memories of community members and also from the archives of the Community Association , consisting of legal records, minutes of meeting and records of legal activity.

All of these sources combine to unfold the story of THE SPIRIT OF SKI TUR VALLEY.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 24, 2007
• ISBN: 9781469106175

James G. Bennett

James G. Bennett, a retired mental health professional has written extensively in the field of mental health, including books on sports psychology and performance enhancement. The History Channel’s television documentary, THE ROHNA DISASTER, a historic World War Two incident, was based on Bennett’s book of the same name. After forty unforgettable years of adventure in an untamed, undeveloped recreational wilderness area in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, Bennett harvests stories, tales and history from his own cabin log along with the recollections of friends and neighbors and assembles them into a compelling story of THE SPIRIT OF SKI TUR VALLEY.

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Copyright © 2007 by James G. Bennett.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Introduction

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Epilogue

Appendix

Endnotes

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all of the people of Ski Tur Valley,

past and present, who by their communal efforts, perseverance and dedication to the preservation of the Valley, brought into

being the true Spirit of Ski Tur Valley.

Acknowledgements

Special word of thanks and credit goes to my favorite wife Louise. Had she not started and maintained the IT’S ONLY A CABIN log for forty years, this book could not and would not ever have been written. In addition to that worthy gift, my thanks and appreciation go to her for the hours and hours of editing and proofreading.

Thanks to Jerry Haver for providing the initial push to take on the assignment of doing a book of assorted Valley Stories and Tales. He’s a hard guy to say no to. With his cheerful, persistent and low key insistence, there was no choice but to succumb to his request.

Of course, I want to acknowledge and thank the following Valley friends and neighbors who shared their stories and tales for inclusion in this book. They are great contributions, some of which had me in stitches and others that made my eyes water. All of them were a gift that allowed me to relive forty of the best years of my life. Thanks to:

Dick and Geri Anderson, Jerry and Linda Haver, Rex and Mary Gentry, Scott Bergford, Doug Brookens, Lynn and Bob Harwood, Gordon Gray, Gunvar Gunnarsson, Byron and Nancy Bridges, Tom Mahoney, Jim Long, Louise Bennett, Al and Barbara Davis, Jeff Behrens, Paul Abercrombie and frequent guest, Carl Berg.

I also appreciate the help given by the Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA. Mr. Vanderwal graciously gave several hours of his time to assist in researching history of the section of I-90 extending through Snoqualmie pass.

Prologue

THE SPIRIT OF SKI TUR VALLEY

Ski Tur Valley, a beautiful wilderness setting, derived its name from the sport of Ski touring, a form of back country skiing that involves strenuous traveling over the winter landscape on skis. Ski Touring is a sport full of adventure and awe. Ski Tur Valley is a back country area also full of adventure and wonder, awaiting visitors and settlers alike.

Ski touring is best enjoyed by those with a certain spirit of adventure along with physical fitness, mental toughness, and self reliance. They have experiences few others enjoy in the modern world, and the rewards can be exceptional. More than likely, they will also experience an adventure or two.

People with that same spirit, who become property owners in Ski Tur Valley, also have unimaginable rewards and incredible adventures. Being a settler in Ski Tur Valley is a unique experience of beauty, challenge, adventure and spirit.

It is that spirit of Ski Tur Valley that was inevitably born of a group of independent thinkers joining together and working together to form a community. This is a book about the Spirit of Ski Tur Valley and the people imbued with that spirit who lived there.

Introduction

Actually, this book is not the one I had planned to write! I hope it’s the same as the one you planned to read!

Its funny how things work out; how they don’t always turn out the way you plan them. This book is a classic example of things that change in the doing.

Here’s what happened.

In the fall of 2006, my wife Louise and I wrapped up forty years of fun, adventure and enrichment in a wilderness haven called Ski Tur Valley located in Gold Creek Valley, deep in the Washington Cascade Mountains. It was a major decision, not easily come by, to leave our Valley and also give up IOAC (It’s Only A Cabin, as our home in that Valley was affectionately called) forever, and move on to a new and different chapter in our lives.

The first chapter, as far as our lives and this tale is concerned, began when we acquired a piece of this majestic valley wilderness. It was just a small circular lot with no power, phone service, water or television, located two miles from the nearest paved road and, for almost six months of the year, accessible only by skis, snowshoes or snowmobile. That fact alone prompted many of the stories told between first and last chapters of our experience and this book.

The original idea for the book was to gather many stories about life in the Valley from the folks with whom we shared it. The idea came into being when Jerry Haver, Valley friend and neighbor¹, learned of our decision to leave the Valley, and lost little time before applying pressure on me (gentle but determined and persistent persuasion) to take on a project of assembling a collection of Valley stories and tales. Who better to do it? he would urge. You have been here in the valley from the very beginning! You have heard so many tales of adventure and seen so many changes, and I know that you have had a lion’s share of them yourselves.

I couldn’t argue that point. It was true. Our forty years in Ski Tur Valley were filled with so many rich experiences and adventures it would be challenging to know how or where to begin. However, even though we had lived many of the stories of life and adventure in the Valley, we definitely were not the only ones that had stories to tell. Over the years, Valley friends and neighbors kept the campfire burning long hours into the night sharing Valley experiences. To paraphrase a popular saying in some church circles, Where ever two or three are gathered . . . there are bound to be hours of sharing of Valley adventures and story telling. When pieced together they unveil a remarkable story and history of Ski Tur Valley’s evolvement, from a primitive, wild, and freshly logged off wilderness area to an almost, but not quite, tamed, beautiful, recreational, residential community, in the forested valley of Gold Creek.

The stories of life in the Valley include many people; there are stories of adventure, life threatening experiences, community sharing, working together, building together and coming together to fight off the intrusion of high density developers. There are stories of floods, broken water pipes in winter freeze, of evolving from the primitive use of candles and kerosene and propane lamps to modern underground electrical power, from valley communications via the banging on cooking pots or firing gun shots in the air, to the arrival of land telephones. (Cell phones are still very iffy.) There are stories of people fulfilling their dreams and of making fantasies come true. Residents can still be heard to ask, Do you remember when? or, I remember that time when… ." and with those opening lines other recollections were triggered and flowed freely. It took little to get folks recalling and reminiscing, especially the old timers. Some of the tales have been embellished over the years, but all have grown out of actual experience and all express and reflect that wonderful Spirit of Ski Tur Valley.

Jerry insisted that these stories should be collected and be told as a sort of a Ski Tur Valley archive, and despite my reluctance to take on the task, I had to agree. He was right. There were so many great memories recalled in these tales. And they cried out to be told. It would be a shame to let them get lost.

So, after an appropriate period of hemming and hawing, my resistance waned and I yielded to his gentle persuasion, but on the condition that the project would require help and contributions from community members. We both agreed that virtually everyone who has ever been part of this community must have at least two or more stories to share. Our task would be to harvest them. That became a condition for taking on this project.

Well, that was the original plan; a nice collection of stories and memories well designed to trigger some nostalgic tears or chuckles.

The project progressed and became more intriguing and pleasurable than expected, but it also became clear that the availability of stories actually materializing was limited, due in part to the fact that the number of people who had been in the Valley for a long time, and would have stories to share about the early years, were few. Much of the current population arrived only in the last couple of years. The number of so called old timers was limited to a handful and some of those had either moved away or passed away. The stories contributed were not lacking in quality or interest, only quantity. Overall, it was a collection of great stories and tales, but it was not quite enough to do justice to the original envisioned plan. Something more was needed!

Happily, other sources of intriguing and relevant information about the Valley became available. Haver procured the recently organized Ski Tur Valley Maintenance Association Document book (a heavy four inch thick tome of document archiving) that provided a great wealth of information about the historical evolution of the Valley. Gradually, other information sources were found, including miscellaneous records and Association minutes; and of course, our own cabin log book, maintained for most of the forty years we were there.

With this new material in hand, the direction, form and character of the project gradually changed. As the research and writing progressed, I realized this activity was taking more time and turned into more work than originally anticipated. With that in mind, a decision was reached, not only to present this book in an appealing way for Valley and nearby mountain readers, but to style it somewhat for more general readership that would also enjoy this genre. Hopefully, this will explain and justify to our Valley friends, the broader approach and some of the license that was taken.

So, starting with gathering a collection of Valley stories, tales (and as some would say, lies), we have graduated to writing a full book, one that includes those stories, tales and lies, along with a bit of history and other fascinating items of interest.

With some apology I trust that my readers, especially those of the Valley, will make allowance for any inaccuracies of detail in the telling, especially those resulting from a memory of events and details gone faulty forty years after the fact. Although this work is built in part from extractions from official STVMA records and documents along with our own personal cabin log, we also include the memories from other residents and lot owners, of events that were not recorded, other than in the memory banks of the mind. Those stories of past years were so fascinating, exciting, interesting, amazing and worthy of retelling, that had we only thought of it at the time they occurred, copious notes would have been made and kept by someone.

Some of this work springs from taped or written contributions of other members of the Ski Tur Valley community. Their stories are included, as told by them. I have done my best to organize them, and tie them together to provide a sense of continuity and order. This will not only be a collection of stories of/by individual members and families, but when assembled, they will comprise the story of Ski Tur Valley. They reveal the Spirit of Ski Tur Valley

Jerry spoke the truth when he reminded me that our family had been the first to acquire a lot and build a cabin in the valley. (At that time possession of a lot was called leasehold). That was in 1967. In that first year, with the exception of the original founders, Gordon Holbrook and Robert Hanson, and their families, we were essentially on our own as the only leaseholder. Dick and Geri Anderson and their family also acquired their lot about the same time we did, and began construction of their cabin the following year. Many of the stories and adventures related in this book will be not just our own but they will involve the Andersons, with whom we started this journey. The nature of those stories will make clear what it was like in those very early days in the Valley, especially prior to its more recent spurt of growth and development. They provide a picture of modern day pioneering that at times made us awestruck when we stopped to consider what the early American Pioneers traveling through the Snoqualmie area must have experienced.

Louise and I had not only been part of the Valley experience from early on, but twice we had taken up full time residence for a period of about two years each; November 1988 through November 1990 and June 2004 through September 2006. It was inevitable that, with that concentration of living in the Valley, we would have an accumulation of experiences and stories to tell. And so we did!

With the exception of the period from 1970-1980² we maintained a cabin log from the time of our beginning until our departure. We rely on memory and official STVMC documents for filling in events during that time. All material in this book that was taken from our log will be presented in italics.

For a while, growth in the Valley was slow, as each year only one or two more families acquired leaseholds and a few, but not all of them, soon after built their cabins.

This book is not entirely about personal experiences, however. Over the years Ski Tur Valley both matured physically and evolved philosophically. Such things as roads, utilities and even flood control were introduced and improved upon, while resident belief systems and attitudes about the environment, and directions for growth, etc. changed in the valley, as they did elsewhere. Ski Tur Valley evolved from a remote wilderness Shangri-La to becoming an active and concerned member of the larger Snoqualmie Pass Summit Community. It evolved from its isolation, although it still remains remote, into a popular point of destination for recreational activity, hiking, fishing and soaring (parasailing and hang gliding) in the summer, and cross country skiing, snow shoeing and snowmobiling in the winter. The domino effect of these events and changes necessitated focusing on new concerns such as security, fire protection and maintaining the pristine beauty by keeping the Valley clean from litter and destruction. These changes are reflected in the STVMA minutes and records and are selectively included to further tell the story of change in the valley.

This is our way of sharing Ski Tur Valley with you. My hope is that it will provide entertaining reading while also giving enough history, greater insight and added appreciation of the incredible gift we have been given… The Spirit of Ski Tur Valley.

Ironically, even as we separate from the Valley and journey on into our new life, we find that with this project, separation not only isn’t happening, but our attachment to the Valley continues to grow. Contacts with valley friends continue, curiosity leads to frequent checks on the internet to learn the latest weather conditions and snow reports and other happenings, but mostly, the relating of these stories and tales became a matter of reliving them, some with the same strong tugs of emotion as when they actually occurred. Never was this more apparent than, while Louise was editing a saga in the book, I found her crying softly and in tears. Puzzled, I asked Is something wrong? She replied, No, I just finished reading about our experience, that time when our family all got separated in the snow and you had to get the Search and Rescue people.

We can only realize that even though we think we have moved on, the truth is we will always be a part of Ski Tur Valley.

May the Spirit of the Valley be with and touch you!

Chapter I

IN THE BEGINNING… .

We never really thought of ourselves as pioneers, but then, it’s unlikely most people starting a new venture do. We just thought of ourselves as a very lucky family who serendipitously found the right place at the right time.

We (the Bennett family) first learned of Ski Tur Valley when reading an ad in the classified section of the Seattle Post Intelligencer in March of 1967. The exact wording has long since been forgotten but in essence it said For Sale . . . Beautiful Wilderness Lots, in an area being developed by a retired Forest Ranger… . Having spent a good part of the previous year searching unsuccessfully for just such a spot on the Olympic Peninsula, this ad quickly caught our attention and we said to each other, Why not? We responded with a phone call and arranged for a tour.

We met the ex-Forest Ranger, Gordon Holbrook, who later was to become a good friend, and with whom a few choice adventures were also shared. His partner Bob Hansen Sr. was a writer and Real Estate Editor with the Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper.

Our introduction to beautiful Ski Tur Valley is described in the first entry in a long succession of entries in our cabin log.

FROM THE IOAC (It’s Only A Cabin) LOG, MARCH 1967… .

by Louise, with current editorial comments by Jim.

"It was in March of ’67 that we finally found the spot for our mountain retreat in Ski Tur, a development within a section of land on Gold Creek adjacent to Snoqualmie National Forest just three miles past (East) Snoqualmie Summit, and almost two miles in from the highway.

On a beautiful sunny Sunday, the Bob Hansens’ and Gordon Holbrook met us at the appointed time and place, (close to the highway), and transported us in by snow-mobile. We enjoyed a snow shoe tour of the area and a hospitable glass of wine around a fire in the snow at the shack". Gordon showed us how to arrange the snowshoes in the snow as to create snowshoe seats. Sarah had fallen asleep with the walking and finished her nap on the floor of the shack.³

Jim tried his luck at snowmobiling and dumped us both.

We made a couple more visits during the summer and in October finally selected the very spot where our cabin was to be, and proudly the children stood on the stump right in the center of the location!

Bob Hansen said we were the very first to actually finalize our decision to lease a lot in the valley . . . so he unofficially nicknamed us the Pioneers, a name we have chuckled at ever since.

Nevertheless, we were not the only adventurers to take a chance on this unknown, untested, under-developed development. We soon had the company of the Dick and Geri Anderson family who signed up very soon after we did. We, in turn, dubbed them ‘Pioneers’ since we knew that they were also going to be blazing a lot of trails in the days ahead. We quickly became neighbors and good friends.

The Andersons, with whom we would share many adventures and experiences over the years, proved very early to be hearty of body and spirit, as they spent their first days in the Valley camping by the river with their tent and picnic table and bathing in the icy cold waters of Gold Creek. They also proved to be steadfast friends for forty years. And, like the pioneers of earlier days, we were often on hand for each other in times of need.

Ironically, not only did we begin this adventure virtually at the same time in 1967 with the Andersons, but we also concluded it together. They sold their cabin soon after we sold ours, after forty years of shared adventures and rich experiences, and ventured into a new chapter in their lives.

* * *

In the beginning years of Ski Tur Valley, lots were not purchased and owned as is the practice now. Instead they were leased for a reasonable sum of money, as noted in the following detail taken from our own lease.

"THIS INDENTURE, MADE THIS 12TH day of November, 1967, between Section 11, Inc., a Washington corporation, hereafter called Lessor, and James and Louise Bennett, whose address is . . . 

"This lease shall commence on the 12th day of November, 1967 and terminate on August 31, 1985, unless extended or terminated. It is expressly understood that Section 11, Inc., has the right to extend by notice its master lease with Northern Pacific Railway Co. until August 31, 2020, and the Northern Pacific Railway Co. will continue until that date with sublessees in the event of withdrawal by Section 11, Inc. as master lessor. Receipt is hereby acknowledged of payment by Lessee of $100.00 in payment of lessee’s rental to next August 31. Lessee further agrees to pay as rental for the following described property, the sum of $200.00 per year, for the full term of this lease. Upon August 31, 1971, and every five thereafter, the annual rental shall, at the option of the lessor, be adjusted to reflect any increase in the rental between the Lessor and the Northern Pacific Railway Co., limited to arbitration to the terms of their lease.

In addition, to the aforesaid rental payments, Lessee agrees to pay over the further sum of $25.00 per year (hereinafter referred to as maintenance fee) on the first day of September of each year for the full term of this Lease, which funds shall be paid by the Lessee to Ski Tur Valley Maintenance Co., a non-profit Washington Corporation, to apply against the cost of maintenance and construction of community facilities and improvements and maintenance of Ski Tur Valley area generally.

Further on the lease reads:

"In addition to the foregoing, the Lessee will pay to the Lessor the sum of $1250.00 as a possession fee for and in consideration . . . In addition to the foregoing