Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Day 66 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure – Friday 8/31/18


We departed Squaw Rock RV Park. We had a great site next to the river. Across the river was “Squaw rock” and a top of the rock was a totem pole. I hunted and hunted for information on how and why it was there, no luck.

We back tracked a bit on WA 410, toward Naches. We passed through the community of Nile Valley. It is a small community that was established in the mid-1890s by families of James Beck, William Markle and Henry Sedge. They named the small valley and community Nile because of the area's fertility thought to resemble that of the Nile River Valley in Egypt.

We traveled on US 12 and got back on I-82, heading east into Yakima. I spotted an infamous "Welcome to Yakima, The Palm Springs of Washington" sign. It captures your eye as you drive Interstate 82, it is known to many as a reminder of how great Yakima is. But others in the valley consider it an embarrassment. Although many assume the sign was erected by the city, it, in fact, was erected by a local man named Gary Lukehart in 1987. Lukehart put up the sign to celebrate Yakima's centennial. After the centennial, Lukehart modified it to say "The Palm Springs of Washington." Lukehart also owned Trail Wagons/Chinook, which manufactured upscale Class C RVs/motorhomes. Sadly, Trail Wagons/Chinook went under in 2006 and the land and buildings were foreclosed on. Lukehart was able to keep the sign, though. In the past, local government officials and citizens have attempted to reason with Lukehart to remove the sign, but Lukehart continues to ignore the requests -- much to the dismay of the sign's opponents. Lukehart's reasoning for the sign? "Because we have a lot of sunshine... That's what we have in common with Palm Springs."

We were going to cut off of I-82 onto WA 97, but bad accident found by the dawn patrol made us change route. We did get to see large farms of hops growing along the interstate.

Everyone pulled off for gas and to regroup in Prosser. Prosser was long home to Native Americans who lived and fished along the river. They called the area "Tap tut", meaning rapids. Colonel William Farrand Prosser first surveyed the area in 1879, then claimed homestead in 1882. The Northern Pacific Railroad laid tracks through the area two years later. A town plat was filed by Colonel Prosser in 1885, and in 1886 he was elected Yakima County Auditor. He moved to North Yakima to attend to these duties, and never returned to the town that he founded. In more recent years, Prosser's location on the Yakima River and access from I-82 has encouraged a growing wine business and associated tourist industry. Several Prosser wineries are located within the Yakima Valley hillsides.

We have had contact with the dawn patrol and the accident will be keeping the road blocked for 5 to 6 hours. So the State Patrol, had them unhook and turn around and follow WA 22, to WA221, to WA 14 and then that would put them back on US 97. We were on WA 22 in Prosser … so we will be following that route too! It was a quick turn onto WA 221, and a few coaches missed it. So they headed further down WA 22 looking for a turn around. As they were heading in the wrong direction, the dawn patrol passed them heading to WA 221 … All our rigs are reunited again!

Washington State Route 221 is a 26 mile highway located entirely within Benton County. The highway connects the county seat of Prosser and the unincorporated community of Paterson. The highway has existed since at least 1926. The starts out in a southerly course it descends into the Horse Heaven Hills. I finally understand the phrase “Amber Waves of Grain.”

We passed the Columbia Crest Winery on WA 221. Our resident shopper and wine connoisseur, Judy, tells us we have to buy some of this wine. It is nestled alongside the Columbia River in eastern Washington, Columbia Crest winery opened its doors in the heart of the acclaimed Horse Heaven Hills in 1983. Year after year, the winery maintains its commitment to quality, heritage and innovation in grape growing and winemaking to craft exceptional wines. Washington state and the Columbia Valley represent the perfect grape-growing climate, from the weather to the soil to the vineyard sites. These growing conditions, along with outstanding viticulture and winemaking practices, allow Columbia Crest to create high-quality wines that are true to their varietal character and represent the unique terroir of the region. Their history begins in 1982, when Doug Gore named Columbia Crest's head winemaker. In 1983 the Winery and visitor center was dedicated and opened in June. By 1987 they released their first release of white wine varieties and in 1988 their reds. Eight years after their inception, they are named 1 of the 24 “Best Value Wineries” in the world, by the Wine Advocates. Ten years after the release of their first wines, Columbia Crest makes its first appearance on Wine Spectator’s list of Top 100 wines for the year with two wines: 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon; 1995 Estate Series Chardonnay.

In Paterson, we turned onto Washington State Route 14. The highway travels east-west on the north side of the Columbia River, opposite Interstate 84 (I-84) to the south in Oregon. WA 14 is a section of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway.

We traveled on WA 14 in a southwesterly direction along the Columbia Hills and the Columbia River. The Columbia River Basin covers 258,000 square miles and includes parts of seven states and one Canadian province. In its 1,200 mile course to the ocean, the river flows through four mountain ranges and drains more water to the Pacific Ocean than any other river in North or South America. It once produced the largest salmon runs on earth, with returns often exceeding 30 million salmon per year.

The Columbia River also provides drinking water to numerous communities along its course, and irrigates 600,000 acres of farmland. Between the US and Canada, the river’s 19 hydroelectric dams provide about half the region’s supply of electricity, in addition to providing flood control benefits. However, the dams have also played a major role in the decline and extirpation of numerous salmon and steelhead populations, including 13 stocks currently listed under the Endangered Species Act.

We found a “castle” on top of the hill and there were questions on our hand held radios about what it might be … I had to research it. Here is what I learned. Samuel Hill was a Quaker and used his money to organize and fund a Quaker utopian community on the banks of the Columbia River in the early 1900s. Unfortunately no Quakers besides Hill ever moved there and his utopian vision failed after a few short years. Nonetheless Hill continued with the construction of a French Mansion—in steel and concrete—on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River. Hill was friends with various socialites and celebrities, including Queen Marie of Romania, who was living in exile at the time. Parisian modern dancer Loïe Fuller convinced Hill to turn his mansion into a museum. The Maryhill Museum of Art is a small museum with an eclectic collection, located near what is now the community of Maryhill. The museum is situated on a bluff overlooking the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge. It was named Maryhill for Hill's wife, daughter of James J. Hill, a Great Northern Railroad baron, and was intended to be used as a home at which they could entertain Samuel Hill's school friend King Albert I of Belgium. Construction was halted upon America's entry into World War I. The unfinished museum building was dedicated on November 3, 1926 by Queen Marie of Romania, and was opened to the public on Hill's birthday (May 13) in 1940.

Maryhill Museum owes a profound debt to its fourth great patron, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels. Following the deaths of Hill (1931), Fuller (1928) and Queen Marie (1938), she worked tirelessly to turn Sam Hill’s unfinished mansion into an art museum. Over the years, Spreckels had acquired many objects from Queen Marie that were intended for a "Romanian Room" in San Francisco's California Palace of the Legion of Honor. She instead donated this material to Maryhill Museum in 1938. It included Queen Marie’s gold throne and other unique pieces of Byzantine-inspired furniture, a replica of her coronation crown, and other objects. Spreckels also gave Maryhill a collection of art glass by artists such as Émile Gallé and René Lalique, some Art Deco ceramics by Seraphine Soudbinine, European paintings, and ecclesiastical textiles from the Armenian Apostolic Church. Others also contributed to the early growth of Maryhill’s art collection. Clifford Dolph, who served as the museum’s first director (1938–1972), had a passion for chess. With the encouragement of the museum's Board of Trustees, he began collecting chess sets in 1957. The museum's first physical expansion was completed when the Mary and Bruce Stevenson Wing opened to the public in May 2012. Until recently this was all set miles from civilization in the bleak basalt and cheat grass of Eastern Washington. In the past few years, vineyards and fruit orchards have sprung up nearby, making Hill’s original dream of a utopian community easier to envision.

I saw a sign for Stonehenge War Memorials. We all have heard about the ancient structure situated in England. It is massive stones, broken and fallen from age, have stirred the imagination for centuries. There is nothing quite like this famous prehistoric monument anywhere else in the world. We have even seen a likeness of the original, but made of foam, in the Natural Bridge area of Virginia. Erected as the nation’s first WWI memorial and dedicated in 1918 to the servicemen of Klickitat County, Washington, who died in the service of their country during the Great War, Hill’s Stonehenge Memorial is a monument to heroism and peace. The men honored at Stonehenge are James Henry Allyn, Charles Auer, Dewey V. Bromley, John W. Cheshier, William O. Clary, Evan Childs, James D. Duncan, Harry Gotfredson, Robert F. Graham, Louis Leidl, Carl A. Lester, Edward Lindblad, Henry O. Piendl and Robert F. Venable. These men, all members of the American Expeditionary Force, represented the US Army (Calvary, Artillery, Engineers and Infantry), US Marines and the US Navy.

Hill erroneously believed that the original Stonehenge was constructed as a place of human sacrifice. Concluding there was a parallel between the loss of life in WWI and the sacrifices at ancient Stonehenge, he set out to build a replica on the cliffs of the Columbia as a reminder of those sacrifices and the “incredible folly” of the war. Guided by leading authorities on archaeology, astronomy, and engineering, Hill combined their knowledge to duplicate, as nearly as possible, the original size and design of the ancient Neolithic ruin in England. When Samuel Hill died in 1931, his body was cremated and the ashes placed in a crypt just below the Stonehenge Memorial. The original crypt deteriorated in the next 25 years and was replaced in 1955 by a granite monument bearing his epitaph: “Samuel Hill: Amid nature’s great unrest, he sought rest.” It is a short walk southwest of Stonehenge on a bluff overlooking the river.

We got back onto Route 97 and crossed the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon. We could still see Mt Hood on the horizon!

Entering into Oregon, we were driving on the Oregon Scenic Byway – Journey Through Time. The Journey Through Time Scenic Byway stretches 286 miles through north central to eastern Oregon. Beginning in the community of Biggs and ending in Baker City, this Byway meanders through ghost towns and small farming communities that bring the Old West to life. The Wild and Scenic John Day River - North America's second longest undammed river, parallels much of the route. Geology buffs will take great pleasure in the interpretive trails at the John Day Fossil Beds. Historic commemorations of more recent times, such as the Sherman County Museum in Moro and the Oregon Trail Auto Tour in Wasco offer telling windows into Oregon pioneer life.

The City of Wasco, Oregon is situated in the gently rolling hills of the Mid-Columbia Plateau, eight miles south of the Columbia River and centered between the Deschutes River and the John Day River.  Just a stone's throw from the Oregon Trail, Wasco was settled by ranchers, wheat farmers and merchants.  Wasco prospered with the railroad and is now at the center of Oregon's growing wind energy industry.

If you are traveling this way, it is suggested that you visit the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro. The museum includes over 15,000 artifacts and exhibits on Native American life, Oregon Trail, migration, rural living, and wheat farming.

In front of the Grass Valley City Hall was a non-voting member of the community a large buck, maybe a 4 or 6-point buck. Yes, right there as we passed through downtown on Main Street!

With Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson looming to the west, you'll reach the town of Shaniko.

Back in the 1880’s, it was the Wool Shipping Center of the World, and now a "living" ghost town. The recently renovated Shaniko Hotel is open for business, and listed on the National Register of Historic places.

A recent road side fire was still smoldering. Park Rangers have told us most fires are caused by lightning strikes, but this close to the road … I tend to think this was caused by a careless smoker.

With smoke rising on the ridge, your mind automatically thinks “another fire.” We never got close enough to make any kind of real assessment.

Love to see the green fields, even if they have to water like crazy to get them to stay green and grow!

Also love to see a farmers “pride in America” displayed for all those passing by to see!

The Willow Creek basin that cradles Madras held four homesteads in 1902 when John Palmehn platted the town. It was initially called Palmain, an Americanized version of Palmehn, but the US Postal Department denied that moniker, noting it too closely resembled Palmer, a community that has long since vanished. Debate continues how Madras was chosen as the second option, but it stuck. A commercial district rapidly formed in Madras, fueled by the promise of a railroad through town. The town incorporated in 1910, and the Oregon Trunk Railroad and Deschutes Railroad Co. both arrived in 1911. Jefferson County was forged out of Crook County in 1914, with Culver as the county seat. In 1916, however, a countywide vote gave the seat to Madras; and in the early morning hours of January 1, 1917, Madras area residents went to Culver and secured—stole, according to Culver versions—the county records.

In 1946, irrigation water finally reached the district, and the dry-land wheat country soon turned green. The irrigation project created a land rush and a population boom in Madras and the surrounding area, and the farmland around the town would eventually produce some of the world’s finest mint and seed crops. Farming and ranching continue to be an important part of the local economy. Bright Wood Corporation, a wood-remanufacturing plant owned by the Stovall family, employs approximately 650 people at its Madras plant.

Crooked River Ranch is a private resort community. It is located between the Deschutes River and the Crooked River near the south end of Lake Billy Chinook. It is west of US Route 97 between Culver and Terrebonne. Amenities in the community include a golf course, swimming pool, saloon, disc golf course, horse riding arena and general store. The 12,000-acre ranch has a population of approximately 5,500. It is the largest homeowner association in Oregon. Crooked River Ranch has a Terrebonne mailing address, but the postal service also allows mail addressed to Crooked River, Oregon or Crooked River Ranch, Oregon. In 1910, Hillsboro politician Harry V Gates bought the Crooked River Ranch property from local homesteaders and named it "Gates Ranch". The main ranch house was built in 1916 and is currently in use as a senior center. The property was named "Crooked River Ranch" as early as 1934. In 1961 the ranch was sold to the Thomas Bell family, who operated it as the Z-Z Cattle Company for the next 10 years. In 1972 Crooked River Ranch was sold and developed as a recreational site. In 1980, the ranch's zoning changed from recreational to rural/residential, then 12 years later, it was rezoned as a residential subdivision. We arrived at Crooked River Ranch RV Park, our home for 2 nights.

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