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Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.

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This Week Then

12/5/2024

A painting of a large white 1920s era hotel building that is at least 12 stories tall. Old fashioned black cars on the road in front of the hotel.

News Then, History Now

Gone Astray

On December 11, 1851, the ship's cook deliberately torched the schooner Robert Bruce after he dosed the crew with laudanum. A Willapa Bay logger and his Native American helpers rescued the oystermen aboard and brought them ashore. They later settled what became Bruceport. Today, the Willapa Light Station guides the way for any other addled mariners in the vicinity.

Let Us Pray

December 8 is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception and marks several historic anniversaries in local Roman Catholic history. The Sisters of Providence arrived at Fort Vancouver on that date in 1856, and the Seattle School of the Immaculate Conception dedicated its first new building on December 8, 1894, evolving from there into today's Seattle University. One hundred and five years later, the university cohosted the historic visit of South African leaders Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel on December 8, 1999.

 

On Its Way

On December 6, 1913, the ferry Leschi was launched at Rainier Beach for service on Lake Washington. It was Western Washington's first auto ferry. The Leschi and other ferries plied the waves of Lake Washington for decades, until the 1940 opening of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge led to their demise. The Leschi was the last one to hang on, and ended service on the lake in 1950.

Cities Conceived

One hundred years ago this week, Yelm incorporated in Pierce County on December 8, 1924. The nearby community of Lacey also celebrates a birthday this week, having been incorporated on December 5, 1966. And in Douglas County, Rock Island incorporated on December 8, 1930.

Message Received

On December 7, 1941, at 1:28 a.m., a secret United States Navy radio station on Bainbridge Island intercepted a message from Tokyo to the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C. The message instructed the Japanese ambassador to break off ongoing peace negotiations with the United States, but its ulterior motive was to inform the ambassador that Japanese forces were about to attack Pearl Harbor. By the time the intercepted message was delivered to the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., the battle had begun, and the U.S. declared war the next day.

Wrongly Perceived

On December 10, 1954, University of Washington President Dr. Henry Schmitz disapproved the nomination of J. Robert Oppenheimer as that year's Walker-Ames Lecturer. No reason was given, but the famed physicist and "father of the atomic bomb" was under attack for his alleged pro-Communist views. It wasn't the first time the UW succumbed to Cold War hysteria.

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"The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life."

--George Bernard Shaw

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