Some old Photos for your enjoyment

[hporter]

Sam Hill Bridge

We used to traverse that bridge several times each year.

My parents were born and raised in Yakima and Sunnyside, Washington, so we would make the trip from Springfield, Oregon to Sunnyside for family visits when I was a kid.

I loved it when we got to drive on the old highway on the Oregon side that sits above I-84. All the little pullouts that the CCC built back in the 30's were neat. And of course Multinomah falls was always a favorite stop.

And my Grandfather was involved in the construction of several of the dams on the Columbia back in the day. I still have a photo of him in his steam shovel somewhere. He passed before I was born, and both my parents are gone now too. I wish I could recall now which dams they were.

All the years in life go by, and then you look back to the past and wish so much to be able to have another conversation with those in the family that came before you. Information that might have passed in light conversation, that would be so valuable to you now. I sure wish more wisdom could have come to me sooner in life. There is so much I would like to know, that can never be learned now that they are all gone.

 

[twodot]

Yep, drive by that area several times a year.

Looking at the clothes and shoes, it is not southern Idaho. Mostly farmers, city folks and loggers, it appears to me that Lewiston would be a good guess, too far south for Coeur De Lan.

there is a sign for the "Lewiston Roundup" in one of the windows.
..

 

[462]

All the years in life go by, and then you look back to the past and wish so much to be able to have another conversation with those in the family that came before you. Information that might have passed in light conversation, that would be so valuable to you now. I sure wish more wisdom could have come to me sooner in life. There is so much I would like to know, that can never be learned now that they are all gone.

Not so much my mother, but my father was very secretive about his early life. So much so that my sister and I can only speculate what his birth name was.

 

[Bret4207]

You should go! Put that on your bucket list. You, especially would love it.

In the early eighties, as a rank amateur "photographer," with a K1000 and a couple cheap lenses, I took some marvelous photos. I shot a lot of B&W negatives, but mostly slides, when I could afford to have Kodachrome developed. Most often, it was Ektachrome, which I could develop for free at the Post craft shop on my way home from an outing.

The light is almost always "right" - overcast, and there is just SO much to take pictures of that it's overwhelming. VERY hard to contain yourself and remember that you only have so many frames for a given weekend, and you still have to pay to have some developed or make prints. A local shop would print me a contact-sheet before printing any individual frames and they'd go through them with me and help pick out what to make bigger prints of. Don't find that these days - at least not where I live.

I haven't taken any really good photos since I left that environment.

Times have certainly changed. I can recall having 35mm developed ivernight for about $3.00 a roll and they'd gift you 2 rolls of the film of your choice with it! Oh, and double prints. Last time I had some old 35mm developed it cost me about $15.00 a roll and took almost 2 weeks. Everything is digital now. That's okay, but to get prints you have to go someplace and sit in front of a machine a pick which ones you want. I always find some really weird, greasy/sweaty guy ahead of me, one of those guys that really, REALLY should wear a belt since he's displaying about half his crack. It's just not worth it.

 

[Bret4207]

We used to traverse that bridge several times each year.

My parents were born and raised in Yakima and Sunnyside, Washington, so we would make the trip from Springfield, Oregon to Sunnyside for family visits when I was a kid.

I loved it when we got to drive on the old highway on the Oregon side that sits above I-84. All the little pullouts that the CCC built back in the 30's were neat. And of course Multinomah falls was always a favorite stop.

And my Grandfather was involved in the construction of several of the dams on the Columbia back in the day. I still have a photo of him in his steam shovel somewhere. He passed before I was born, and both my parents are gone now too. I wish I could recall now which dams they were.

All the years in life go by, and then you look back to the past and wish so much to be able to have another conversation with those in the family that came before you. Information that might have passed in light conversation, that would be so valuable to you now. I sure wish more wisdom could have come to me sooner in life. There is so much I would like to know, that can never be learned now that they are all gone.

Seems to be a very common theme as we get older. Once they're gone, it's pretty much over. I've been trying to find info on some relatives for years. Those who knew the answers are gone and it ends there. Probably been like that since man first became aware of his mortality.

 

[Bret4207]

Not so much my mother, but my father was very secretive about his early life. So much so that my sister and I can only speculate what his birth name was.

I'm pretty sure my fathers fathers changed his middle name to avoid being associated with his father. What the old man did, I don't know, but it must have been pretty bad!

 

[hporter]

I've been trying to find info on some relatives for years.

I finally took my tin foil hat off, and did the Ancestry DNA test. I still may live to regret doing so, but it opened the doors to a lot of information that I would not have otherwise found.

Both my grandfathers died before I was born, and on my Paternal side not much was known. I have been doing genealogy for quite some time, but the internet and the DNA records have turbo charged what a person can find. For example, part of the family history confusion stemmed from my grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather having several wives. Well my strongest DNA match was a lady who was part of the family tree from my great grandfathers second wife. She and I got into touch and were able to share a lot of photos and family history. Really good stuff.

This year I found documentation that two of my forefathers were with General Washington when he crossed the Delaware Christmas night in 1776. One was an officer. I would never have known that, if not for internet genealogy.

Sorry for the thread drift. I love Shorpy.com. I have been a daily visitor of that website for many years.

 

[RBHarter]

I did the Ancestry DNA thing also . It connected me to 2 cousins I already knew .
It did nothing for the Federal geneology search that basically ends with " whoms grandfather was probably " twice in one line .
It did cement the lines in the "Indian territories" and the meandering confusion over the French and German lines . The whisper of Iberian Peninsula is fun when I get called a racist , it would also explain so many itchy feet have live lives all over the place .
In an interesting note they did hit the one cousin right on with a confused 1st or 2nd . They leaned on 1st mostly . I have an inside track here though because I knew my grandmother and great Aunt were identical twins making Dad's first cousin genetically his half sister on paper my 2nd cousin but possibly an aunt .

As for the conspiracy theories I'm already in the gene index with 3 kids in the service .

 

[popper]

Dad did a lot of 'collecting' family info using the ancestry site. They changed their program format so the cd doesn't work anymore. Been chasing some on Mom's side recently, found great great grampa's name, Micajan Jones (one of Hiram Jones bros), some kind of Indian agent in Baxter Springs. Even found an old platt with Gma's farm there in 1900s. Some where got a pic of her in GS, pit house with thatched roof. Only Caucasian in the class. Kinda funny, G'gpa married a gal from Missu side of the line, during bleeding Ks timeframe. Dad took me on a trip there once, saw the big dragline used in coal mining. Don't remember the real purpose of the trip or why just him and me. Father-in-law side - bros broke out of ( France) jail and went to three rivers area before Quebec was settled. DNA stuff - had your blood taken, probably in the 'file' someplace. Kinda like your guns.

 

[hporter]

The DNA test results do a lot of guessing. We ran my wife's 96 year old grandmother through the DNA test for both Ancestry and 23 and me.

Ancestry identified my wife as her cousin, and 23 and Me identified our kids as her cousins too. I had to laugh at that.

I knew I was a Heinz 57 type of mutt, from an ethnic background perspective. But I was surprised that most of my DNA is from Sweden, Norway and the UK, with a smattering of Russian and German. Made me immediately think about Vikings invading Britain. Perhaps? Maybe so?

My mother's father's side immigrated to the US from Russia. They were part of the Volga Germans that Catherine the Great imported. I even found the town plat of Walter Russia showing their house. And then I found the Steamer passenger list with their names on it. It is quite addictive when you start finding things like that. They all moved from Russia to the Yakima valley in Washington. That must have been quite interesting in 1905.

 

[smokeywolf]

A lot of interesting family history and stories from the German and the Italian factions of the family.

Italian side; great grandmother broke her boyfriend out of jail in late 19th century Naples, Italy. Due to lack of light (candles and oil lamps) she broke the wrong guy out of jail. They fell in love, married and produced 13 children who all lived to adulthood.

Prussian side; During WW I Grandfather and Grandmother were U.S. Army doctor and U.S. Army nurse (respectively) at a U.S. Army hospital stateside. During that time, Grandpa's uncle won the "Pour le Mérite" (aka, the "Blue Max") under Kaiser Wilhelm during WW I.

Came back and edited for grammar.

 

[RBHarter]

We've been Yankees and Rebs since 1740 on 3 legs from me . Welsh Irish sometime before 1840 , Dad's Father was 3 generation immigrant born Christmas day 1901 , and French/German until circa 1710-1740 depending on who held the 150 mile wide strip on the borders they fought over for 400 yr .

The politico's say those families with deep roots are the hardest to turn because they have the most invested . It's funny those that spend the time and do the classes and learn all the history and laws are almost as cast iron and more vocal . I knew a "reformed Mexican " truck driver , his words , that was a hoorah go USA every time I saw him after he and his wife got their citizenship . It was cool really that they really dug in the 5 yr I knew them before . Someone would start to explain something in Spanish , seeing that they were struggling with descriptions , he would hold up his hand saying "no , we are going to be Americans . NO Spanish ! " that was it . About a year after he was naturalized 0 did his big news immigration thing 09'ish , I learned new names for illegitimate border jumpers and the common slang for swimmers and fence climbers are polite names compared to think it in Spanish say it in English . He didn't have a lot of compassion for Cubans either .

There was a story about a war vet that returned to France to pay a last tribute to his fallen brothers , on the Ardann I think . When he was asked for his passport they asked if he had visited before . He replied to the effect that he had 50 yrs before and there weren't any French to check his passport when he arrived . The young man didn't get it , his older near retirement supervisor explained it in 6 sentences . The young man apologized and asked how many in the vets party . So the story goes ..... Don't know if it's true or not but it makes a good story .

My Mom's grandfather Owen Hughes served artillery in France 1918/1919 at the tender age of 30 . My Mom's Dad's great grandfather stole his Dad's horse to join the CSAA as a drummer boy , he didn't get very far . Note don't steal a well known unusually marked horse to run away . Meanwhile a first cousin was a Brevit Major in the Ohio infantry .

We are thick across the UK .

With all French , Germans , Scotts ,and Irish what did get ? Zero alcohol tolerance and a perpetual craving for red meat . I'd have died of a rotted liver and kidneys , very hungry by now in the old countries .

 

[JWFilips]

Another ; Quite artistic image on Shorpy.com:
September 1941. "Highway leading down to the gorge at the Columbia River from the bench land. Klickitat County, Washington." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the FSA.

 

[GRMPS]

 

[RicinYakima]

Another ; Quite artistic image on Shorpy.com:
September 1941. "Highway leading down to the gorge at the Columbia River from the bench land. Klickitat County, Washington." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the FSA.
View attachment 25821

When they built the new highway on the other side (top of the picture) this section was used for sport car hill climbs in the 1960's and 70's. About ten years ago, they had skate board races and wheeled luge races down hill. It is three and a half miles. When the road was built in the 1920's Model T's had to back up the hill because it was so steep the gas tank was below the carburetor.

 

[JWFilips]

Todays one from shorpy.com:
May 1942. "North Platte, Nebraska. Gas station." Flavors on tap from this ten-pump petro-pub include Distillate, Mobilgas, Diesel Fuel, Kerosene, Hi-Lite, Ethyl and Metro. Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

 

[JonB]

4th of July State Parade, 1987

 

[462]

Gas was $.05 per gallon. Most likely, ration coupons had yet to start.

 

[Bret4207]

Neat photo, distillate was the cheapest fuel meant for tractors. They had to have a method of heating the fuel to get good combustion, often started on gasoline then switched over, as did some diesels. If you blow up the pic it looks like 45 cents for 5 gallons of distillate and $1.00 for 5 gallons of Mobilgas, which I assume was "regular".

No doubt they pumped the gas for you, checked your oil and tires and washed your windshield!

 

[Bret4207]

4th of July State Parade, 1987

View attachment 26022

Where? looks European or maybe USSR?