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Dedicated to the memory of my Grandmother: Frankie (Pittman) West Holman
Dedicated to the memory of my Mother: Beverly Jean (West) Johnsen
Jewel Sinclair helped save the historic mining arrastra near Blewett when US 97 was built
A mine on a hillside near Blewett
Vintage sign in Liberty, WA
About Me
- Jeff. You can email me at: rumblefish351@aim.com
- * Named Portland's Best Web Historian by Willamette Week in 2016 *
Loop in the road on Blewett Pass
Taken from a postcard. Back of card says: Jun 25 1953 Peshastin Cafe
4 comments:
This is a great blog! I may be driving this way as part of a National Park to Park Highway road trip. The old pass was used by the Natl Park to Park Hwy and the similarly named National Parks Highway. The Natl Park to Park was the road featured in the documentary "Paving the Way": http://pavingtheway.tv/
Is it possible to drive the whole road across the old pass? Those images at the bottom of the blog look as if parts of the old alignment are impassable. On Google maps I believe the road is marked Forest Road 9715 and 7320. Is that correct?
I know you can take 9715 to the top, but never drove down 7320 to the other end. Those pics at the bottom in a different location farther down US97, on the other side of the river that has eroded most of it away.
Blewett Pass was on one of my first routes I drove to Lake Chelan. In fact my husband and I, then boyfirend, saw a big black bear cross the larger portion of the pass on one of the turns. It was rather entertaining to see it jump the center devide and then up and over our portion of the road. We have since taken our children over a few times. We have gone hunting for beautiful rocks and panned for gold near there. We have even taken some long rides on many of the Forest Service Roads, just to see the view. I sure hope that it is still seen as a wonderful alternative to getting East of the Mountains, because it is just so clean and beautiful. The streams and creeks that run next to the pass at times seem refreshing as crisp and clean as they are.
Take a look at this. It's a benchmark that exists on the Old Blewett Pass Hwy back in the 30's. It is a true piece of history.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM8VNF_Old_Blewett_Pass_Benchmark_WA
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