09.20.05

Washington

Posted in Ghost Towns at 7:31 am by NW Okie

Washington State Ghost Towns…

by - cub-reporter, Sharon Rahm

Well… Here I write with your challenge for my ghost towns. Remember, I am in the state of Washington which has a very rich and diverse history. Although, there are many ghost towns and semi-ghost towns, tonight I am focusing on the Columbia River ghost towns from the mouth at the pacific ocean to where I live — Clark County. (Click photo for larger view.) Clark county’s county seat is Vancouver named for Captain Vancouver (same as in British Columbia Canada). The reason I picked the ghost towns in my list below is that I have been to most and I have traveled the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver. Here in the Pacific Northwest (Southwest Washington) we have had extensive lumber, fishing, and trapping in the area. Most of these industries are gone or non-existent. Not all of these towns reside on the Columbia River but they used the waterway (Columbia River) as means of trading or traveling. The ghost towns below include a very brief description of where, when, and what they did. The ghost towns above were either in lumber, salmon, oyster, and trapping.

Washington State Website URLs…
Ghosttowns.com web site
Oysterville
Knappton
Frankfurt
Baker’s Bay
Altoona
Skamokawa

Fort Vancouver — Vancouver, Washington…

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) founded Fort Vancouver 1825, later to be known as just Vancouver USA. Vancouver is Washington’s Oldest City and currently is the 4th largest. Many trades and trading were here and supported the community and company at large. They enjoyed the bounties from the rivers, the mountains, and the lands. We enjoy a mild climate of misty rain fall autumn, winter, spring, and a fairly dry summer. (Click photo for larger view.) HBC was a British company trading goods and furs from the Hawaiian Islands to York, New York to London, England. The sought after beaver is what brought the HBC to the area. Toward the end of the 19th century the United States took procession of the area and the HBC moved on and back to Canada. The United States took over the post and made it an Army base and built the Columbia Barracks. The Army is closing down the Barracks this year and turning it over to the Forest Service which maintains Fort Vancouver. Recent digging in the area has proved interesting and will be completed sometime this year. Even though, Vancouver is far from being a ghost town the original settlement is an historic site that enjoys many visitors during the summer months. (Click photo for larger view

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Minnesota

Posted in Ghost Towns at 7:30 am by NW Okie

Minnesota Ghost Towns –
cub-reporter, Jeanine Baringer

Greetings from Minnesota, The only ghost town that I know of is Mavie, Minnesota, in northern Minnesota where my mother was born. My grandparents homesteaded in 1904 and the town was established legally in 1914.

Mavie is about 12 miles from Thief River Falls, MN. Because the area was an indian reservation, there were no roads or railways. Little villages sprung up around the township and an electric railroad was built in 1914 to travel between the small villages and pickup produce, grain, etc… And connect to Thief River Falls.

The railroad cut through the Hurt homestead. The town of Mavie developed an elevator, school, churches, general store, lumber co., bank, hotel, stable and blacksmith shop.

It was a healthy little town. Mavie was plotted for homes and lots were sold to build homes. A large general store was built and the owner built a large hall above the general store. The hall was used for dances, box socials on Saturday night and on Sunday it served as a church for services from different denominations.

The first Post Office for Mavie was established on the Quiet farm and the postmistress was Mae Quist in 1908. Thereby the name of Mavie via Mae. After she retired a Charles Nelson and his son served the post office in the general store.

In 1941 the railway was discontinued and the town slowly died. Most of the buildings were sold and moved to other locations. The only building left is the old general store with the public hall upstairs. That used to play such a great part in Mavie’s social life and religions.

My mother said that her mother would bring eggs to sell in exchange for food staples. When I was researching in Thief River Falls, I went out to Mavie. Only the old general store is still there. As I looked and walked around the building and saw what it must have been like all those years ago I realized that as I looked closely at the overgrown grass and weeds you could make out where the sidewalks used to go. As I looked even more closely I could see the old concrete stoops belonging to the houses of long ago. It was a feeling of a tunnel of time.

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New Mexico

Posted in Ghost Towns at 7:29 am by NW Okie

New Mexico - ‘Faded & Forgotten Dreams’
cub-reporter, Marvin Henry

New Mexico has so many ‘Faded & Forgotten Dreams’ that it is almost mind boggling to me. Don’t know about post offices for most of these, as some of them were served by the Butterfield Stage lines. The jumping off place for the ghost towns I have on the website can be accessed.

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