Name/Title
South Alki Spring Hill Villa MonographEntry/Object ID
1986.2.2Scope and Content
"South Alki Spring Hill Villa (2)" by David N. Lillevand. (L-118B)
Table of Contents included: "The Woods", Wild Flowers, Wild Berries, Fishing, Tides, Clams, Sea Plants, Firewood, Birds, Moon Stars, Snow, Weather, Pleasure Boats, The City, Transportation, Time, Seattle Tacoma Passenger Steamer Service, Transportation Kitsap County, Ferdinand Schmitz Family.
West Seattle vegetation, West Seattle wildlife
pages numbered consecutively from volume 1, starting at page 74--191.
page 74, Table of Contents
page 75-6 "The Woods" list of plants found in West Seattle c1907, mention of a "particularly devastating" forest fire "in the Fauntleroy area", Jacobsen Road only road through old-growth forest and dense uninhabited land except for 'the Junction' ("9th and California") [9th=SW Alaska St.] Story of when last 'old growth' tree was felled, it hit the only house in the area even though "experienced loggers were employed".
pages 77-80 "Wild Flowers" wild roses along "Alki Avenue dirt road, re-named 'Beach Drive'" poem by Margaret Krebs Lohr, wild strawberries, "one lane Chilberg Avenue running from Schmitz Estate to the little red school house", teachers encouraged collecting and pressing wild plants and sea plants.
page 80 "Wild Berries" various types of berries found in area, cooking with them, selling to "summer campers" for 15-20 cents/box, mention of "Indians occasionally deliberately set fires to nearby forest areas to encourage new growth", "animals" etc.
pages 81-7 "Fishing" Trout fishing in "Lincoln Beach Creek" which was "located a little south of Peavey's lumber mill where the Alki Avenue turned to go up past the old Kenny Home." Also, fishing in the little creek running out of Schmitz Park "a little above and across the street from the 'New' Alki grade school" the small lake with the island in the middle on the Schmitz Estate also had 12-18" trout stocked in it. types of fishing gear--lures, lines, bait--listed, p82. salmon fishing by trolling off "Duamish" head mentioned; David Lillevand mentions fishing on the afternoon he was scheduled to be a speaker at his West Seattle High School graduation in June, 1919; fishing around the pilings at Peavey's Lumber Mill also around dock of passener boats at Carrol Street terminus, p84 mentions good spot for sole and founder on "sandy bottom. . .not as far out as the 'steamer line' in the direction of about eleven o'clock from our [Lillevand] beach home; fishing with Disney Svensen and his Uncle Bjorn Svensen south of Blake Island in the kelp beds; p88-9 -- importance of tides in planning trips on the water; no published tide tables available in earyl 1900; spending stormy nights keeping waves and driftwood from destroying homes and bulkheads in front of homes during high-tides coupled with winter storms; p90 -- Svendsen's boat "Esther" and Schmitz's "San Souci II", painting, cleaning, hauling in for winter; p91-2 -- article from "Sunset Magazine", June 1975, entitled 'The steep tides of Puget sound reveal treasures' article includes full-page map of state parks and special beaches administered by the State for oysters and/or clams; p93 -- "unlimited availability of clams"; Ivar Haglund played basketball for Alki Congregation Church Sunday School; p94 -- large kelp bed south of Blake Island which is no longer there; shore covered in scrap lumber and wood from the lumber mills along the water used as firewood for cooking and heat; fir logs the best, cedar and hemlock not so good; pp99-104 -- bird life of Spring Hill area of Alki and Puget Sound birds--ducks, Artic terns, seagulls, quail, grouse, crows, cranes, sparrows, pp105-6 -- "Enetai" newspaper article about glaucous-winged gulls; p107 -- Haley's Comet viewed in South Alki area "in 1909"; p108 -- mention of "Miss Rice, 3rd/4th grades and Miss Messerly, 1st/2nd grades" as school teachers; p109 -- going to West Seattle High School through "The Woods" in the February, 1916, "Big Snow" only to find school closed; ice skating on "the pond in the swampy area crossed by elevated board walk located beyond the meadow north of the end of the Alki street card line used when walking to the 'new Alki grade school"; p110 -- how Mrs. Schmitz predicted when rain would come; p111 -- the Schmitz' yacht "San Souci II" and its World War One service as a Puget Sound patrol boat; Dietrich and Henry Schmitz were in US Navy in WWI; pp115-6 entitled "the City" concerning Pike Place Market, Peoner Square and Colman Dock. Pioneer Square had Alki and Fauntleroy street cars; Colman Dock area had docks for Mosquito Fleet and West Seattle Ferry docks; p116 David Lillevand had summer job in 1917 in the Maritime building near Colman Dock and in 1918 at Skinner & Eddy Shipbuilding Co. Other ship-building companies mentioned include Ames Shipbuilding Co., J.F. Duthie and Seattle North Pacific and Puget Sound Bridge & Dredge Co.; pp118-140 covers West Seattle transportation, mostly street cars and ferries; West Seattle street cars, West Seattle ferry service also early South Hill roads; 1903 Alki Avenue as one-lane dirt road; John Adams and J. M. Colman development of Fauntleroy street railway system; pp118-9 quotes from Leslie Blanchards history of 1907 Seattle railway system; p120, streetcar along Youngstown to Ferry landing and past Luna Park on raised trestles; p121 West Seattle bus service, Collin's Auto Transfer Co. under the name Ferry Line Auto Bus Company (some buses had 'port-hole' windows); pp121-133 contain excerpts from Blanchard's book "The Street Railway Era in Seattle: A Chronicle of Six Decades" including, 1896(p123), 1915(p124) and 1933(p125) maps of street car lines; pp134-7 West Seattle ferry service; p137 copies of West Seattle ferry schedule, swimming tickets for Luna Park Natatorium; p138, article "Bring back the Dinky" about bringing a West Seattle ferry back into service (written while drawbridge was reduced after ship hit it and damaged part of it, it was stuck open), article also covers what a trip to downtown entailed in 1919 whether via street-car or ferry; pp143-45 chapter entitled, "Transportation", ferry service from North Alki to Manchester on ferry boat "Crosline", ferry "Falcon" mentioned; p144 photocopy of 'the Buckeye' and 'The Falcon' . p146 is an essay entitled "Time" and mentions the Peavy Lumber Mill whistle blowing at 7 am, noon, 1pm and 5pm. The bell on the Schmitz portch also told everyone who heard it that one of the Schmitz family members was needed at home. The steamers 'Tacoma', 'Flyer', and 'Indianapolis' were also used to tell the time because of their invariable schedule. Inland Navigation Company (later Puget Sound navigation Co., then Blackball Line) operated the SS Indianapolis in 1906 until 1930. Steamer Sioux also made Tacoma-Seattle run; 'Flyer' service discontinued 1911; SS Tacoma replaced Sioux in 1913; 'Tacoma' last run was 15 December, 1930. Other steamers mentioned: SS Chippewa, SS Iriquois, SS HB Kennedy, stern wheeler 'Baily Gatsert'; p147 mentions the following boats: 'Sentinal', 'Defiance', 'Virginia' 2,3,4 and 5; p147 Puget Sound Electric Railway interurban service, Seattle-Tacoma, started in 1902, cost $1.00 round-trip, 0.50 one-way; pp149-52 contain newspaper articles [1986.002.0002.L through O] detailing SS Tacoma and SS Indianapolis of mosquito fleet and Seattle to Tacoma boat runs. pp153-56 show pictures of various mosquito fleet boats including: Flyer (another after its conversion to the Washington), H.B. Kennedy,
Virginia V (at dock with Camp Fire Girls for trip to Camp Sealth on Vashon Island), Chippewa, Sioux, Bailey Gatzert. p.156 has 1963 letter to the editor from Joshua Green, President of La Conner Trading & Transportation Co. and Puget Sound Navigation Co. concerning Colman Dock and early boats. p157, 1950s image of passengers on Washington State Ferry. p157.1-163 is a copy of a1957 article from "Ships & Sailing", by W.J. Granberg, about the ferries of Puget Sound. includes images of Chinook, Kalakala, Chippewa, interior of Colman Dock Ferry terminal c.1940s, Quinalt (ex-Redwood Empire), interior of Chinook's bridge, SS Flyer, table showing distances for 1957 Washington State Ferry routes, and a list of 1957 Washington State Ferries by name, year built, size, capacity, engine specifics; p164 quotes Chad Haight's September, 1981, article in "Enetai" entitled "The Islanders" [pp169-70 of this volume]about the many mosquito fleet docks and their left-over wooden piers found everywhere in lower Puget Sound. p167-8 contains 12 February, 1982 'Enetai' article on 100 year anniversary of Colman Dock. pages 171-92 contain various newspaper clippings of Schmitz family articles including Ferdinand Schmitz obituary, Emma Schmitz Hartman obituary, Emma Schmitz obituary, Henry Schmitz as University of Washington President, Dietrich Schmitz awarded First Citizen of Seattle 1955, Emma Schmitz Hartman at Alki Time Capsule burial, Dedication of Camp Fire Girls 'Camp Hartman'.Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
Copies: In SWSHS Library