On Wednesday, January 3rd, 1923, Cowlitz County Commissioner-elect Benjamin Barr sat in the back seat of his vehicle, when his driver – Arleigh Millard – felt an unsettling shudder through the springs in his seat. Miller glanced nervously at Barr through the rear-view mirror, unable to move the vehicle forward. The pair were stuck atop the Allen Street Bridge here in Kelso, Washington, when seconds later it all cameRead More

Steeped in history, the Marcus Whitman was originally built in 1927 and it was intended to be the biggest and best hotel in the area. Nearly a hundred years later, it’s not far off the mark.

We’re all familiar with the historic events that led to the American Revolution, when the American Colonies seceded from rule by Great Britain. Somewhat less well known are the reasons behind the second war between England and the U.S…the War of 1812. But it’s unlikely you can find very many people who can tell you about the third war between these two superpowers, which took place – or, more accurately,Read More

The term "ghost town" in today's time has evolved from its more literal interpretation to describe any small town that has been abandoned or vacated. Most of the time, however, towns devoid of inhabitants have nowhere to grow but older. Not so for old Alder.

There are dozens of things to see and do on the Lewis and Clark Trail Highway in southwest Washington (see here and here for just a few examples), but surely one of the most unique lies just outside a tiny berg called Knappton on the bank of the Columbia River. If you head west from Knappton Cove you might spot a rusty barge parked in a shallow bay called Hungry Harbor. There isRead More

Today is June 24, 2014. It was on this date twenty years ago that my next-door neighbor crashed one of the biggest, most powerful aircraft ever built into a nuclear storage facility, leaving his kids fatherless and his wife a widow. With more than 5,000 flight hours under his belt, U.S. Air Force Colonel Bud Holland took his last flight on this day in 1994. I was 19, home fromRead More