Volunteers in attendance:

  1.   Mark opened a video from gotopacific.org (Transportation - link 30).  The video was made by historian Warren Wing.  It showed the Electric  Interurban Rail Line that passed through Pacific in the early part of the 20th century from Seattle to the Puyallup/Tacoma area.  It ran along the West Valley edge  of our town and then up the Jovita Canyon through Milton on downward to Fife and  Tacoma.  The introduction of cars and trucks iis what brought about its eventual demise.  It was powered by Lake Tapps water piped down the hill and  into a generating plant  which produced electricity  for a third rail of the line that fed an electric current to the motorcars.   Fences were installed at crossings to prevent humans and farm animals from electrocution by this strong power source.   

  2. Mark also found some Senior Center records contributed by Art Hollingsworth.    Ariel views of the city water tank on the West Hill above the city at the end of 3rd Ave. was among this collection.  It held  about 100,000 gallons of water pumped up from the valley and was managed by the Inter County Water Company headed by a local long  time citizen, Clint Steiger's  father.  Eventually, after it ran its lifespan it was torn down and replaced by a 750,000 gallon facility at the west end of County Line road which is still in use today.

   3. Jim brought an old newspaper article from 1966  showing  a map of the two proposed routes for State Route Highway 167 thought our part of the valley.  One was of the not used portion paralleling right along the  Burlington Northern rail line and dissecting our town in half.   This right away was not used as it would have done the same for the Boeing plants that were to become established eventually also in that path.  

   4. Core samples have been taken recently at our City Park to seek out contamination levels where the proposed new flood control levy will be constructed.  The park used to be the site of the old city trash depository for citizens to get rid of their garbage.  The land is still owned by the county but a lease with our city lets us use it now with the stipulation of continuous upkeep.  A levy that was originally constructed proved to be not enough to hold flood waters from the White River from overflowing due to decades long build ups of glacial sediment from the source at Mt. Rainier.

   5. Flood Control was begun long ago in the valley to control  the White and Green Rivers from running rampant during the winter overflow season.  Dredging, deforestation,  population growth, and farming were all factors in establishing the permanent channels that these waterways have today.  A strict limitation of dredging came about in the 1980s when the salmon that spawn our rivers were put on the endangered list.   It is used now only as a last resort for channels that threaten to overflow into populated developments.

   6. It was brought up that the White River Museum in Auburn has its archives open to the public on line.  Kate did a brief scan on her iPhone and found that steam riverboats were quite common ferrying people and goods from between cities and towns around the late 1800s.  

                      
Meeting was adjourned at 7:45pm.  The next one will be at 6:30pm, April 3rd., 2018