Need Help on Info Climbing Wall in Index

My name is Kelly and I am a student at University of Washington Bothell. Our class is researching the Index Climbing Wall, and need help getting information on this. Can anyone help me out? We are looking for info on climbing accidents, camping in the area, accident reports, and also local climbers we may be able to interview. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Q & A from Scott H.

Scott H. asks:

On a recent day trip to Index, I noticed that you have a park called
“Doolittle Pioneer Park”. I would like to know who and or how this park
was named as such. I have relatives who lived in the area back in the day by the same name of Doolittle.

Thank You for your help.
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Many thanks for the question. This is an outstanding question. David Cameron, PhD, our Town Historian has the answer as follows:

Thanks for your inquiry, Scott. The Doolittle name goes back before the town was platted in 1893, as Fred Doolittle married Nettie, the eldest daughter of founders Amos and Persis Gunn, in 1890. Their daughter Hazel was the first child born in what would become the town of Index. The Dooliittle house is on the NW corner of 7th and Avenue A, still the residence of a descendant, and just across the street from the Gunn house.

Fred and Nettie’s daughters and their families later purchased the property on the 400 block of Avenue A, created a park, and eventually turned it over to the town as a memorial to their parents.

David Cameron

Q & A From Nicole P.

Q.  Hi,
First off, Index is one of my favorite places on earth.  I went around the country and explored many places but when it came down to it…index was my favorite place.

I am a climber and Index has the best climbing in the country (in my humble opinion).  The problem with Index.  Index has the worst camping in the country.
1-There is a group of people that live across from the town wall parking lot for free.  Their dog barks 24/7. The place is a mess.
2- People that visit Index looking for the best climbing place in the country are disappointed by the horrible camping situation.
3- Index is known as a beautiful wonderful place filled with a bunch of “tweekers”.
4-  Their is people going to the bathroom in the river, throwing junk all over the place.  ITS HORRIBLE!!

Don’t the people of Index care?????  The people of Index are wonderful, friendly, and make the town look like the small town that everyone wishes they lived in.

I ask you why then do they not mind the tweekers moving in for free and trashing the place?

I want to help.  I want to turn the camping area into paid camping.  I would love to initiate a fund to clean up that area and keep it clean and I know I can do it.

But I need some help with the details.  Who owns the area?  how can I get into contact with this person?  Do the people of Index even care?

Please help out and make Index the destination spot that people from around the country want to visit.

A.  Thanks for the email Nicole.

At first glance of your email, I thought you were shooting the piano player, however upon reading it twice; your concerns are more than valid.  They are a fact.

The Town Council is well aware of the issue(s) you talk about.  As a matter of fact our Mayor, Bruce Albert, has written a letter to the folks that actually own the property or portions thereof, in the past.

Some council members and residents have even been to the area and cleaned it up more than one time but the problem persists.  The Sheriff has removed “tweekers” as you call them (squatters is what I call them) but they show up again.

It’s your job Nicole, to call the Sheriff to have the squatters removed.

During a council meeting a few months back it came out that the area you are speaking of (I believe it is as you go up Reiter Rd. just out of town), is not town property and there is not a whole lot they can do except keep the Sheriff involved or we clean it up our self.  Check out some of the meeting minutes we have posted online and you will find well documented information about this issue.

Now to the meat of your email.  There is no doubt that you have valid concerns and that you are serious about raising funds to clean up.

That said, I would recommend that you show up at the Town Council Meetings and state your concerns during public comment (public comment is always at the first part of the meeting and you are welcome to leave after you have had your say).  You will be surprised at the positive responses you will hear.

As yesterday was a holiday, and the Town Council meets on the 1st Monday of the month at 7 PM at the old Fire Hall next to Town Hall, the meeting will be TODAY, TUESDAY, or next Monday at 7 PM.  I have not had a confirmation as of this writing.  You may call 360.793.2488 or email index@premier1.net to find out when the meeting will be.

Thanks again for taking the time to write to us.

UPDATE 08:15 AM.  Just got a note from Lisa, our Town Clerk and all around smart person!!  She said that yesterday was NOT the first Monday of the month.  Next Monday is!!  What was I thinking?  or NOT thinking?

Q & A From Sky Don

”

You’re in luck Don!  We know just the place to go.  Washington State University has about 900+ photos all taken by Lee Pickett of which 240 are in Index.
Here’s the link:

http://content.lib.washington.edu/pickettweb/index.html

On the right of the page, click on Browse Collection.

This is probably the best database you will find on the net.  Correct me if I’m wrong everybody.

Q & A From Toni O.

My husband and I would love to visit Index. We are wondering what the hours were for the museum. We will most likely base our trip around the hours of the museum. Thank you!

The Pickett Museum is closed for the season, as it runs from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September. There’s not enough volunteers to serve as docent, (and attendance drops off when the weather changes) to work year ’round.

We passed on some phone numbers to Toni that we feel should not be passed on in the blog for the public, to arrange a special tour. We also have some personal email addresses that you can send a request to if you would like to set up a time and date to visit the museum. A volunteer will be meet you at the museum. You may also contact the Index Town Hall at 360.793.2488 for more information.

Volunteers will be working inside on projects and creating new exhibits during the off season.

So, the short answer is NO, the museum is not open at the moment and YES you can still get into the museum by request.

Q & A From Dan J.

I used to make regular trips out to the Bush house for lunch or dinner, and am really bummed that it has been closed down.

Has there been any buyers for the property yet or has the city bought it and is working on making it a historical landmark?

Great question Dan and hopefully I can answer it.  Corrections are welcome.
To my knowledge, nobody has stepped up to buy it.  It needs a LOT of work.  Septic, foundation, rotting out and the list goes on.

On the bright side, there are attempts at the present to make it an
historical landmark.

Before we moved here, we used to eat there 5-6 times a year.  Great food.  Lousy service (no labor pool up here so you get what you get).  They had the best pepper steak for miles and miles around.

The building is owned by one of the Nordstrom’s grand-daughters (heresay?), and she is probably in her 80′s.  The house that came with it was purchased a few years back and the folks have been working on it pretty steady.  I think they moved in finally and continue to work on it but they have done a fine job getting back to a habitable state.

Time will only tell what happens next.

Q & A From Barbara T.

Where is our river flood gauge? I know there used to be one on the old bridge underneath that was pretty visible, but we don’t know where there is a new one.
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Hi Barb.
At one point I knew the answer but it is in the archive of my brain (the part that does not work after 55 years old). Therefore, I emailed our Town Historian, David Cameron, PhD. and he delivered the answer.

It’s under the current bridge, toward the south side. The Galena City & Skykomish ones are under theirs as well. After the surface water staff finish figuring out why ours gives false readings it may well be moved away from the area of old bridge pier debris, but still would be underneath so it can measure a signal back from the surface of the water, thus giving a height reading. The Galena City one is highly useful for telling us what is going to be coming downstream, while we also monitor the South Fork Sky at Sky to assist the MIR residents who call, as well as to give us more information on what conditions are to the east, since we have no other sources.

David

Question From Mike F.

Updated 12.27.08 12:00pm

Q. Can you confirm that a kayaker successfully ran sunset falls recently? It was supposed to have happened within the last 2 months. My grandfather Al Faussett did it in 1926.

A. Wow Mike. You caught me off guard on this one. I have not heard of this as of yet so I had to dig into my resources. The answer came from our Town Historian, Dave Cameron, PhD.

• Yup. Rob McKibben, who lives in the building owned by Pete G. around the corner of the alley from us, did it for a magazine article. We are supposed to be receiving a copy for the museum when it comes out. Louise told Guy F. about it, as they keep in touch and Guy was a key source of information for her writing about Al.

So there it is Mike. Thanks for the question. I learned today also!
———————————-
THIS JUST IN FROM LOUISE LINDGREN 12.27.08

In case you are interested, here is the link to my biographical article about Al Faussett who went over Sunset Falls in 1926. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=8567 and this is a link on the same site, for a shorter article specifically about Al’s Sunset Falls adventure, written by Phil Dougherty: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=8348

Question From Michael S. – Lookout Point

• Q. Do you know where Lookout Point is? And, if so, do you have to be a rock climber to get to the Point?
• A. Thanks Michael, and thank you for your many friendly emails over the past two months. FINALLY an easy question!

Our backyard faces Lookout Point. Our landlord hikes up there once in a while and I know of a few others that take the trek a few times a couple times a year.

NO. You do not need to be a rock climber to hike to Lookout Point. I cannot vouch for the hike as I have not been up there but have seen a lot of people on the ledge up there.

I can vouch for the people that have been up there that I personally know. It is said to be a challenging hike as it is steep. The challenge is coming down from what I hear.

We will leave this one open for comments from the general public and for the people that have been to Lookout Point.

PS – Below is a picture of Lookout Point (I just stepped out my back door to shoot this). In the center of the circle is the American Flag which denotes Lookout Point. Click on the picture for an 800 x 600 view. 117kb.

Question From Phil T.

We are sorry for delaying this post. It has been kind of busy on our end. (SEE FOOTNOTE TOO)

So on to Phil’s question.

• Q. I am curious about two things: Is the bridge into town still closed from the floods a couple of years ago, or is it fixed now?Also, I was looking through the photo gallery on your website, which is great, by the way, and I saw a picture that you called Redman Hall. What is wrong with this building that it is going to be demolished?
• A. Thanks Phil. I will do my best on this one. Anybody may correct me if I am wrong.

Redman Hall, built in 1903 was at one time a place where Masons met (the fraternal order) as well as other meetings and events took place within . I “snuck” in one time before moving here and saw that the floor is buckled really bad and it is falling apart. It is quite unsafe to say the least. I “heard” about 4 years ago that some day the building will be demolished due to the dangers. I have taken pictures of it many times and it took me forever to figure out that the building tilts quite a bit. I always thought it was me holding the camera crooked.

As for the bridge (Wes Smith Bridge). Yes, it was closed for a week or two after the big flood until FEMA could check it out and an inspection was done underneath to make sure it was safe to cross. Parts of the bridge were filled in (on the road) as it was washed out and giving way. The only other way in to town was Reiter Road. Ahhhhh, but the bridge open shortly after the flood and life returned to normal, or as normal as it gets in a “big town” like ours. By the way, the flood waters under the railroad bridge were 8+ feet, so you can see that a lot of water was rushing under the Wes Smith Bridge as well as over the top of it.

FOOTNOTE: I had somehow put in REDMOND HALL. That’s what happens when you work 14 hours on 3 different sites. We got an email from Julie S. pointing this out as well as a few other things which follow. Thanks Julie.

I enjoy your website…thank you for all the effort! I wanted to make a correction to something that I read on your site. The large red building that was being discussed recently is not the Redmond Hall. It is the old meeting place of The Improved Order of Red Men and the Degree of Pocahontas, a ladies auxiliary of the Improved Order of Red
Men. I have lived in Index long enough to remember many community functions held in that building to include regular bingo games where a lucky person could win delicious homemade pies. Thanks!

PS from webmaster: I did hear that the hall was used for Masonic meetings at some point also.