Saturday, January 30, 2016

Friday, January 29, 2016

Thursday, January 28, 2016

2016 Wilson Creek Grain Elevator Fire

On January 2, 2016, 2 older grain elevators at Wilson Creek caught fire. One was filled with canola, the other with wheat. Both were a total loss. Local fire-fighting trucks from Grant County Fire District 12 were assisted with units from Districts 5 and 13, as well as Ephrata. There may have been others.

I had seen the smoke from Coulee City, but did not think much of it until alerted by a friend that something big was on fire. Before I noticed the fire, photographer Jonathan Fischer happened to be in town and took these photos early in the fire, posted with permission:







This and another train had alerted the railroad dispatcher that the elevator was on fire. When I arrived on the scene, I caught up with the signal maintainer who said he had told the dispatcher to close down the railroad pending the fire being knocked down enough to resume operations.




















Clean up was in progress on January 11. Kathy Thompson photos.



Saturday, January 16, 2016

March 1935 Grand Coulee Dam View

You can make out the railroad grade on the west side of the river, working it's way down from the left to the right. Also, the tunnel portal is visible as a black dot near the center. The switchbacks to the current construction level can also be seen.


Friday, January 15, 2016

February 1935 Grand Coulee Dam View

Looking from the east side of the river to the west. The faint scar on the far hillside near the center of the photo is the combined highway and railroad grade, that is now just the highway.


Thursday, January 14, 2016

April 1937 Grand Coulee View


May 1935 Grand Coulee Dam View

Note that you can see the tunnel portal on the left hand side of the photo and then the bridge downgrade from there crossing the Columbia River. This is the bridge that was built in record time to bring construction supplies across the river by rail, but it turned out the bridge could not handle the weight of the railroad.