GN Along The Wenatchee At Monitor

Approximately 7 miles west of Wenatchee, WA is the small community named Monitor. Originally it was called Brown's Flat after the original homesteader Reuben "Deak" Brown who arrived there with his new bride in April of 1885. At the suggestion of my great-grandfather George T. Richardson the name of the town was changed in 1902 to Monitor in honor of the U.S. Navy Civil War iron-clad battleship Monitor.

My family settled in Brown's Flat in 1888, four years before the Great Northern mainline was laid between the ranch and the Wenatchee River. There were 12 families in Wenatchee when they arrived via the Colockum Pass road from Ellensburg.

The picture below is a color-tinted postcard from approximately 1902-1905. The family homestead can be seen to the left of the Great Northern mainline.

The small building near the left edge of the postcard is the original log house which was built in August of 1888 with logs cut in Fairview Canyon. In 1961 this cabin was moved to the Willis Carey Museum in Cashmere where it still stands as part of the Pioneer Village exhibit.

A new, larger home was built in 1902. It is behind and to the right of the original log cabin.

The larger building near the GN track was originally built to board the crews that surveyed and constructed the railroad. It later became the all-important ice house that was necessary in the days before refrigeration. Ice was harvested during the winter and kept things cool through the summer.

During the construction of the Great Northern my great-grandmother cooked for the crews. Great-grandfather hauled dynamite in his wagon. There were 11 boys and 2 girls in this large pioneer family. I'm sure they were all kept busy with maintaining the large orchard that was the family business on the homestead.

My great-grandfather and one of his sons created a strain of the red delicious apple, the Richared. The road past the the homestead is named after this apple. East of the homestead the road becomes Sleepy Hollow Road.

Seen at the lower edge of the postcard is the water wheel that was used to lift the Wenatchee River water over the GN tracks to irrigate the orchard. This waterwheel was damaged in a flood prior to the opening up the Shotwell Ditch that was used for irrigation after 1905.

The next picture was taken last year. It is the original log home and is part of the Pioneer Village at the Willis Carey Museum in Cashmere.

The next photograph may be familiar to fans of the Great Northern Railway. It is a company publicity photo taken in the early 1960's. This photograph appeared in Charles Wood's 1967 Lines West book. The digital picture below is a scan of the actual photograph that was used in the making of Lines West.

The next picture is one that I took in February of 1989. Washington State was celebrating it's centennial. There was an athletic competition in the area called the Winter Games. SP 4449, which is owned by the City of Portland, Oregon, came to Seattle and then over Stevens Pass to run two trips per day over a four day period between Wenatchee and Leavenworth. I caught the first train of the day going past the old family homestead.

The dome cars behind SP 4449 had been brought down from Alaska for this special excursion. I am not sure what railroad originally owned them but they appear to be very similar to the Great Northern 1955 Empire Builder Great Dome Lounge cars that used to run by here 50 years ago.

As the train continues towards beautiful, downtown Monitor we see more of the homestead in the next picture. I'm assuming that the fireman was sanding the flues as the train went past. This being the first run of the day and only 7 miles out of Wenatchee the flues in the boiler might have accumulated some oil residue after the locomotive sat idle all night.

The final picture is one that I took in the early evening in September of 2006. I have been wanting to take a picture from the same location as the postcard that was taken over 100 years ago. This will require climbing a hill behind me. Perhaps I can do this during the upcoming GNRHS convention.

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse of how the Great Northern played a big role in my family history. I can only imagine what it was like to live along the GN mainline in those early days. The homestead is no longer owned by any family member. Still, I am proud to be part of one of the early pioneering families that settled in this area in the late 1800's.