November 29, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 4 (4 of 18 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
November 29, 2012 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
JOURNALEDITORIAL
KOMENCOMMENT
Olympic Peninsula
always inspiring to
late, great author
"f you treasure the wondrous Olympic
Mountains, then you must read "The
.Untamed Olympics, the Story of a
Peninsula." Ruby E1 Hult wrote it in 1954,
and to this day its equal has not appeared.
Ruby's is the definitive book about the
Olympic Peninsula.
"Those mountains! -- it was uncanny
how they insinuated into every part of my
life," she exclaimed. "I gazed upon them
mornings, evenings and weekends from
my apartment windows. It was like living
with one great maste~,piece viewed through
many frames and from various perspec-
tives."
Thus inspired, she set
herself to learn all she
could about the moun-
tains that so attracted
her.
From her workaday
world in Seattle, she
searched for informa-
tion about the Olympic
Peninsula. She would
By JOHN find bits and pieces but
KOMEN nothing that would truly
qualify as a real history
of the Olympics. She set about to fill the
gap. She filled notebooks with her research;
she haunted the Seattle Public Library for
information.
"A book was needed," she decided. "A
book filled with every possible bit of lore I
could discover about the area. The book I
so much wanted to read but which did not
exist."
E1 Hult had arrived in Seattle in 1945
intent upon entering the University of
Washington to study writing. She already
was a published author; "Steamboats in the
Timber" about her North Idaho home in the
Coeur d'Alene region. But she felt moved to
improve her craft, and so she came to the
University of Washington. She lasted nine
months before her funds ran out.
She supported herself as a Seattle office
worker, and in her spare time continued
her Olympic Mountains research. It had
been two years and she had yet to set foot
on the Olympic Peninsula. Finally came a
vacation, and she made the trip.
By bus she made her way, first to Shel-
ton, the Gateway to the Olympics. Then
to Port Angeles, and there she met Herb
Crisler. She had heard many times that
if she wanted to know about the Olympic
Mountains, she must meet Herb and Lois
Crisler.
The Crislers lived year-around in the
Olympics at Humes Ranch, an isolated
former homestead high in the mountains
above the Elwha River, a place reached
only by hiking some 4 miles from Whiskey
Bend.
E1 Hult became a frequent visitor to
Humes Ranch, visits that eventually re-
sulted in a long-distance romance of many
years between the redheaded Ruby and the
mountaineer Herb. But we digress; that's a
subject of another story some other day.
"To me the writing of 'The Untamed
Olympics' could be compared to walk-
ing down a road so long, so devious in its
windings that if I had known its nature in
advance I would never have dared set foot
upon it," she wrote in a preface to the book.
She thanked scores of sources, including a
Simpson official who "showed me Simpson
Logging Company operations in Shelton
and sent me to (Camp) Grisdale."
The result is a 246-page book with 20
more pages of bibliography and index. It
earned her a well-deserved reputation as
the premier writer of Northwest regional
history.
E1 Hult dropped out of sight after her
productive writing years, and many re-
ferred to her as "the late Ruby E1 Hult."
But we found her one September day in
2007.
She was 95 years old, nearly blind, teth-
ered by a long thin hose to an oxygen tank,
living in one room in an assisted living
home in North Seattle. But she was alert
and talkative, and we engaged her in a de-
lightful hour-long interview on videotape.
A year later she was gone. We are
thankful she left behind "The Untamed
Olympics."
LETTERSTOTHEEDITORTM
• John Komen, who lives on Mason
Lake, was for 40 years a reporter and edi-
tor, TV anchorman, national TV network
correspondent, producer, columnist, edito-
rial writer and commentator. His column,
Komen Comment, appears each week in the
Shelton-Mason County Journal.
in
Apn estimated 89 million U.S. shop- While we're not complaining -- the hundreds of families and children in need
ers braved crowded stores and more money people spend at retailers, the during the holidays. They supply coats to
ong lines on Black Friday. Ad- more tax revenue businesses generate to children who don't have one. They donate
ditionaUy, more than 35 million visited keep firefighters and authorities on the their time and energy to make sure area
retailers' stores on Thanksgiving Day, streets -- we wonder if people should take cold weather shelters stay open to those
purchasing all kinds of deeply discounted a step back and consider the purchases who've lost their home to foreclosure or
items on what has traditionally been con- they are making, addiction.
sidered the busiest shopping day of the It's easy to get swept up in the hype. There are dozens of nonprofits that
year. Commercials advertising holiday sales fill could use a small donation. Ten dollars
According to the Washington, D.C.- the airwaves and in print, showing jaw- could be the difference between life and
based National Retail Federation, con- dropping deals on everything from televi- death for a homeless child, person or pet.
sumers spent an estimated $59.1 billion sions to automobiles. While the Black Friday frenzy of 2012
between Thanksgiving and the following In this day of near-record foreclosures, is now a distant memory, the holiday
Sunday. This year, the average holiday bankruptcies, high credit card debt and shopping season, and the deals retailers
shopper spent $423 during the four-day homelessness, we urge shoppers to pur- will offer to lure you to their stores, are
holiday weekend. That's up about $25 per chase within their means this holiday, just now hitting their stride. As you work
consumer from last year. season and beyond, your way down the aisles of savings, con-
Regardless of how you spin the num- We also ask that in this season of giv- sider giving even a portion of the savings
bers, one thing's for certain -- Black Fri- ing, you remember those in our commu- from this year's hottest new toy, gadget
day has become its own "holiday." More so nity who struggle to simply put food on or electronic to one of our local charities.
than ever, families are hitting stores the the table. They are the masters at making a dollar
day after Thanksgiving and opening up Each year, local organizations, volun- stretch during the holiday season and
their wallets, teers and charities in Mason County help year around.
coOIN6 EXTINCT,9
35th
race
District
a
Journal Letter Policy
disgrace
Editor, the Journal
I am compelled to write
after the November election.
specifically the race for the
35th Legislative District,
Position 1. Never have I
seen -- nor did I think it
possible for -- elected lead-
ers to stoop so low as to
create and distribute false,
slanderous lies about their
opponents. It is obvious that
the perpetrators wanted
this race to be emotion-
ally driven and were will-
ing to do anything, even
lying, to ensure victory. It
should be illegal to make
any statements in a politi-
cal campaign that will harm
or destroy the credibility
of any opponent. There is a
law that "You shall not kill."
This is always thought of
as taking a life. But what
about "killing" a person's
credibility, their reputation
and their good name?
I am aghast at the vot-
ers in the 35th Legislative
The Journal welcomes and encourages your letters to
the editor. We will print signed, original letters of
local interest. We will not publish letters that are
libelous or scurrilous in nature. Signed letters should
provide contact and address information for the
Journal.
of voters voted to put back
the two-third majority re-
quirement on raising taxes,
yet they re-instated the in-
cumbent in the 35th District
who repeatedly overturns
the very same initiative
when it comes up in session.
I have lost all faith in our
election system and in the
voters in the 35th.
Elected leaders in the
35th District tell us how
hard and complicated it is to
do the right thing. Elected
leaders in the 35th District
even encourage us to elect
someone else who is will-
ing to do the job. Yet those
resented.
Voters in the 35th Dis-
trict, you had your chance
and you blew it. You blew it
big time. You have no right
to complain about the 35th
District, Position 1, for the
next two years because you
will have no one to thank
but yourselves.
Shame on a democracy
where voters vote from emo-
The Nov. 22 article "Vol-
unteers fill backpacks for
local school children" should
have stated that Saints'
Pantry raised $85,000
through its community proj-
ects. All of those funds were
donated to community pro-
grams.
tion instead of intelligence.
Shame on a democracy that
Sendle eis to
elects leaders who do not
listen to their constituents.
Shame on a democracy that
allows candidates to descend
to low blows to ensure vic- mai!~hemtoSheiton
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.
at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
District who either can't or same people are re-elected
l'~ Shelton-Mason County 111| won't get it through theirover and over, showing that
lit ~ 1,~ ,~ t~ ~ ~ I1| thick heads to think aboutthe,voters in the 35th really
% I ~ t how they vote. The majoritydon t care how they are rep-
Shelton-Mason County Journal is a member of Kari Sleight, publisher
usPs 492-800 Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association.
Newsroom: Maggie Burdick, ad representative
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Adam Rudnick, editor
$37 per year for Mason County addresses, Natalie Johnson, reporter Front office:
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper
$51 per year in state of Washington but outside Gordon Weeks, reporter
Mason County, $61 per year out of state. Emily Hanson, sports reporter Renee Chaplin, circulation
Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor
Owned and published by
Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc
tory.
Moron
Robert Aaron EO BOX 4301 SheldOn
Shelton
Advertising:
Dave Pierik, Sr. Acct. Executive
Composing room:
William Adams, graphics
Pressroom:
Kelly Riordan, production manager
Travis Miller, press operator
Mary Northover, press assistant
Page A-4- Shelton-Mason County Journal- Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012