What Our Members Are Up To During COVID

Many of us are continuing to work on our family history AND enjoy other hobbies, now that we have all that extra time. EWGS member Debbie Golding, who lives in Rathdrum, Idaho, says she's taken a larger interest in her gardening AND her hobby of photography. This photo, she explained, is of a Carrot Top Flower.... she planted the cut-off top of a carrot and it grew and made this beautiful flower. Even the Yellow Jacket agrees! 

Railroad Maps Of Yesterday........ such fun to see.

Don't know exactly what year this was, but this map was on the wall of the Inland Northwest Railway Museum (which I posted about a few days ago). I thought it so interesting and fun to see place-names on here that I never heard of: Galena, Paradise, Highland, Morse, Buckeye. And these were, apparently, all railroad stops. For those with early Eastern Washington ancestors, the railroads were a true lifeline. Go visit the museum and learn more about this fascinating history!

Inland Northwest Railroad Museum....... gotta go visit!

If you drive west on Hwy 2, just past Reardan, you'll come to the Inland Northwest Railway Museum. This is the biggest, best-kept secret destination place in the area, to my thinking. This old Northern Pacific boxcar welcomes you at the turnoff and then you see this:

After paying a very modest entry fee, you enter the museum which today consists of a 2-story building and half a dozen restored rail cars outside sitting on tracks. And enough memorabilia to keep you reading for hours! 

Railroads..... rail transportation and travel... were vitally important to our ancestors. Yet I'd guess that most of us today have never been inside a rail car nor know much about railroads. A visit to this museum will change all that for you. 

Click to www.inlandnwrailmuseum.com for more information. They are only open Thursday through Sunday. AND A REALLY BIG EVENT IS GOING TO HAPPEN THERE ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 22!!!

Latest news about the National Archives in Seattle.

This bit appeared in Dick Eastman's EOGN newsletter in July. DO WE CARE? ANYTHING WE CAN DO?

Fate of Seattle U.S. National Archives Facility Still in Limbo

The Seattle facility of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) remains closed because of the pandemic, but is still likely to be sold; state officials are working to keep the priceless materials held in the federal facility from leaving Washington.

It’s been six months since the news services reported that the federal government, without any public input, intended to sell the Seattle facility of the National Archives and move its contents – millions of priceless maps, documents, photos and other records of Pacific Northwest history – out of state.

With only a small fraction of the materials in Seattle currently digitized, a move – perhaps to the NARA facility in Riverside, Calif. — would mean that one-of-a-kind federal records related to such things as Native American treaties, the Chinese-American Exclusion Act, and other aspects of history critical to researchers, educators, tribes and others would be far less accessible. Historians and tribal representatives were blindsided by news of the intended sale, and expressed their displeasure at an invitation-only meeting at the facility in February.

The archives serve the Pacific Alaska Region and are located on Sand Point Way near Magnuson Park. Sitting on 10 acres along the Burke-Gilman Trail, the location is prime real estate in one of the city’s nicest neighborhoods. The facility itself is housed in a World War II-era warehouse, which was converted in the early 1960s and which is operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Seattle office, and most NARA facilities, have been closed to the public since March 23 because of COVID-19.

In spite of the pandemic, multiple processes appear to still be underway to try and prevent the archival materials, if not the actual NARA facility itself, from leaving Washington.

You can read more in an article by Feliks Banel in the NYNorthwest web site at: https://mynorthwest.com/2010452/seattle-national-archives-in-limbo/.

Need newspapers from Washington? How about FREE?

If you're needing news from Washington, have you explored this website:  https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org ???  (Use the left-right scroll bar at the bottom of the image to see the entire image.)