When board member emeritus Gloria McNeely joined the Museum’s board in the 1980s an electric typewriter was the latest technology being used for Museum business. By the 1990s, through her advocacy, the Museum upgraded to using a computer. When Assistant Director Cristy Lake started with the Museum in 2006, the Museum had just purchased its second computer which is still in use today as our scanning workstation, eight years ago we purchased our current main computer and several years ago purchased two used laptops for additional volunteer workstations.

Technology is always advancing and computer systems need to regularly be updated and replaced. It is time for the Museum to update its computer systems to a more advanced server system rather than using an individual computer as a server and workstation. Our current system is outdated and no longer meets the needs of the Museum nor the expectation of our visitors.

We were fortunate this spring to be able to request funds through a grant program through the Snoqualmie Tribe to purchase a server, new workstation with video-editing hardware and software, a camera with tripod, and a projector.

The Snoqualmie Valley Museum has been growing its digital resources over the last 15 years. Staff and volunteers have been digitizing our photograph collection, photographing our objects, converting our card catalog cards into the PastPerfect database and inventorying our collection so that we can make our collections publicly accessible online. This has been especially vital over the last year with the pandemic. The Museum was closed to interior visits for over a year but has been able to continue to serve visitors by having material available digitally. We updated our website and are adding more and more materials online, while our Assistant Director kept the Museum operating behind the scenes, answering research inquiries even when we could not have visitors in the building. We now are again reopened to the public.

We now have 8TB of data and each year we are adding additional materials. But, our computer system needs to be upgraded. We are using an eight–year-old computer, which has crashed twice recently, leading to the loss of some data. This computer acts as both a server and a workstation. It acts as a file server for our volunteer workstations. It acts as a workstation for our Assistant Director Cristy Lake.  It often plays both roles concurrently, causing everything to slow down to an unworkable speed. Because it was designed to be a standalone computer, it cannot support the demands now placed upon it.  Additionally, it has only 2 TB of disk space so our main records are being stored on external hard-drives which increases the risk of losing information if any of these drives fail.

We do not have video capabilities and even though we would like to create videos and host online meetings and programs, we don’t have that capability at the Museum. We have been able to participate in some meetings using Cristy’s personal cellphone, but this does not provide the quality we would like to offer and is not easily available for others to use.

When the computer crashed two years ago we asked several computer experts to recommend an adequate replacement. This is the basis for our grant request. We would like to purchase:

• A file server that would hold all of the Museum’s data and allow workstations to access it without going through the staff workstation.
  • Storage

The server would hold 12TB of data and back up the data up on a second set of 12 TB drives to protect it if the first one were to crash. The 12 TB will allow for additional storage space as we expand, but, additionally, the server can also have extra drives added to increase storage capabilities in the future.

• Performance

Designed for concurrent use, the server will be able to support all volunteer and staff workstations simultaneously.  With its responsive file handling and improved network bandwidth, the museum staff and volunteers will no longer encounter unworkable speeds.

• A new workstation for museum staff that replaces the 8 year old computer
  • Video

The workstation would provide video-editing hardware and software. Additionally, it would provide hardware to support on-line meetings.

• Documents

The workstation would also provide the software for creating PDFs and other documents to support the Museum’s online presence.

• Performance

The network bandwidth provided by this new workstation would also address the problems with unworkable speeds that are encountered with the current computer.

• A camera and tripod that will allow us to create videos.
• A projector so that we can hold programs that feature power points and videos and add visual elements to meetings.

We are pleased to announce that we can now move forward with these upgrades thanks to a nearly $13,400 grant from the Snoqualmie Tribe! We look forward to sharing the outcomes of this technological upgrade in the weeks, months and years to come.

Please join us in thanking the Snoqualmie Tribe for their generosity and for partnering with us to preserve and share the history of the Snoqualmie Valley for future generations.

To learn more about the Snoqualmie Tribe please visit SnoqualmieTribe.US.

On the FBI’s most famous cases list is a kidnapping case with a Snoqualmie Valley connection.

“On May 24, 1935, George Weyerhaeuser, the nine-year old son of prominent lumberman J.P. Weyerhaeuser of Tacoma, Washington, disappeared on his way home from school.” – FBI

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company owned and operated the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company in Snoqualmie and the Cherry Valley Logging Company in Duvall and was the largest employer in the Valley at the time. The kidnapping came just three years after Charles and Anne Lindbergh’s son was kidnapped and murdered; leaving grave concern for the potential fate of George Weyerhaeuser. It was in 1932 after the Lindbergh kidnapping that the federal Kidnapping Act was passed placing such cases under the jurisdiction of the FBI, which brought the Portland office of the FBI onto the Weyerhaeuser Case in 1935.

George was living with his family in Tacoma at the time of his disappearance.

“Although the students at Lowell School which he attended were released for lunch earlier than usual, George followed his regular practice of immediately walking to the nearby Annie Wright Seminary to meet his sister Ann. The family’s chauffeur generally met George and Ann at the Seminary to drive them home for lunch at noon. Arriving at the Seminary 10 or 15 minutes early that day, George apparently decided to walk home rather than wait for his sister. But George never reached home that day; somewhere between the Seminary and his house, George Weyerhaeuser was kidnapped.” -FBI

“When the Weyerhaeuser family realized that George was missing, they searched for him and notified the police department of his disappearance. That evening, a special delivery letter, addressed “To Whom It May Concern,” arrived at the Weyerhaeuser home. It listed a series of demands, including the payment of $200,000 ransom in unmarked twenty-, ten-, and five-dollar bills in exchange for the boy. George’s signature appeared on the back of the envelope in which the letter arrived.” -FBI

“…Complying with directions given in the note, Weyerhaeuser drove to a designated point…If the money was in order, George would be released within 30 hours… A man ran out, got in the car and drove away with the $200,000 ransom money. Young George Weyerhaeuser was released at a shack near Issaquah, Washington on the morning of June 1, 1935.” -FBI

It was on that morning of June 1, 1935 that dairy farmer and wood cutter Louis Bonifas was getting ready for his morning milking routine at around 4:30 or 5am. He and his wife heard a knock at the door and found the nine year old boy standing there, cold, tired and dirty. Seeing George, the same age as the daughter Betty; their parental instincts immediately took over as they feed and cleaned him up before driving to the closest phone to call for help. Bonifas then proceeded to drive George to Tacoma to meet up with the police and his parents.

George would in the following days reveal the details of his harrowing experience. When he left school on May 24, 1935, he took a shortcut and met a man asking for directions. When George responded, the man grabbed him up and took him to a car parked across the street where a second man awaited. George was put in the back seat with a blanket thrown over him for a journey of over an hour.

After some time the car pulled over, the blanket was removed and George was given an envelope and told to write his name in pencil on the back of it. He was then blindfolded and carried over a stream and led by the hand over the countryside for about three-quarters of a mile. George was then put into a hole which had been dug in the ground and his wrist and leg chained, and then a board was placed over the hole, completely covering it. The men took turns guarding him until night when George was carried back to the car and placed in the trunk, where he rode for about an hour. He was then taken from the car and led through the woods again. The kidnappers made George wait by a tree as they dug another hole to place him in.

On May 26, 1935, the two men, accompanied by a woman, drove through Washington into Idaho with George in the trunk of a car. In the early morning he was changed to another tree and guarded until nightfall when he was taken to a house and locked in a closet. On the evening of Friday, May 31, 1935, George was told that he would soon return home.

Again, George was placed in the car’s trunk and taken to near Issaquah, Washington. At about 3:30 the following morning, his captors left him alone in a shack, telling him that his father would come to take him home. George wandered to several nearby farmhouses seeking aid but as it was the middle of the night he was unable to get an answer at the doors. After several attempts, he next tried the Bonifas house just as they were raising and finally succeeded in getting the help of an adult. The family took him in, washed him, gave him clean clothes, and drove him to Tacoma, Washington in their car.

“When the FBI started investigating this case, every precaution was taken to ensure the safe return of the victim. During the period of negotiation, special agents conducted the investigation quietly. Serial numbers of the ransom bills were sent to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where ransom lists were prepared. Immediately after the kidnappers received the money, these lists were sent to all of the Bureau’s field offices for distribution to commercial enterprises, including banks, hotels and railway companies.” -FBI

In the days that followed, special agents, local police officers and store cashiers kept close watch for any bill that had a serial number from the ransom. Their work quickly paid off, on June 2 a bill was used to purchase railway ticket from Huntington, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah by Harmon Metz Waley. Soon many bills were appearing in stores in Salt Lake City and officers were placed to lay a trap for the next time a bill was passed.

On June 2, 1935, a $20 ransom bill was tendered in payment of a railway ticket from Huntington, Oregon, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Investigation by FBI agents determined the purchaser to be Harmon Metz Waley. “As a result, on June 8, 1935, a police detective stationed at a Woolworth store was notified by a cashier that a woman had presented one of the ransom bills. The detective took the woman, who proved to be Margaret E. Waley, wife of Harmon Waley, to the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office.” -FBI

From their interview of Margaret, the police were able to learn the location of her husband. “Later that day, Harmon Metz Waley was arrested at home. After making several false statements, he confessed that he and William Dainard, whom he had met in the Idaho State Penitentiary, had kidnapped the boy. He added that his wife had no knowledge of the kidnapping until their arrival in Spokane, Washington. She had been at the hideout house and helped them negotiate the ransom.” -FBI

From their interview with Harmon Waley, the FBI learned “that he and Dainard planned to split the money evenly, but that Dainard cheated him out of $5,000. After further questioning at the field office, Waley said that he bought a Ford Roadster, which he registered as Herman Von Metz, when he arrived in Salt Lake City. Under a clump of trees or bushes, he had buried $90,790”. Special agents were able to recovered the buried money on June 11, 1935 but Harmon and Margaret had burned $3700 in their stove trying to cover up evidence.

“Learning that Waley arranged to meet Dainard at the home of Margaret Waley’s parents, agents proceeded to that house. Her grandfather advised that a man answering Dainard’s description had come to the house asking for the Waleys. The grandfather told him that the Waleys had been there earlier to pick up their suitcase but they returned to Salt Lake City and had been arrested. The man exclaimed, “My God, did they get everything they had?” before returning to his car and driving off.”

William Dainard was on the run. After he spoke with Mrs. Waley’s grandfather, he proceeded to Butte, Montana where on June 9, 1935, he was recognized by a police officer who attempted to apprehend him. Eluding the officer his car was found abandoned with $15,155 in ransom money.

An Identification Order, which included Dainard’s photograph, fingerprints, handwriting specimen, and background information, was distributed throughout the United States, Mexico and Australia.

“In early 1936, bills with altered serial numbers began to surface in the western part of the country. The FBI Laboratory’s examination of these bills revealed the true serial numbers to be identical with those of ransom bills. Banks were advised to be alert to any person presenting altered currency for exchange.” -FBI

On May 6, 1936, two different Los Angeles, California banks reported that a man whose license number was issued to a Bert E. Cole exchanging altered bills. After surveilling Bert Cole’s address, on the morning of May 7, 1936, special agents searched the neighborhood and found his car with they disabled.

“Later, a man entered the car and attempted to start it. When it failed to start, he got out of the car and lifted the hood. Agents approached the man, who was readily identified as being Dainard. He submitted to arrest without resistance, and a .45 caliber Colt automatic pistol was removed from his person.” -FBI

Dainard admitted his part in the kidnapping and at the time of his arrest, agents recovered $37,374.47 in ransom money and bills that he admitted he had received in exchange for ransom money. They also recovered $14,000 in $100 bills that he had buried in Utah.

“Further investigation by the FBI revealed that Edward Fliss, an associate of Dainard’s, had assisted him in exchanging the ransom money. Fliss was locate at the Delmar Hotel, San Francisco, California, where he was arrested by FBI agents. He offered no resistance and admitted to helping Dainard dispose of the ransom money.” – FBI

“On June 19, 1935, the federal grand jury, Tacoma, Washington returned an indictment charging William Dainard, Harmon Metz Waley, and Margaret E. Waley with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.” -FBI

Harmon Waley plead guilty on June 21, 1935, and was sentenced to serve concurrent prison terms of 45 years on charge of kidnapping and 2 years on charge of conspiring to kidnap. He was sent to the United States Penitentiary on McNeil Island, Washington, but later was transferred to Alcatraz Island, California for a while. He was paroled from McNeil Island, Washington, on June 3, 1963 at the age of 52.

The next day, Margaret Thulin Waley pleaded not guilty to both charges. She tried in United States District Court, Tacoma, Washington, on July 5, 1935. She was sentenced to serve two concurrent 20-year terms in the United States Detention Farm, Milan, Michigan.

William Dainard was sent back to Tacoma, Washington, where he entered a guilty plea on May 9, 1936. He was sentenced to serve two concurrent 60-year prison terms for kidnapping and conspiring to kidnap and sent to McNeil Island, he later transferred to Leavenworth, Kansas. In Leavenworth, prison authorities determined him to be insane and confined him to a hospital.

Edward Fliss was also sent to Seattle, Washington for indictment. On November 10, 1936, he was charged with assisting in the disposition of ransom money. He plead guilty and was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison and to pay a fine of $5,000.

The kidnappers and their accomplices were sentenced to actual prison terms aggregating 135 years. During the course of the investigation, special agents of the FBI recovered a total of $157,319.47 of the ransom.

On the way to return George to the FBI and his parents, Bonifas had phoned ahead to let them know of their coming.

One reporter, Johnny Dreher claimed that word quickly spread while on the way he flagged down and convinced Bonifas that he was a police officer sent ahead to recover the boy. The reporter continued to claim, that he, Johnny Dreher, took George the rest of the way to his family all the while interviewing him. Bonifas never forgave the media for that deceit of implying that he would allow George to be taken a second time nor for the many misrepresentations of him and his family within the reports.

Additional stories included that “He (Johnny Dreher) drove back to the Weyerhaeuser mansion to deliver the kid expecting to be swept up and greeted and, ‘Oh, thank you for bringing a child back,’” newspaper columnist Emmett Watson would later say. “But he said that he got pushed in the face.”

The Bonifas grandchildren have various recollections of the story. One saying that reporter didn’t take George and the other saying he did. This is not surprising as the Bonifas family refused to talk about the incident for decades and younger family members relied on learning about the connection via newspaper articles.

In a 2017 interview Mr. Weyerhaeuser told reporter Isolde Rafterty:

“Although his story is part of Northwest lore, his family chose not to dwell on it. It wasn’t a sensitive subject for him, he said, but it wasn’t something they discussed. He didn’t remember Dreher. He said it had been too long for him to say definitively whether the reporter had made up or embellished the account, but he said the story seemed off to him, too. He was a reserved child, he said, so his quotes didn’t make sense – and he certainly wouldn’t have kissed a stranger.”

“’If you had talked to me before all this’ – before reading The Seattle Times’ version – ‘I would say the farmer took me home.’”

“He said he doubted the farmer would have given him up so easily. ‘He was a welcome man, and a nice one,’ Mr. Weyerhaeuser said. ‘I felt that he really did me a great favor. I would say that was an unusual effort he went to. I do remember him and always will.'”

Once home, George had to endure multiple press conferences and interviews by the police, but as quickly as possible he and his family stopped talking about the kidnapping to help George move past the trauma.

After his return the media stalked the Weyerhaeuser and Bonifas families. For a time Bonifas’ wife and four children had to move in with relatives in Enumclaw to hide from the reporters. But life carried on. George’s father offered Bonifas a job at the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co in thanks for helping return his son; the Bonifas family moved from the Hobart Road to Snoqualmie Falls and later North Bend. All of the Bonifas children worked for Weyerhaeuser over the years. When the kidnappers were released, each were also offered jobs at the company.

George returned to his family and continued his education. Graduating during World War II, he joined the Navy. Having completed his naval service during World War II, Mr. Weyerhaeuser took as summer job in the woods of Washington state as a choker setter—the logging crewman who wraps the cable around the log before it is hauled to the landing.

Attending Yale University, graduating with honors in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Administration. He and his wife, Wendy, were married on July 10, 1948. Upon graduation, he began working at the pulp mills in Longview, Washington, before transferring to Springfield, Oregon, lumber manufacturing operations in 1951 where he progressed from foreman to assistant manager and then to wood products area manager in 1954.

In 1957, he became assistant to the executive vice president at corporate headquarters in Tacoma, Washington before becoming manager of wood products the next year and a member of board of directors in 1960. Soon he became executive vice president for wood products and timberlands in 1961, followed by executive vice president for all manufacturing and timberlands operations in 1964.

In 1966, Mr. Weyerhaeuser became the company’s chief executive officer and ninth president. He served as chief executive officer until 1991. He became chairman of the board of directors in 1988 and continued in that role until his retirement in 1999. George and Wendy went on to have four daughters, Leilee, Susan, Phyllis, and Merrill; and two sons, George, Jr., and David.

For more information on the case visit the FBI’s website.

by Cristy Lake

Cristy Lake is the Assistant Director at the Snoqualmie Valley Museum but is also the great granddaughter of Louis and Willena Bonifas. She first learned of her families connection to the case at the age of 7 when her mother warned her there was to be a story in the newspaper about her great grandparents on her dad’s side of the family in a Centennial of Washington State history edition in case the other kids at school mentioned it. At the time she was told that the family did not talk about it and not to ask questions about it. It wasn’t until Lake was an adult that she ever heard the connection mentioned by a member of the family who was present and that was only to hear her great aunt Lucille (Louis and Willena’s eldest) shut a conversation on the topic down when Lucille’s cousin Gene tried to bring it up.

The first documented doctor serving the Upper Valley was a Dr. Adams, who came on horseback. He was almost like a circuit rider, galloping through the communities periodically to check his patients.

The most prevalent major medical emergency was childbirth, which rarely rated the luxury of a doctor. Most infants were born at home with the help of a midwife. Midwives were “experienced” neighbors who helped you through. Those from the Upper Valley whose names have been remembered are Grandma Wieting, Grandma Kinsey (Louisa), and Grandma Flint.

“Local” medicine began in 1889, when a Dr. William Ellery Gibson and a Dr. Corson began a practice in Issaquah. Dr. Gibson made calls to Snoqualmie and North Bend on horseback. He removed a man’s eye in his office/operating room in 1890 — with satisfactory results.

Beginning in 1890 and lasting until about 1905, a Dr. Hopkins practiced in Snoqualmie. He was replaced by Dr. Adams, who later moved the practice to North Bend. Dr. Adams had his office in the Boxley home until 1910, when he was bought out by Dr. Richard Burke.

Another doctor, Dr. Richards, moved to Fall City around 1890 and also made calls in Snoqualmie. He treated Otto Reinig in 1891 when Otto was thrown from a buggy. He applied a tin splint, but Otto’s arm swelled within it, causing excruciating pain. Otto telegraphed a Seattle doctor, and went to see him on the train (a seven or eight hour trip) to get relief.

Originally written by David Battey and updated by Cristy Lake

With the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a good time to reflect on the perils to physical well-being that were ever present reality to past generations. Let’s look at a few of the challenges facing some of our early medical practitioners.

In 1891 a Dr. Lee located in North Bend. It was this doctor who operated on Snoqualmie Tribe member and friend of Dio Reinig, who Dio found with mortal stab wounds (name redacted to protect the victim and his family). It was difficult to persuade the doctor to help because of prejudicial rumor that a doctor would be killed if his patient expired, a fate that had befallen a local Native American doctor shortly before. Dr. Lee’s patient lived for about a month after the operation. It was alleged that if the other doctors who were called first had attended the victim he would have survived; but by the time Dr. Lee was called, infection had taken hold.

A Dr. Milliken was brought in during the building of the railroad and the first mill in Snoqualmie in 1889/90. The contractor hired him to care for the men during the construction and he left as soon as it was completed.

A Doctor Bump also arrived about 1890 and stayed in Snoqualmie until 1909. He is mentioned in early Snoqualmie Town Council minutes.

Doctor W. W. Cheney set up practice in Fall City in 1905 and practiced medicine here for sixty-four years. He used a horse and buggy until 1912, when he bought a second-hand Ford with acetylene head lamps. His “circuit” included Tolt, Cherry Valley, Duvall, Snoqualmie, and North Bend. He started using anesthetics in surgery in 1912. Quite an innovation for the Valley!

Dr. Richard Burke, who founded the first hospital, came to the Valley in 1908. His first home/office was in Snoqualmie. His early calls were on horseback unless someone came for him in a buggy. Even after automobiles were available, Dr. Burke often rode horseback during high water — horses being, “more dependable than cars.”

It was Dr. Burke who started the first official hospital in the Upper Valley at the “former Joyner residence of North Bend” in 1910. This hospital moved across the railroad tracks into the old Taylor residence in 1912, and remained there until 1920 or 1921 when Dr. Burke moved to the brand new modern hospital facility built in the town of Snoqualmie Falls on the hill above the mill. This facility was built for the use of Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company (later Weyerhaeuser) employees and their families, but was open to all Valley residents.

So, our first crude Upper Snoqualmie Valley hospital opened 110 years ago and was replaced about ten years later by a modern, up-to-date (for its time) facility .

Around 1890, Dio Reinig tells us, a young man tried to jump off of Snoqualmie Falls in a parachute as part of a tourism promotion stunt. A gust of wind blew him against the rocks. They took him to a Seattle hospital by train, where he died without regaining consciousness. The trip by train to Seattle took seven or eight hours. There were, of course, no reasonable alternatives. The train was the quickest mode of transportation. But then, after the introduction of the automobile, Dio also gives us a graphic picture of the challenges involved in motoring a patient to a Seattle hospital:

In 1909, in Snoqualmie, the Reinig Brother’s Store (now the Coast-to-Coast) burned, along with the Howard Johnson Hotel (a big wooden three-story affair). Two large men jumped from the hotel during the fire and both broke their hips. Doctor Burke called Dio Reinig and asked if he could take one of the men to a hospital in Seattle in his EMF. Dio removed the top from his car, and the man, placed on a stretcher, was strapped crosswise on the tops of the car doors. Doctor Burke and a Mr. McLeod (pronounced McCloud) rode with Dio to help out.

To quote Dio, “It was a bad road in those days. We had to go over the steep Duthie Hill below Fall City, then to Renton and along the water front on a mile of very rough road, then across the Grant Street bridge to the Providence hospital on Fifth and Madison Street.

Before we started up Duthie Hill I asked the doctor and Mr. McLeod to get out and walk up the hill. The engine died about half way up, and as we had no starter in those days, I asked one of the men to crank the engine. Both said they didn’t know a thing about doing that. I did not dare get out of the car as I had to use both brakes to hold it from going back down the hill. After quite some time one of the men helped and we got it started and on up the hill and on our way again.

Our patient was in great pain and every now and then the doctor had me stop while he gave the man a drink of whiskey. He said he had never killed a man yet with whiskey. We arrived at the hospital at midnight, all of us very tired.”

According to Dio, his EMF had a terrible habit of stopping on both hills and railroad crossings. The tires were guaranteed for 3,000 miles, but you were lucky to get 300 on the gravel roads of the day.

Another story begins with this comment: “Trips to Seattle over rough roads, through deep mud, were very agonizing to patients.” A man was shot in the back during a quarrel on Snoqualmie’s main street. Dr. Burke asked for help from Claude Northern this time, and Mr. Northern volunteered his Ford. They didn’t get very far. The Ford skidded off of the road on the Falls’ hill and (luckily) the rear axle hung up on a stump, keeping them from tumbling down the hill. They finished the trip in another Snoqualmie car. Snoqualmie had three automobiles at the time.

A locomotive was once sent to bring Doctor Burke back to the hospital during a blizzard. The good doctor arrived with “icicles hanging from his mustache, but after warming up, proceeded with an emergency operation at two in the morning.”

So there you have it — a short course in early medical transportation in the Valley. Isn’t it comforting to have our modern, fully staffed facility at our doorstep?

Addendum: In January 1948, the Nelems Hospital replaced the 1920 Snoqualmie Falls Hospital reducing down to a 16-bed hospital. Bernice Nelems, a nurse at the former Snoqualmie Falls Hospital, named the facility in honor of her parents and sister. She ran the remote 16-bed medical facility for more than 20 years before financial problems befell it. This facility operated until 1976, when it closed a new Snoqualmie Valley Hospital District was formed to replace the hospital. In 1979 Governor Dixy Lee Ray signed legislation allowing the hospital district to get funding to build a new hospital as the Valley was without one. This new hospital opened in 1983. It was replaced by the current hospital in 2015.

Ten years ago Lucille Bonifas Smith was kind enough to answer some questions about her life in 1940 for Assistant Director Cristy Lake during a dinner visit to the Eagles in Snoqualmie when the Museum had been working on a 1940 exhibit. Lucille was Cristy’s Great Aunt. Below is what she had to say:

My name is Lucille Lois (Bonifas) Smith.  I was born in Eastern Colorado in Yuma County, the oldest of born to Louie and Willena Bonifas.  I was the only one of the four of us children that had a doctor attending.  I was named after mom; Lucille, her middle name.  I don’t know if my middle name was after my father, an aunt or just because they liked it.

In 1940, I was about 16 years old.  I was still in high school at North Bend High.  It was fun.  I was involved in the YMCA.  We did parallel bars, tumbling and Indian Clubs (kind of like bowling).  I also belonged to the Girl Scouts; we went camping and spent a week at Lake Sammamish and a week up in the hills at Lake Hancock. 

In 1940, I baby sat by the month for people by the name of Van Dykes.  She worked at Thompson Café and he drove a truck.  They had one child, I think he lives in Monroe now. 

I lived in North Bend; it was a farm with a nice big house.  Ralph Freeman now lives in our grape patch.  We raised cattle and had a dairy.  We had about 10 milk cows, a couple of horses, a dozen or so chickens and 2 or 3 pigs.  Our family was made up of my parents, my sister Betty, and my two brothers John and Walt. 

We spent our summer afternoons down by the river; it was the Middle Fork.  We would go down to that bridge too, there were some good swimming holes.  We lived by the Thrashers, Offields, Bluhers, Fullers, Currys, Harris’, and Harts.  The Bluhers and Currys had kids our age.  We would have bonfires at the beach. 

We had been in the house about a year, we moved there in 1939, before that a mill house.   The community was close and friendly.  Every Wednesday night was the discount night at the North Bend Theatre, I think 10 cents. 

My father worked at the Bremerton shipyards.  He stayed over there with an uncle.  My grandparents moved there too.  Dad drove a bus there most of the time for the other employees.  He left working at the Mill in 1939 because he and the union didn’t get along.  They had slashed his tires at one point because he wouldn’t join. 

John worked at one of the neighbor farms occasionally.  Betty and I also waited tables at the Alps Café and then the Monogram.  We worked the Swing Shift and during school breaks during the day too. The Swing Shift was usually about 5:30 pm until Midnight.  We worked both during school and on breaks.  We worked the same shifts together and walked back and forth.  We would eat at the diner when we worked there, but otherwise didn’t eat out much.  Frank (Marsalis) would cook us up a nice T bone steak.  I would eat mine and Betty’s both because she didn’t like hers.  She would sometimes eat a hamburger instead, but we didn’t get much choice because he would cook it up and give it to us.  He owned the Alps Café and later Thompsons (co-owned).

We walked to school most the time, but had the bus if we wanted. We could get out of bed later if we walked.  Betty and I went to the Baptist church in North Bend.  I played the piano there.  Betty and I also went to Youth Club on Wednesday Nights at the church.  We went to that church because it was the closest church, we walked.  Mom would occasionally go to the Catholic Church and Masses.  She wasn’t Catholic, dad was; she just like it; but she didn’t go to church much.  Dad never went. 

North Bend had quite a few cafes then like now.  We would grow some of our food and buy the rest.  Mom always had a garden.  Lee’s Grocery, Glaziers Dry Goods, the Bakery, the Gas Station we all went to.  That George Wyrsch was a heart throb, he had a nice red convertible; he was too old for us though.  The Dry Goods carried material and clothing.  We bought most of our clothes.  Betty, Fern Bonsgaard, and I would spend most of our time in Seattle buying clothes with our $15 a week paychecks.  We took a bus to Seattle from North Bend; it went down through Fall City.  It took about an hour.  Lenners was my favorite shop; they carried the clothes we could afford and liked.  We couldn’t afford Fredricks but we were there and Fern would try on shoes. 

We wore dresses and slacks.  We would were nylons with seams or we painted our legs and drew on seams.  We all wore girdles with slacks and dresses.  Our shoes were saddle shoes and 3 to 4 inch high heels.  We did our own hair and I wore mine back.  At night we did it up with pin curls all over our head.  We occasionally wore hats for dress, like going to church.

Heavens yes, we had a car.  Mom drove once and a while but she didn’t have a drivers license and didn’t drive too much.  I think dad intimidated her.  I had just gotten my license in 1940.  I drove all I could.  We would go to Seattle and just around.  Our car was a Studebaker.  If you drove to Snoqualmie, that was really getting around.  Dad had a Hudson Terraplane before the Studebaker.  He was always changing car, upgrading.  He loved to drive.  I don’t know where he bought them all. 

Mom, John and Walt’s job was milking the cows.  Mom made sure Betty and I never milked a cow.  She had always had to milk cows and wanted to make sure we never HAD to.  We got to drive horses to pull the hay up to the barn.  We had to pump the water for the cattle from a well in the pasture fairly close to the house.  My mom didn’t belong to any organizations, she just took care of us kids.  She always canned.

At some point I would go up to the Mount Si Rec building and man the phone in case of attack.  That didn’t last too long, but I don’t remember exactly when that was.  I didn’t go to any of the lectures about the war in Europe or help pack care packages.  The war did not really affect me at that point.

We were always involved with family, both sides.  Aunt Clara lived in Seattle.  We saw them about once a month.  Her sons would come out and stay and we would go stay there.  Joe and Herb would give Betty a hard time because she couldn’t take the teasing.  Joe got killed in the war.  He had a job delivering news papers.  He kept us informed, told us were babies came from and all of that.  He was few months younger than me.  He was nice.  Herb was a couple years older than me.  The first time we met, Herb took me by the hair; Joe, Betty; Neil took John and Gene took Walt by the hair and led us around the room.  Then we were all fast friends.  That was about 1933. Their youngest brother Dickie wasn’t born yet.  Mom’s side was in Enumclaw; they moved out from Colorado in 1934.

Fifteen Mile Crossing was the first fording over the Snoqualmie River after leaving North Bend going over Snoqualmie Pass. It is located about 15 miles east of North Bend.

James Beard became one of the toll collectors when the Snoqualmie Pass Wagon Road became a toll road in 1883. Beard built a cabin at the 15 mile crossing about 1890 and he ferried travelers across the river for an additional fee. Later he built a toll bridge over the river and named it Fifteen Mile Bridge.

A few years later, Beard built some log cabins for tired travelers and called the new camp “Bide A Wee”. This rest stop served weary travelers for many years.

In 1893, the County took over the wagon road and it became County Road No. 353 and all tolls were removed.

According to Fred Schechzer’s obituary “In 1907 he saw the first automobile come over Snoqualmie Pass on its own wheels- a White Steamer that gave its last dying wheeze near the 15 mile crossing and was towed ignominiously to North Bend by a contemptuous freighter.  But it was the forerunner of the unending stream of motor vehicles that now streak across the old homestead on the broad ribbon of concrete that has supplanted the old rutted wagon trail.”

In 1915, when the Sunset Highway was completed. The crossing at 15 mile was bypassed by the new highway that remained on the north side of the river toward the summit. Bide A Wee continued to flourish with travelers going over the mountain and campers who came in from Seattle for a relaxing weekend.

In the early 1920’s, M. C. Mason purchased the camp from Beard and renamed it Camp Mason. He soon built better cabins, a restaurant and grocery store next to the Sunset Highway. The camp lasted until the 1950’s, when the property was purchased by the State Highway Dept.

The camp was then bulldozed to make way for the new 4 lane highway. Nothing remains of the once vibrant camp and rest stop. At north side of location of Exit 42.

Addendum:

Deo Reing told a story about going to James Beard’s to purchase a colt about 1891 or 1892:

“It was some time in the 1890’s, when I was quite young. I was at the Hop Ranch (now the Meadowbrook farm) watching a band of horses passing by. They had just come over the mountains from Eastern Washington. One of the men who was driving them rode over to where I was standing and told me that they had left a fine colt at the Toll Bridge. (This was also called the 15-mile crossing because it was 15 miles east of North Bend.) He said that it had come from fine stock and that I could buy it from the keeper there for two or three dollars.

The next day I took my brother Eddie’s donkey and five dollars and left quite early as the road in the mountains was very rough and hilly, and I didn’t know what kind of horse I would bring back. When I arrived there and looked the colt over, I decided to take it. It was a bay filly some six or seven months old and was played out and could not go any further.

The keeper, whose name was Beard, said he would have to have five dollars for it. I agreed and after giving him the money we tried to catch her. She never had a halter on and knew nothing about leading. After a lot of chasing we caught her and put the halter on. I put the rope around the horn of the saddle and started to pull. Mr. Beard took a stick to get the colt to move, but she only pulled back harder. There was quite a steep hill we had to go up right at the start and I never thought we would make it. The little donkey pulled with all his might, and when we got near the top the colt seemed to give up and ran right to the side of the donkey and stayed close by the rest of the way home. I surely felt relieved.

When we got home I rode up to the house to show the new little horse to my mother and the rest of the family. My mother soon found that the young one was covered with lice, so she melted some lard and mixed it with kerosene and I applied it over most of her body. I put our other horses in the pasture and kept the filly in the barnyard. When the other horses were gone the new one stayed right by my side. When I left to go to the house she ran up and down along the fence and whinnied with all her might. I went back several times to calm her, and she was fine as long as I stayed with her. It surprised me to learn that a colt could be tamed in such a short time. The next day when she saw me she came running up to me. I always had a little feed for her.

After my horse was about two years old I rode her just a little. I also hitched her to our two-wheel cart. After she was three I could drive her hitched to the cart, or ride her. She was never afraid of anything. I used to hitch her to the cart in the evening and drive to the road by the Hop Ranch where the ground was level and smooth. It was easy to see that the colt had come from good stock, the way that horse stepped out. She could trot faster than any horse around. The cowboy had told me the truth when he spoke to me about that colt.

We had seven horses at the time and my father said we had to get rid of some. Since I had two, I thought I should sell one of mine, so I sold my young mare for $75 to some one else. I never saw her again. I had named her Flora.”

– Deo Reing, Grandpa Tell Me A Story