DOC MAYNARD, OPIUM, AND SEATTLE HISTORY

Seattle was founded by the Denny, Boren, Bell, Terry, and Low families. Non drinkers, conservative, rather austere folks. But they got a toehold on the beach where virgin forest met the sound. And they started a community that reflected their conservative values. The year was 1851.

Little did they know their vision would come unhinged a year later when David Swinson Maynard arrived to become the town doctor. Doc Maynard. A practiced Alcoholic who dispensed opium medicinals like they were candy. He started Seattle's first bar and first brothel. Along with the first store, restaurant, Hospital, and first Hotel.

Promoter, entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer, justice of the peace and Indian agent. Doc wore many hats, but all of the oriented to helping Seattle become, well, Seattle. One of his early suggestions? Changing the name of the settlement from "Duwamps" to “Seattle”. No kidding.

Doc’s accomplishments were given short shrift owing to the fact that being older, he died earlier than the other founders and the other founders didn’t much care for him. Doc’s more prominent place in history was primarily argued by Bill Speidel, creator of Seattle’s underground tour. While Speidel died back in the late 80’s, his company, and sense of humor, continue to flourish.

Shortly after arriving in what is now Seattle, Doc was asked to attend to an ailing Arthur Denny. Doc’s standard treatment involved a liquid that was primarily alcohol laced with opium. It was uplifting and eased pain. While undergoing treatment, Doc ‘suggested’ to Denny that he was thinking about opening a store and did Denny know of a suitable place.

Denny, feeling no pain, effectively gave Doc much of downtown Seattle while under the influence. Doc proceeded to subdivide the property he was given but he included a stipulation in the contract that a ‘substantial’ building needed to be erected on the property within 3 months. He did this to avoid land speculation and to jump start the city. He set himself up as the sole judge on whether or not the structure met the definition of ‘substantial’ and as a result resold some of the same properties several times.

Doc also conned the congress into carving out Washington territory from the Oregon territory. With the population of what is now Washington numbering some 4,000, the vast majority of whom lived on the north shore of the Columbia, that was no small task. Puget sound had some 200 people total and they very much wanted out of Oregon territory. Most of the rest of the population lived on the Columbia and couldn't care less. Doc got it done by convening a meeting of ‘delegates’ who represented themselves and little else.

The battle between the Denny group and Doc remains with us today. Boren, Denny and Bell wanted their streets to parallel the shore line, but Doc was adamant on a North / South orientation. They argued but could not come to terms. When they arrived at the courthouse, Doc was quite hung over, and we live with the disagreement today. Yesler Way forms the dividing line between the two claims. Note how the streets come together. The rest of King County is laid out as Doc wanted – but not the area between Seattle Center and Pioneer Square.

Doc’s death was one of the best attended funerals in Seattle history. As one of his contemporaries said during the service,

"Without him, Seattle will not be the same.
Without him, Seattle would not have been the same.
Indeed, without him, Seattle might not be."

After more than a week of fog with very little wind, the weather pattern finally broke and we had a fresh northerly for much of the day.  The wind howled and it brought out the folks who live for such an event!

the seal was interested in what was going on

Note the seal in the foreground watching the action

The day concluded with a nice sunset

BLACKFISH

Blackfish is a documentary on captive Orcas.

As a kid I remember NAMU the killer whale, one of the first Killer Whales to be captured. I remember the procession going right in front of the cabin, the killer whale in a pen slowly being towed to Seattle.

Later some acquaintances and old Clara Tarte were to play roles in the movie "NAMU", filmed about 2 miles from the cabin (Dad flew low over the film site, we think he may have interrupted the filming).

As kids we also visited Sea World and watched the whales perform. Years ago, Lexy, the daughter of a friend, sat on one during a Sea World performance. Thrilling stuff. But as the movie points out, there’s a back story. An unpleasant, disturbing back story.

The movie highlights the death of Dawn Brancheau, a Sea World trainer, when she was killed and partially consumed by the ‘trained’ Orca Tillicum. A whale implicated in other trainer deaths.

During the movie, several former trainers were interviewed and it was apparent there have been scores of documented whale/trainer mishaps but trainers were generally told they were 'trainer error'. When films of some of these accidents were replayed it was clear that some were not trainer error. 

They were the logical outcome of being with a powerful wild animal weighing several tons in a confined space.

The movie went on to chronicle a number of biologists and ex trainers noting the disturbing behavior and health of trained whales. As well as the disinformation Sea World is providing (example: Sea World claims that captive Orcas live longer than wild Orcas, which is, charitably speaking, a falsehood. In the wild they live far longer).

The filmed also showed a couple of examples of baby Orca’s being separated from their Mothers, and their mother’s reaction. The mothers were clearly traumatized.

While Sea World has done some good in other areas, clearly the issue of Orcas puts a business model in direct conflict with the welfare of the animal. There are two sides to a business model and it’s our choice whether to contribute to it or not. 

Two quick snippets: First, what I didn’t know as a kid was that when NAMU was being moved, he ‘screamed’ (my words), or ‘vocalized’ (more neutral wording) and soon there were, by one count, 150 whales surrounding the entourage. According to witnesses, they charged the pen he was being moved in but would veer away before striking it. After a while, only 3 whales remained. Biologists surmise they were Namu’s mother and siblings. They followed the procession for the next 150 miles.

The other snippet had to with a south sound sailing trip. Ralph Munro, then an assistant to Governor Dan Evans, was sailing with his wife in 1976 around Olympia. Quite by happenstance they witnessed one of Sea World’s Killer Whale round ups – involving speed boats, under water explosions, and air planes. What they witnessed was brutal.

Upon returning to his office he informed his boss. Both were outraged and in a position to act. Munro, Governor Evans and then Attorney General Slade Gorton, (Republicans all!) successfully sued Sea World to never again capture Killer Whales in Washington state.

The hunt Munro witnessed was the last one in Washington State (Sea World now captures them over in Finland and other countries). But by then, much of the damage was done. 68 Southern and Northern Resident Orcas had been killed or captured.

After watching the movie and researching on line, it’s clear that Sea World’s business model goals trumps concerns about the whales, and more disturbingly, trumps concerns about trainer safety. OSHA had to sue (which they did so successfully) to prevent trainers from being in the water with the Whales (Sea World fought that vigorously).

I am not an animal rights activist. I eat meat and while think cows and pigs should be treated humanely, but that includes meeting their demise (as humanely as possible) – so long as I can get my beef and bacon. I don’t have a problem with my position in the food chain (I give the Orca and Grizzlies a wide berth. I haven’t seen a cougar in the wild). I don’t think we should keep large mammals, and that includes both the Orca and Elephants, in captivity.

There are plenty of other ways to bring kids to an outdoor experience or bring the outdoor experience to a kid. In order (my order), they are:

1. Watching Orca’s from shore
2. Watching Orcas from a boat
3. Watching whales on a high def TV – any number of National Geographic films
4. Going on a whale watching excursion (which is my bottom choice as it’s only one step removed from harassment and funds an industry that is ever present around the whales).

I would not visit one in captivity. There, I’ve stated my position. Watch ‘Blackfish’.

THE HIGH AND THE HALLOWED

Went to a pretty amazing movie last night. “The High and the Hallowed”. Hosted by Eddie Bauer, the movie highlighted the 1963 American Mt Everest expedition. The expedition was outfitted nearly head to toe by Eddie Bauer.

Arguably the movie tried to tell too many stories, but the central plot was the tension and division within the group as they grappled with competing goals.

The team leader, Norman Dyhrenfurth, had spent 3 years raising money and organizing the expedition. At that point in time, Hillary and Sherpa Tenzig, and later both a Swiss and Chinese team had all been to the summit. No American had yet to summit Everest.

While the goal was to summit, Dyhrenfurth had to balance scarce resources between two factions within his team. To make matters worse, after only a couple of days on the mountain, one of their team, 27 year old Jake Breitenbach, was killed in the ice flow just above base camp. That event changed the tenor and tone of the effort. It became serious, the memory still visibly painful as the men recounted the event from half a century ago.

As described by all the participants 'the team' became two teams competing for time, Sherpa support and a fixed number of oxygen bottles. Dyhrenfurth was faced with choosing to support summiting the mountain via a higher percentage known route or pioneering a new, far riskier gambit.

Essentially the choice was 'first American or first ever'.

The southern col route was the more known route, but very little was known about the far riskier west ridge. During one of their reconnaissance climbs, the ‘west ridgers’ eyed a possible route and were optimistic as they returned to base camp. Only to find that in their absence a decision had been reached to put full support behind the south col route. Friction grew.

Whittaker and Sherpa Gombu were chosen to climb the south col route and they successfully summited on May 1st, 1963. I have been fortunate enough to hear Jim Whittaker describe the summit effort several times in the first person, on film, and I’ve read a couple of accounts in books. The tale never ceases to amaze me. When they descended, the green light was given to west ridge effort.

What transpired next was one of the greatest mountaineering feats of all time. To put things in perspective, and with benefit of 50 years hindsight, some 6000 successful summits of Everest have been made, most via the south col route. Roughly 300 have died trying. In those 50 years there have been only 14 summits via the west ridge. 16 have died trying that route. Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld set out up the unclimbed west ridge.

The plan was for them to go up the west ridge and meet on the summit with two other climbers (Lute Jerstadt and Barry Bishop) who would climb the now 'standard' route. The plan was to descend together.

Both sides struggled. On the eve prior to the summit a fierce storm demolished Hornbein and Unsoelds tent. On the other side of the mountain Bishop and Jerstad had a fire sparked by their stove. Things went downhill with 60 mph winds.

The film is chilling, replaying the radio transmissions from base camp. By this time Unsoeld and Hornbein were technical rock climbing the near vertical face just below the summit and Whittaker is heard advising them to leave themselves an out should they need to reverse course. Fully committed, Hornbein is heard saying they can’t come down. "There are no rappel points, Jim". It was up and over. Do or die.

Jerstad and Bishop reached the summit first from the south side route. They waited, but with time and oxygen running out, they started to descend. The wind was still howling and the wind chill was some 80 degrees below zero. A few hours later Unsoeld and Hornbein made the first successful summit from the west ridge, then headed down the south side in the footsteps of Jerstad and Bishop. It was getting late and they were behind schedule.

Hearing voices above them, Bishop and Jerstad stopped, waiting for the other two climbers. They desperately tried to stay warm while they waited in the growing darkness. None of the 4 climbers had a sleeping bag or tent. Finally reunited, the 4 set out in the darkness but just after midnight they had to stop. At roughly 28,000 feet they huddled and waited for the sun to come up.

Then, a curious thing happened. There are perhaps 5 or 10 days a year when its not blowing on the mountain but on that night the wind quieted down. Dave Hahn has said that even a mild wind would have lowered the wind chill enough to kill all 4, but on that night no wind meant survival. On that date and for years later it remained the highest bivouac ever done.

Then, as the sun rose, they continued down. They had made it.

Bishop would lose all 10 toes from frostbite and Unsoeld would lose 9. Both were carried off the mountain.

Willi Unsoeld died in an avalanche on Mt rainier in 1979.

Barry Bishop died in a car accident in 1994. His son was on the Eddie Bauer sponsored trip last year.

Lute Jerstad died of a heart attack in 1998 while hiking with his grandson in Nepal.

Nawang Gombu, the Sherpa who summited with Whittaker, died in 2011.

Of the summiteers from 50 years ago, only Whittaker and Hornbein remain alive.

Hornbein would later focus on his medical practice and he and dad knew each other being Seattle based doctors. They weren’t close, but had a nodding acquaintance.

Jim Whittaker and his wife Diane witnessed my teams successful dead stick docking of Cambria after our transmission failed during the summer of 2011 coming into the Friday Harbor slip. He was kind enough to pose with Devin and his buddies.

At the end of the movie there were interviews with several notable climbers who commented on the importance of that 1963 expedition. Arguably none more famous than Reinhold Messner and Ed Viesturs.

HOW TO LOSE A COIN TOSS AND ENSURE A LEGACY

In a previous post, I found out why folks moved to Ohio in the first place (free land), but Ballard may have an equally inglorious past.

As it turns out, much of what is now Ballard was owned by a partnership consisting of Thomas Burke (Burke Museum and half the name sake of the Burke-Gilman Trail), John Leary (Leary Way), Daniel Gilman (the other half of the Burke-Gilman trail) plus a fourth partner.

Together they ran a railroad line (now the Burke-Gilman Trail) and developed a portion of the land. In 1887, they dissolved the partnership, but no one wanted the ‘undesirable’ 160 acre tract of land adjacent to Salmon Bay.

So they flipped coins to figure out who would end up with what is now Ballard. The 4th partner was the loser, and Burke, Leary, and Gilman could walk away from that undesirable tract. And who was that 4th partner?

Captain William Rankin Ballard

FOCUS ON FUNGI

This morning the focus was on fungi photos.

Mom and I took a walk and it was almost eerie. Once you start looking for mushrooms, they’re all over the place. So armed with nothing more than a cell phone camera, here’s what we found.

It is sort of fun to look at what is common place and look at it from a different angle.

Fun weekend.