Asahel Curtis is located in the upper part of the south fork of the Snoqualmie River (Figure below, Ashael Curtis site is actually located to the south of the 676 m elevation mark, between I-90 and the powerline [still further up slope is the old railroad grade).
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Map of the upper Snoqualmie Valley showing I-90, the old railroad grade and the exit for Asahel Curtis, Franklin Falls and Granite Mountain. Picture to the right is the stream that comes from Lake Annette and is shown on the map above (center, bottom). |
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On November 16, 2000, we visited two sites. The first site was on the north side of the valley and on a slope which faced south. The second site was Asahel Curtis and was on the south side of the valley on a slope which faced north.
On May 5, 2001, we visited three locations.
Key Lessons:
Who was Asahel Curtis? Asahel Curtis was born in Minnesota in 1874; the family
moved to the Puget Sound area (Washington State) in 1888. His older brother, Edward S. Curtis, opened a photo studio in Seattle in 1892, and Asahel began working there in 1895. He went to the Klondike in 1897 to take photographs for the studio. Differences over credit for this work later led to a break with his brother. By 1901 Asahel Curtis had joined with scenic photographer William P. Romans to form the Curtis & Romans studio. After a brief period in San Francisco and Tacoma, working sometimes as a photoengraver, Curtis returned to Seattle as a newspaper photographer. From about 1907 to 1911, he worked for Romans Photographic Co., becoming president and manager of the firm. A partnership with Walter Miller as Curtis & Miller lasted for several years before Curtis returned to the Romans Photographic Co. In 1920, this became the Asahel Curtis Photo Co., under which name it operated until his death in 1941. Curtis was an active outdoorsman and mountaineer, an advocate of roads and highways, and instrumental in the development of Mt. Rainier National Park--interests which are reflected in his photography.
Asahel Curtis pictures illustrated many of the early logging practices in the Pacific Northwest (see figures below).
Here we see a steam powered wench system attached to a spar-tree. Logs were then pulled to the spar tree.
In the picture above, two loggers are standing on "spring boards" while they cut the tree down. At the Asahel Curtis site, we saw very old stumps with the cuts in them where the spring boards would have been placed.
Field Trip Stop 1: The first site we visited was north of I-90 on a south facing slope. The stand contained large old-growth Douglas-fir and western redcedar. The understory was western hemlock and Pacific silver fir. There was evidence of fire and to the west and north (up slope) of the stand, much younger forest was found suggesting that a fire had burnt in this area some 100 years ago. The fire was probably associated with logging or the railroad. The stand we were end was likely a reminant old-growth stand which had not been severely burned. In addition to evidence of fire, there was also evidence of wind throw.
In this stand, we discussed many of the characteristics of an old-growth forest (including the presence of large standing and down woody debris [snags and logs], a multi-storied stand and, in this case, nurse logs).
Field Trip Stop 2: The second stop was on the other side or south side of the valley. We were on a north facing slope where there were fewer old-growth Douglas-fir trees and more old-growth western redcedar and western hemlock. In addition, there was an increasing presence of Pacific silver fir in both the mid- and understory.
Across the valley, we were able to view Granite Mountain with its avalanche chutes and apparent tree line. The tree line is likely artificial, the line of trees is probably moving up slope as the forest recovers from the fires mentioned under stop 1.
Old-growth Douglas-fir, western redcedar stand located at the Picnic area,
Mixed conifer stand located along the Old Snoqualmie Wagon Road Trail
Skunk cabbage and snow
Asahael Curtis (second site from November 16, 2000).
Dan, Mark and Mitchell compare Pojar's description to what they are seeing.
