Blue Garden in Dallas, Oregon

827 South Main Street

This commercial building was originally built in 1875, with apartments on the second floor and the Jennings Lodge Masonic hall on the third floor. It was the only downtown building in Dallas to survive the fire of 1888. The Blue Garden originally opened as a mercantile in 1890 by Charles Bilyeu and Wiley Gardener, who named it after their own last names. Later it became the Blue Garden Confectionery & Luncheon. The neon sign was installed in 1924. The Blue Garden was purchased by William and Elsie Sanders in 1938, who renovated it and added the Garden Spot Lounge for live music and dancing. After Bill died in 1958, Elsie and their sons Jack and Keith ran it. It was a filming location for the 1986 Warner TV movie Promise featuring James Garner and James Woods. The Blue Garden closed in March 1991 and was briefly a Mexican restaurant called Chapala. It was purchased by Larry and Lue Weyer in July 1992 and reopened as Lue's Blue Garden in January 1993. Lue’s Blue Garden was open through the late 90s, and then became a Chinese Restaurant before closing for about 15 years. It was purchased by Bob Collins on June 10, 2015. The restored neon sign was turned on again on February 15, 2016 and the Blue Garden reopened in May 2019. Collins died shortly after and his daughter Michele Collins took over. The Blue Garden closed on March 16, 2020 and was sold to Ward's Auctions by April 2020.

I.O.O.F. Hall in Dallas, Oregon

217 SW Court Street

The Dallas, Oregon, lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows was established in the 1850s as the 6th IOOF lodge in Oregon. This lodge hall was built in 1890. The Dallas lodge disbanded in 1989.

Polk County Courthouse, Dallas, Oregon

850 South Main Street

The first Polk County Courthouse was built in 1851 in Cynthian, later renamed Dallas for George Mifflin Dallas, James Polk's vice president. The town moved across Rickreall Creek due to a lack of water, and the building was demolished and the Lumber was used to build a saloon in Dallas. The second Courthouse was a two-story building made primarily of wood with large columns and a wide porch. It was accepted by County officials on February 15, 1860, and was destroyed by fire in 1898. 

The current courthouse was built in 1899 and is the second oldest courthouse still in use in Oregon. It was designed by Delos D. Neer, who also designed the Benton County Courthouse, Oregon’s oldest, which was built in 1888-1889. The Polk County Courthouse was built of local sandstone with a 95-foot clock tower. On February 4, 1966, a $750,000 three-story annex opened.

Astoria Riverfront Trolley

The Astoria Riverfront Trolley operates on a 3-mile section of the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway's Astoria Line that the city of Astoria purchased from Burlington Northern in 1996, before the remaining 92 miles of the line were sold to the Portland & Western Railroad in 1997.

Trolley #300 was the first of a group of 14 built for the San Antonio Traction Company in 1913 by the American Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri. This group of cars had composite bodies of wood and steel, while an additional 12 cars built in1914 has all steel bodies. In 1917 the San Antonio Traction Company became part of the San Antonio Public Service Company. San Antonio streetcar service officially ended on April 29, 1933, and that same day Trolley #300 was presented to the Witte Museum, a precursor of the San Antonio Museum Association, and was run onto the museum grounds under its own power and parked, where it would remain on outdoor static display until 1948, when it was housed in a structure and superficially restored. After the 1968 San Antonio World's Fair, a new transportation museum was developed at the downtown fairgrounds, and Trolley #300 was placed on outdoor display to rot until 1980. The car was restored in 1980 and 1981 using parts from the body of car #311, which had been used as a residence after its 1933 retirement until 1978. The car was converted to standard gauge using trucks from New Orleans, and the original 4-foot gauge trucks were saved for another San Antonio Trolley under restoration. In October 1982, the restored Trolley returned to operation, providing public rides on a short section of track behind the San Antonio Museum of Art until the operation was discontinued in late 1985 due to a lack of funding and the Trolley was again stored.

Gales Creek Enterprises leased the Trolley from the San Antonio Museum Association and brought it to Oregon in June 1990 for use on the Willamette Shore Trolley line between Portland and Lake Oswego. Willamette Shore Trolley service began July 6, 1990, operated by Paul Class and Gales Creek Enterprises through the end of 1994. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Museum Association was dissolved in 1994 and the San Antonio Museum of Art became the trolley’s new owner.

In 1995, the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society took over the operation of the Willamette Shore Trolley. Trolley #300 left the Willamette Shore Trolley line and was stored outdoors at the Oregon Electric Railway Museum’s Trolley Park in Glenwood, Oregon, remaining there after the Trolley Park closed and the OERHS moved to Powerland Heritage Park in Brooks, Oregon in 1996. Trolley #300 was eventually leased by the Astoria Riverfront Trolley Association in November 1998, and it was moved to Astoria in December 1998 for restoration. Trolley #300 has operated in Astoria since June 8, 1999, and was purchased from the San Antonio Museum of Art by the Astoria Riverfront Trolley Association in August 2005.

Kelso Airport Fly-In in July 2005

United States Air Force 1955 North American T-28B Trojan
Photo by Cliff West

In July 2005, Mothers of Military Support organized a 3-day Fly-In at Molt Taylor Field at the Kelso-Longview Regional Airport in Kelso, Washington, featuring two dozen vintage military aircraft from the Cascade Warbirds chapter of the EAA Warbirds of America, a division of the Experimental Aircraft Association attended, along with three dozen members of the Puget Sound Military Vehicles Collectors Club and a POW/MIA Honoring Field. My dad, Cliff West, didn’t hear about the event until it was almost over and when he got there only a few planes remained for him to take pictures of: two 1955 North American T-28B Trojans and a FM-2 Wildcat.

United States Air Force 1955 North American T-28B Trojan
Photo by Cliff West

The T-28 served as an advanced trainer for the Air Force and the Navy as well as a first line fighter in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The cockpits were designed and arranged to be as much like fighter cockpits as practical. The T-28B came equipped with a nine-cylinder radial air-cooled Wright Cyclone R-1820 engine producing 1,425 horsepower with a Hamilton Standard 3-bladed propeller and a belly-mounted speed brake. 489 “B” models were built and used from the middle ‘50s to the middle ‘80s. North American Aviation also produced the legendary P-51 Mustang and the B-25. The U.S. Navy retired the T-28 in 1984. 

United States Navy 1955 North American T-28B Trojan
Photo by Cliff West

With a length of 32 feet 6 inches and a wingspan of 40 feet, the T-28B has a normal gross weight of 8,600 pounds and has a cruising speed of 230 miles per hour and a maximum speed of 346 miles per hour. With a fuel capacity of 177 gallons it has a range of 1,060 miles, consuming 50 gallons per hour.  It has a take off run of 800 feet, an initial rate of climb of 800 feet per minute, and a service ceiling of 37,000 feet. They were armed with machine guns and bombs or rockets carried externally under each wing panel. 

United States Navy FM-2 Wildcat
Photo by Cliff West

 

The FM-2 Wildcat was a variant of the Grumman F4F, which was developed at the beginning of World War II and was first purchased by the British Royal Navy as the Martlet in 1940 before being purchased by the United States Navy as the Wildcat in 1941. Wildcats were also built under license by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, even after Grumman began producing the more powerful F6F Hellcat in 1943. With a length of 28 feet 9 inches and a wingspan of 38 feet, the F4F was powered by a 1,200-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830-76 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine with a 3-bladed constant speed propeller. It had a maximum speed of 331 miles per hour, a range of 845 miles, a service ceiling of 39,500 feet and a rate of climb of 2,300 feet per minute. They were armed with four or six .50” Browning machine guns and could also carry 2 100-pound bombs or 2 58-gallon drop tanks. The FM-2 variant was optimized for small-carrier operation, with a 1,350-horsepower Wright R-1820-56 radial engine and armed with four .50” Browning machine guns and wing racks to carry 2 250-pound bombs or six 5” rockets. Out of a total of 7,885 Wildcats built, 5,280 were FM variants built by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors. By the time the war ended in 1945, they were considered obsolete and were retired. 

Mt. St. Helens Ash Plumes & Eclipse in October 2004

Over several days in early October 2004, Mount Saint Helens released several plumes of steam and ash.

These pictures were taken from Rainier, Oregon, looking across the Columbia River.

While I was taking pictures of the ash plume, a car carrier came by heading down the Columbia River.

Texas Highway is a car carrier operated by K-Line. It was built in 2003.

On October 27-28, 2004, a total lunar eclipse occurred, giving the moon a slightly reddish hue.

Here are some pictures of another ash plume. I am not sure if this was still in October 2004, but it was definitely by May 2005. This might be March 8, 2005.

Below are some more pictures of an ash plume taken by my dad, Cliff West, sometime between October 2004 and May 2005. Judging from the trees it was during the winter. I am not sure if this is the same plume as above from March 8, 2005, but it might be.

Photo by Cliff West

Photo by Cliff West

Photo by Cliff West

Great Northern 2-8-2 Steam Locomotive #3059 in Railroad Park, Williston, North Dakota

In Railroad Park near the Amtrak depot in Williston, North Dakota, Great Northern O-1 Class 2-8-2 Mikado Steam Locomotive #3059 is on permanent display. When riding Amtrak's Empire Builder, it can be seen from the train, which is how these pictures were taken.

The Great Northern had a total of 145 O-1 Class 2-8-2 Mikados built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in four groups between August 1911 and February 1919, and the last of them were retired in April 1958.

Photo by Cliff West

Built in February 1913, #3059 was one of the last 15 in operation when it was retired in December 1957, and is the only survivor. It was donated to the City of Williston and placed on display in Railroad Park on August 2, 1958.