Off The Beaten Path – The Index Eagle February 1997 by Bob Hubbard

This article is from the Index Eagle, February 1997 and authored by Bob Hubbard. He has given us permission to reprint his articles but PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. This article may not be reproduced without the express written permission of IndexWa.org and/or Bob Hubbard.
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I suppose I must have seemed to have gone a little bit overboard last month, what with my big to-do about what was. After all, just a mud puddle generating rafts of floating slime. But there you go: I’m that kind of guy. I’m used to looking at the ecosystem from the standpoint of one or another of its bugs or other critters: which usually has me looking around trying to find the food chains which sustain them. Often I find the food item first, usually a plant, then notice the bugs hidden within it or the chew or browse marks left by its other apprecianados. The filter-feeding aquatic bug community though, has resisted this approach because it is a community whose food travels to it. rather than the other way around. Speculating on this community’s food source is easy, but proving it is more difficult: like deducing where in a cloud a particular snowflake first started to form. Seeing the algae rafts pull loose from the puddle’s bottom and start on their way downstream gave me a feeling like watching those snowflakes form in the cloud and drop towards the earth below. A feeling like watching creation.

Sharp readers will have noticed that my puddle musings may have answered only part of the question I’d had about the source of the algaes in the river’s load of drifting plankton. Some of the algaes were obviously pulling loose from their anchorages on the bottom and joining the flow, but what had seeded them into the water before that? Algaes could obviously migrate downstream and settle into new territory this way, but how do they get up into the headwaters?

One possible way is for the algaes and diatoms to get stuck to the feathers and feet of ospreys. ducks, eagles, ouzels and other aquatic birds, who then fly upstream, transplanting some of them with every new landing further upstream, even into the high lakes. Many species of feather mites associated with aquatic birds make their living by eating diatoms and other algaes which get caught in the feathers: this association suggests that diatoms (et al.) are dependably common in the feather habitat, and thus able to be transported and transferred in significant numbers. With their thick fur, wading or swimming mammals such as deer and bears could as easily act as taxicabs for the algaes and diatoms. Indeed, there may be hundreds of such freeways in our forests going every which way. Each splashdown site and cruising track used by an aquatic bird, each wading or swimming site used by a mammal or other animal becomes the launching point for a veritable flotilla of transplanted algaes and diatoms.

Given the appropriate environmental conditions, both green algaes and diatoms (which are actually golden algaes) can form heavily-fortified ‘resting cells” (called ‘zygotes” and ‘statospores” respectively) which are able to survive periods of excessive heat, cold and dessication. So even if the ‘taxicab” critter is out of the water for a period of days, when it finally splashes into those cold, clear headwaters some viable algaes and diatoms are likely to be washed into the stream there, and given the newer, better conditions. These will germinate into their more normal “vegetative” forms.

During the normal course of things, stream levels go up and down in response to weather events, and stream bottom rocks which are one day covered with water may be high and dry the next. The algae’s and diatoms on the newly-exposed beaches generate a lot of resting cells as they dry out and when the winds blow over the beaches these zygotes and statospores are carried away along with the other beach dust. Winds blowing upriver constantly reseed the entire length of it with an eclectic mix of species and even downriver winds in the Western Cascades might bring loads of resting cells from Eastside streams, where these same winds are blowing upriver.

Back in a stream again, these revitalized algae’s and diatoms will either get stuck to a rock or something in the stream channel, or will be born along in the flow of water as freshwater plankton. Plankton is the Greek word for wanderer, and it is used collectively to describe a diverse array of free-drifting organisms, regardless of whether they are plant or animal in nature.

Receiving their energy from sunlight, the drifting algae’s and diatoms use it to pull inorganic nutrients (such as phosphorus. magnesium. carbon dioxide, etc) out of the water they are bathed in. so that as they drift they grow and reproduce. Nutrient-rich waters can support faster growth, other factors remaining the same, but near the river’s headwaters, its nutrient value is low and thus the algae’s growth rate is slow, except near localized nutrient concentrations. So the underwater storm of photosynthesizers gets off to a pretty slow start, with each scarce ‘flake” taking a long time to grow and split into two flakes.

Some of the diatoms and algae’s have the luck to wash into quiet backwater pools where a lot of decaying leaves and sticks are laying on the bottom. The stored energy of these organic riches is slowly digested out of them by bacteria, who break down the sugars and complex organic molecules. Some of the organic nutrients are leached out by the water, which flows over the sticks and through the leaf packs and comes away somewhat enriched, like a very weak tea. The mites and insects in the waterlogged organic debris may help to make the ‘tea” stronger by their action of fragmenting the leaves and sticks, which yields more surface area to leak both organic and inorganic nutrients out of. Algae’s and diatoms, as noted, make use of the inorganic nutrients, while the bacteria are the major initial ingesters of the organic molecules.

A diverse array of protozoans, from amoebae and paramecia to rotifers and hydras, prey on the bacteria and algae’s and diatoms, and serve in turn as food for a multitude of aquatic mites and insect larvae. Surges in the flow of streamwater wash a certain number of these micro decomposer organisms out of the quiet spots and into the main streamflow, where they join the drifting algae’s and diatoms as members of the planktonic community.

Pieces of leaves and wood fibers, some of them quite large, join the plankton fleet too, sent on their way by chewing insects, whose sharp but clumsy mouthparts impart a certain sloppiness to their mealtakings. And of,course. the bites which didn’t get fumbled also make their way back into the stream ecosystem as microfeces, and these drift along as other plankton particles. The sticky algaes and diatoms often attach to the surfaces of the particles of leaf, fiber and rnicrofeces, and the nutrient enrichment there allows fast and lush growth. Pieces of leaf and detritus drifting for long, typically become heavily encrusted with diatoms and algaes.

This example streams plankton community is getting complicated and diverse pretty fast: now we’ve got a drifting army of pieces, some single-celled and quite small, others much bigger, like the diatom-covered microfeces and leaf flakes. We’ve got single-celled algaes and diatoms in both free-drifting singles and multiple-celled clumps, pieces and strands of multicelled algaes, bacteria, protozoans. copepods, water fleas. nematodes and others. The average distances between the drifting pieces are getting shorter and shorter as more and more pieces join the flow: the river takes on some of the character of a giant freeway sparsely populated with traffic, at least from the standpoint of someone drifting along with them. To someone on a riverbottom cobble, it probably more resembles a snowstorm of debris flying by in the liquid wind.

In certain rare stretches, the bottom of the river is smooth bedrock. The rest of the way the river bottom is made of loose rocks and cobbles, and where the water slows down enough, fine gravels, sands and silts. All of these bottom types except the bedrock are made of loose pieces of rock, which pile up and leave spaces between them. These spaces are very important, for they interconnect and allow water to circulate and flow down in the sub-basements of the stream bottom. Cover the bottom of a sloping trough with gravel and then pour water through the trough and you’ll see the same thing. Because of irregularities in the stream bottom contours, in some places water from the open stream is pushed down into the inter-gravel pore spaces while in other locations it is being pulled out of them. The water’s flow in a stream channel, being turbulent, sooner or later carries every particle of plankton down to near the bottom, where it runs a chance of being pulled into the inter-gravel spaces or brushed across the surface of the stream bottom. These are the habitats of the stream’s filter-feeding insect citizens.

There may be a good many of these citizens, especially in the stream system’s lower reaches where just the algae and diatom part of the plankton storm is so intense the very water is turned a murky green. In the upper reaches of the same stream, where the trees and vegetation shade much of the stream, the plankton storm is sparse and many of its flakes are relatively large because of the preponderance of decaying leaves as a plankton contributor. Here, the filter-feeding community may be sparse too.

On the bottom of the stream, differences in flow velocity cause a variety of bottom types to form where different sized particles drop out of suspension in the water. In pools and swirls, pieces of decaying leaves skitter and bounce around like burger wrappers on a bare lot, forming temporary piles and drifts, then blowing away again. Here and there small piles of leaf pieces and twigs remain steady, and only by looking close do we find that some of them are really just rudely-made tents, not true piles, and inside these tents are the larvae, or young of caddiceflies of the family Hydropsychidae. The tents, or retreats, have no fixed design and are glued together with silk extruded from the caddicefly’s mouthparts, using pieces of locally-found leaves, sticks and rocks. Some of them look like patchwork pup tents while others look like multi-peaked Bedouin tents. But regardless of floorplan, the entrance usually tends to face across the current and a special catch-net is built out in the ‘porch area”. The Hydropsychids hang out in their retreats and wait for plankton particles to catch in their nets.

Many Western streams have 3 or 4, or even 5 species of Hydropsychids inhabiting them with a sort of progression of those species occurring, as the stream goes from headwater brook to tailwater river. The largest species, making the largest mesh nets. tend to be typical of the upper reaches, and these tend to catch the biggest plankton flakes as well as the occasional drifting insect, which is also devoured. Travelling downstream, plankton storm passes through communities of ever-smaller filtering species, who use ever-smaller mesh sizes in their nets, so that finally it encounters meshes so fine that tiny individual diatoms and single-celled algaes are caught and retained. Other caddiceflies. of the family Polycentropodidae, make their retreats exclusively of silk mesh, building them in the form of tapering tubes which lead like miniature silk tornados into the inter-gravel spaces of the stream bottom. These retreats act as their own catch-nets, funneling plankton down to the ‘trumpetnet caddicefly” larvae in their down current ends. Other members of the same family spin fine-filtering sheet nets over hollows or depressions in the rocks and live beneath them, plucking food from the mesh. A third family of filter-feeding caddiceflies. the Philopotamidae, has members who make long silk mesh tubes as their retreats, but they make them as parallel-sided tubes called ‘finger nets”, which are closed at the downstream end, open at the upstream end, and glued by their lower edges to the upper sides of stream bottom rocks, so that the current holds them open like windsocks and gradually fills them with plankton.

Several genera of Chironomid midges also feature larvae which make silk catch-nets for catching plankton: the meshes on these are often small enough to trap small diatoms and large protozoans. Other fine-mesh or fine-sieve filterers include blackfly larvae, discussed in an earlier column [Sept. ‘94), and freshwater sponges and freshwater clams who do their filtering inside their bodies, rather than with external nets. Several families of mayflies feature larvae with fringed forearms or other body parts which catch plankton like combs and hold it for eating.

When you consider that just one little filter-feeder might clear the water of thousands of pieces of algaes, diatoms, leaf scraps, microfeces and other particles in it’s larval lifetime: and that a one-meter stretch of a river channel might harbor hundreds, even thousands of filter-feeders, then you can start to see where their contributions to water clarity start to add up. Of course, most of these filter-feeding critters are insects, such as caddiceflies, and they eventually reach maturity and go flying off to find mates. Along the way, many of those fall prey to hungry fish birds, bats, or small mammals or amphibians. The great variety of filter-feeders ensures that there will usually be some species around in useable pupal or adult form (rather than hidden larval form), thus benefiting the birds and bats of the terrestrial forest community nearly year-round.

Filter-feeders are major recyclers in the forest web. Think of how many of them there are on (in?) a stream bottom, and how much plankton each one catches and transforms into flesh. Think of how that flesh represents a unit of cleaned water and that it makes the rest of the water just a little bit clearer because that unit’s worth of particles are no longer in it. From a trout’s point of view, this is creating food from waste.

If I seem overly obsessed with the unglamorous in nature it’s because the glamorous already seem well-met with suitors and don’t want for attention. The filter feeders and their prey, the freshwater plankton, are hardly as exciting as the antelopes and the grasses of the Serengetti or the caribou and the lichens of the North Slope, but in their own environment they are equally important. Trout, lions and wolves respectively depend on such grazers to provide them with meat to eat, crafted from local plant life. (O.K.. sometimes not so local in the filter-feeders’ case.) In the stream ecosystem this food chain is not so easy to observe: filter-feeders in particular spend most of their lives totally hidden from view on (or in) the stream bottom, and the planktonic community, though exposed to direct view, is normally made of such small members as to be functionally invisible in the moving water to the unaided eye.

In this largely unheard-of world, drifting plants powered by sunlight scavenge the waters of inorganic nutrients, bacteria scavenge the organic nutrients, and hidden insect larvae filter the waters of the drifting algaes, decaying leaves and other organic particles, cleaning the waters as a result and keeping the nutrients on site.

Filter-feeding is an elegant way to turn otherwise lost nutrients (once it’s dissolved or on the way downriver, how else do you get it back before it’s gone?) into local environmental gain: attaining in two steps the form of the ever-useable, edible insect, that universal coin of nature.

Index Historical Society – The Index Eagle January 1992 by David Cameron

This article is from the Index Eagle, January 1992 and authored by David Cameron. He has given us permission to reprint his articles but PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. This article may not be reproduced without the express written permission of IndexWa.org and/or David Cameron, PhD.
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A new year has begun, witnessing the end to ‘91. Talk shows, sports commentators, news pundits, and supermarket tabloids fill their spaces between commercials and advertisements with prediction of what the new year will bring, based on what has happened before cyclical behaviors, and what might increase the audience. However, “It is happy for man that he does not know what the morrow is to bring forth; but, unaware of this great blessing, he has, in all ages of the world, presumptuously endeavored to trace the events of unborn centuries, and anticipate the march of time.” So wrote Charles Mackay in 1852 in his “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.”

History, on the other hand, deals with the past and tries to study events in order to ascertain some universal truths from them – assuming there are such things! It would be interesting if we could read what future historians will write of the events of 1991. We are too close to them and know too little of motives, causes, and as yet undecided outcomes to know those things ourselves. Was the Gulf War a major turning point for the Middle East or but a passing blip – George Bush a statesman or one who knew how to manipulate the emotions of his people? Did democracy sweep away authoritarian rule in the former USSR, or did we enter a new age of ethnic, religious and national strife extending from Croatia through Central Asia? Was this a recession or the beginning of a depression? Did the growing social chasm between rich and poor start to reverse its self , or did the middle class continue to dwindle away? At this point, we cannot tell.

We can look back at our community, though, and trace changes which would have been equally hard to decipher then and perhaps draw some conclusions. Seventy five years ago the town had a much different look about it: it has shrunk in population to only 23% of what it was then and now is fifth smallest ‘in the state (ahead of Krupp, Lamont, Marcus, and Waverly). Mining, lumber mill, granite quarry, shingles all “exports in 1916, are but memories and overgrown clearings, scars on the rock. All were based on the extraction and processing of natural resources. Fishing and health resorts also are endangered species, judging by the steelhead derby results posted at the Index General Store and the extensive damage after the 1990 floods to what little remains up at Garland. The Scenic Hot Springs Hotel was destroyed to make way for the Cascade Tunnel. The forests, however, are more beautiful now, with major logging scars grown over around the town, and the place is far quieter and cleaner place to live: no mills and steam locomotives.

To help us better understand our local past so we can make more informed decisions toward the future – as with the growth management plan – why not join with us this year to share, listen, and learn more about our community? Meetings in ‘92 will be the second Tuesday (January 14 is next) at the Sportsmen’s Hall at 7:30 every month but December. Dues are inexpensive too, only $10.00 and mailable to P.O. Box 252. The impact of the railroad will be our theme for the year, looking forward to the Great Northern Railroad Historical Society’s national convention in Everett this July, the centennial of the G.N.’s completion a year from this month, and a summer museum display featuring local railroading. Come and join us!

David Cameron, President

Off The Beaten Path – The Index Eagle June 1997 by Bob Hubbard

This article is from the Index Eagle, June 1997 and authored by Bob Hubbard. He has given us permission to reprint his articles but PLEASE DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. This article may not be reproduced without the express written permission of IndexWa.org and/or Bob Hubbard.
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Sometimes while walking alone, I imagine what it must be like to be as small as a bug, flying along high above the grasses, looking down on them as we humans might look down from an airplane to the forested land beneath it. How much huger a small lot becomes; how incredibly many insect-miles it is to go virtually anywhere. And yet, as the insects are small next to us, so are the mites small, next to insects. If a human mile is roughly 1000 body lengths, and an insect mile and a mite-mile were to be proportionally equivalent, an insect mile for an inch-long bug would be about 83 feet, but a typical mite-mile would only be a couple or three feet long. So when I get tired of imagining grass stalks the size of redwoods, I scale down to mite size and look at them as great green columns the diameter of office buildings whose tops might be a mile or more above their bases, and whose leaves are like ten-lane freeways climbing into the sky.

I read in a book recently that the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico have running so deeply ingrained in their culture that individuals have been known to cover over 600 miles in a week, barefoot. Even scaled down into mite miles, I have a feeling that for one of the Whirligig mites, that would be a slow week.

Index Historical Society Vol. 14 – Issue 06

This item is reproduced from the Index Eagle under the Index Historical Society section, June 1997 with permission.

Copyright © Dr. David A. Cameron. Reproduction prohibited without express written permission from the author.
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In poking through the census records for Snohomish County for the year 1870, I was struck by the number of women in the list. Actually, it was the number of Indian woman! White man couples and the total lack of single, adult White women in the county.

Total population was around a thousand, but half those were living on the Tulalip Reservation and therefore excluded. I counted 24 adult White females listed as “keeping house”. The number of Indian women was 53! There also were another four women who were classified as half Indian.

Among the leading families, over half were of mixed race. These included Jacob and Mary Fowler of Mukilteo. He was listed as a merchant and was the co-founder of the town. in Lowell the oldest settler was Reuben Lowe, whose wife was Kitty. Listed as “saloon keeper”, his actual talent lay in running the county’s only bordello — stocked with Indian women.

George Preston and his wife Peggy ran the store at the mouth of the Snohomish River where Everett later would develop. John and Susan Elwell pioneered between Monroe and Sultan. Salem Woods and Adelaide are founders of the Woods Creek and prairie area. James Hatt and Susan gave their name to the slough where the Stillaguamish River now enters the Sound, while Gardiner and Polly Goodrich dominated the Warm Beach to Stanwood area. Polly drove off a group of her fellow tribesfolk and defended her husband after he logged and burned the Indians’ cemetery on his land claim. Goodrich later set her aside and married a White woman, as did some others.

Women definitely were scarce on this frontier, as travel was extremely difficult until the coming of the railroads to Tacoma in the middle of the next decade. Eldridge Morse wrote in his 1876 centennial history of the county that only three White women ever had died in the county: Mrs. A. Peden accidentally drowning at the head of Ebey Slough, Mrs. M. W. Packard the previous December, and his own wife, who passed away in March.

Overwhelmingly, the population of the county off the reservation was White, male, and single. Most were farmers, loggers, and laborers, with another 14 working in the Sultan area as gold miners. Three men were Chinese, all cooks. The Hudson’s Bay Company had employed Iroquois Indians, Hawaiians, and French Canadians, but there never had been a post here, and the only veteran of the company to claim land had been Peter Goutre. That was at Tulalip before the treaty in 1855, so he moved over to Hat Island. There he was murdered in a crime never solved.
It was the Indian custom to marry outside one’s home village, with prestige gained for the family by finding wealthy and powerful mates. So, the number of interracial couples perhaps is not all that surprising. Yet it also points out the fact that very many people of native ancestry did not live on the reservation, even among the tribal groups which signed the Treaty of Point Elliott.

When more women came from the East and the Indians became totally overwhelmed economically by the growth of cities and industry in the county, then the separation and minimalization of Indian folks became common and accepted. Perhaps awareness of their existence is growing only due to the resurgence in economic power brought on by Tulalip gambling and cigarettes. If so, that leaves a lot more for people to learn about our original neighbors.

Index Eagle COMING SOON!!

Thanks go out to Leigh for finding a huge batch of the older Index Eagle distributions. We have looked forward to this for many months, but with Leigh being busy, and me being lazy…..it finally happened.

I have a ton of the Eagles to go through. We have received permission from Bob Hubbard and Dr. David A. Cameron to reprint their articles which we are sure you will find of interest and of great humor at times.

Thank you Leigh once again and we look forward to your comments in the future.

Ed

All About Town in Spring

All About Town in Spring

Some people love winter.  Some don’t.  I’m in the “don’t” column, but that’s just me.  But anyone would not like winter after near 1 ½ months of that white stuff hanging around for wwwwwaaaaaayyyyyy too long.  At first it was fun, getting dressed in coats and gloves and boots and searching for just the right hat and scarf.  Then the nice white powdery snow turned to slush, and yuk – nothing worse than being cold AND wet.  Then that froze, then it snowed again, then that melted a bit, then that froze, and on and on until one day, prayers were heard and NO MORE SNOW was seen in Index.  Piles of snow that Maintenance Man Bill Cross created have finally melted.  It was a wondrous and joyful day when the last speck was gone.  At least there is LOTS of snow on the mountains!

Then, just like someone blew a whistle, the crocuses nosed out of their slumber, the robins returned with their distinctive trill, and those of us who were convinced that the sun would never shine ever again were treated to nearly 2 ½ weeks of glorious sunlight and wonderful brilliant sun – even though the temperature required coats and hats.  The ensuing rain reminded us that this was still Washington and not to be deceived by the prolonged presence of the sun.  Town residents were actually roaming the streets, conversing with neighbors, rekindling acquaintances, and exclaiming the virtues of getting Vitamin D directly from the source.  The pale and wan color of sun-deprived skin was noticed amongst us, and promises of getting outside more, doing more and enjoying life more exclaimed.  And then, of course, we woke one morning to another two inches of snow that mercifully lasted less than 24 hours.  So, cautiously and with much respect to the weather gods, we whisper the thought that maybe winter is over and onward to spring.

In the past few weeks since this last column was published, there have been some goings on in town.  Apologies for omitting some and/or including any:

David Meier lost his father, and according to David’s stories and the wonderful obituary written about him, his father was quite the man.   Such a varied and storied past; from meager beginnings, to vagabond, to cowboy, to soldier, to cabinet maker, and a wonderful husband and father.  Our condolences on your loss, David.

Kem and Etta Hunter had quite the vacation in Japan, walking around the islands and visiting the Buddhist temples.  What a trip!  Etta returned home in time to have some heart issues attended to, and then off to Maui for enjoy the sunshine there.  Glad to have you back, and living back in town.

Jan Blanchard is in need of our kind thoughts and healing energies as we wish her strength and happiness as she mends.

Congratulations are in order to Sean “Rib” Horst as his bluegrass band is putting out their first album, recorded right here in Index at Pat Sample’s Paradise Sound recording studio.  Local artist Pat Woods is contributing art work for the cover.  Rib has played for the Heybrook Ridge fundraiser in October and recently at Steven’s Pass Ski Area and in Skykomish.

Speaking of Heybrook Ridge, all the members and especially president Louise Lindgren received a much-need boost.  An anonymous $500,000 matching grant to purchase Heybrook Ridge was received.  So, we raise $500,000 and they match the $500,000.  That makes the $1.3 million goal a little more in the sights.  So, anyone and everyone, get out those check books and make a tax-deductible donation.  Further details can be found on heybrookridge.org.

The flu shots given in the winter did not touch the flu that went around this early spring. Several residents were knocked down hard by this.  Glad to see those afflicted are up and about.  The flu of 1918 and its possible resurgence today are on people’s minds.  Just like any other emergency, make sure your home is prepared with everything to see you through for about a week – water, food, medicine, etc.  Those resources will work during a flood, earthquake, train derailment, or whatever other natural or man-made disaster that can affect us here in our little berg.

Unfortunately, in our town, someone or some people thought it was ok to take what did not belong to them.  One car was stolen, two others were attempted to be taken, and a cell phone was stolen.  Judging by items that  could have been stolen and weren’t tells us that these crimes were committed by young adults, who can still be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  If you see anything or anyone suspicious, please call 911.  This town does not tolerate these kinds of actions.

The presidential caucus is behind us, and there were several Index people at the democratic caucus held at Monroe High.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the caucus and voted in the primary election.  The presidential election is in November and already the mud and BS is being slung.  Get your boots on and sit back and enjoy the show.

Sue Cross has come up with a great idea and has already started the paperwork and other groundwork to get a community garden going on west Avenue A near 4^th street.  It’ll be great to see how that all comes together.  And thanks to Sue for getting the ball rolling.  You can contact her on the indexwa.org website if you want any more information.

Everyone else is planning their gardens, waiting for the last frost before setting out plants and seeds.  I am looking forward to growing my own zucchini instead of spending $1.29 a pound at the store.  I always say that the only time people lock their doors is during zucchini season.

The construction of the new carport at the fire station is coming along.  It will provide more covered area to house the fire equipment.  The fire equipment that YOU could be part of if you would like to sign up to be a volunteer.  Just see Ernie at the station or stop by on a Thursday night during drill to see what a positive contribution you could give to your community.

World traveler Makena Soper is at it again.  Just back from two weeks in Costa Rica, she is getting ready to teach English in France for three months.  Then perhaps off to Finland after that, and possibly Italy will be in the mix.  Such fun for her and we wish her the best as she prepares for this wonderful assignment and also as she studies for her masters degree.

I look out my window and see the young kids running around in this still-cold weather with nothing but t shirts on and no shoes, and I know that soon enough their little heads will be bobbing in the river as we adults can barely stick a toe in.  Pickett’s Beach will call and before you know it we will be draped against a sun-warmed rock after a brisk swim.

Ah, the days of summer.  They will be here soon enough.   But, enjoy these days of spring!

Leigh Christianson

All about Town Post Turkey

All About Town

Well, here I am in kind of a déjà vu . . . . writing again for the Eagle, though this time on-line. I had the chance, while cleaning out some of my clutter, to stumble upon some back issues of the Eagle. Wow. Lots stuff, mostly good, but what a great little newsletter we had, filled with some good information and some weird and wacky stuff too, that represented a lot of work from a dedicated staff. Hats off to previous editors Sandy Gordon, Karen Sample, and Chester Shaw who brought us to where we are today. And kudos to Ed Boress for resurrecting and transforming it again. Hopefully this On Line Eagle 2.0 will provide readers with the same amount of information, amusement and love for this small mountain town called Index.

So, where to begin. First of all, the Thanksgiving dinner is in its final stages of digestion, and curses to the person who made that gawd-awful pistachio pie. Index was blessed with an absolutely stunning day – bright sun, clear skies and freezing temperature. A little ice on the road but nothing to worry about. Out of town visitors were many, including past resident Julia Gibb visiting friends and son Alex who lives here in town. Some locals made sure that those without had some “with” on this holiday, and hopefully those good feelings will tide over to everyone throughout the year. Other locals decided to venture past the bridge to visit relatives, friends or just to spend some time alone before the season officially begins. I always figured it started at Halloween for those who love to plan ahead, but it usually begins the Friday after Thanksgiving – all that food stimulating the part of the brain labeled “Shop Now.” Plus the 10 pounds of ads in the local paper might have something to do with it.

And now the race is on for “Those That Have the Most Christmas Lights/Decorations Up the Soonest.” It is a subtle competition, no midnight tampering of light sets by envious neighbors, but I imagine the electrical transformers supplying power to the town tend to hum a little louder starting this weekend. I know my daughter has caught the fever, and was searching the cupboards and sheds for “just one more strand of light.” Then the worst happened, the directions on how many sets could be plugged in together were disregarded and the line up and around the house went dark. Oh, so unjust and cruel! So, we’ll begin again. Sometimes I think this is China’s curse to us, just one little loose light or one extra (or three) strings together and the entire workforce of America comes to a halt to fix it – or tromps to the store to buy another set (or five).

The big news that everyone should sit up and take notice of, is the Forest Service’s comment period for the Index Sportsmans Trapgrounds proposed re-opening. The Sportmans had operated the shooting range for years. They would have shooting on Sundays and (I think) Thursdays for years, shooting clay pigeons beneath the beauty of the Index Wall. For years the Sportsmen supported the town in various ways, most memorably using the facilities for the Index Haunted House, Spaghetti Feed and the Index Mud Fest. But the years of shooting led to the contamination of the soil and the site was closed down citing lead and other health and environmental issues. A lengthy and costly clean up was discussed but no real action has been taken. Now the Sportsmen are asking that the shooting range be re-opened effective somewhat immediately on a special permit for a one year period. Proposed shooting would be two days a week, Thursdays from 3:30 pm to 10:00 pm and Sundays from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. Comments can be sent to Skykomish District Ranger Barbara Busse via email at bbusse@fs.fed.us , by phone at 360-677-2414 or to PO Box 305, Skykomish, WA 98288, and the deadline for those comments has been extended to December 6, 2007. So, whichever side of the fence you are on this issue, the important thing is to grumble (or exalt) to the proper people who can determine the outcome on this issue. Click on the thumbnail at the end of this article to view more information.
All eyes are on the weather to see when the Stevens Pass Ski Area will open. The Ski Area provides employment to many Index area residents, plus a little bit of fun to many more. So it is with crossed fingers that we wish for snow, enough for some awesome skiing but not enough to overwhelm Index maintenance man Bill Cross and his deft maneuvering of the town truck with its snow blade. What an awesome job he does keeping our streets clear of snow. That is one less excuse for not being able to get to work down below on a snowing day. And Assistant Fire Chief Ernie Walters is hoping to be able to use the district’s snowmobile here in town. Hmmn, yet another reason to join the fire department would be to “train” on the snowmobile . . . .

So, while the warm glow of turkey still is in my, um, heart, I wish to all readers the peace and calm of another joyous holiday season, however you choose to celebrate.

Leigh Christianson

Click on thumbnail below to read more about Index Sportsmans Trapgrounds proposed re-opening:

Copyright © Leigh Chritianson and indexwa.org.

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November 2007 All about Town

Many thanks to Ed B. who has taken on this project of resurrecting the “Index Eagle” on-line and making it happen. The Eagle has gone through many changes. I had been associated with it for many years when Karen Sample was the editor. Then it changed hands and morphed into something else and unfortunately died a slow death. Now in this new age of blogs it will be resurrected once again (the Index “Phoenix”?). I hope this column will inform and entertain. Please post any comments whether they be good or bad!

More to come later, just thought I’d see if anyone was out there listening (reading?) and hope to report on the Heybrook Hoedown, which was a resounding success for all involved. Take a look at Heybrookridge.org for more information on this.

Leigh

The Index Eagle

Remember the Index Eagle?

We are looking for a volunteer to bring the Index Eagle back to life “on line”.

If you would like to take on the challenge, please contact us by clicking the CONTACT US link at the top right corner of the BLOG (it will be private) & let us know how to contact you.

Thanks!

Ed