Histort Quest - Stuart Spur
History of Stuart:
Initially named the Carnation Spur, this important stop was later changed to the Stuart Spur in honor of Mr. Elbridge Amos Stuart, the founder of the Carnation Milk Company. The spur was established in the fall of 1911, with the opening of the 55 mile long Everett Line to freight service. A 525 foot long spur track, with the switch located at the east end, was placed here to serve the Carnation Stock Farm.
The spur was located at mile post 26.3, midway on the Milwaukee's Everett Line. The station known as "Stuart" was once an important shipping point on the Coast Division. Never quite attaining the status of a true "station" in the timetable schedule, this "commercial track" none-the-less provided its share of revenue for the company for several years. By 1913, a 4'x18' cattle chute was added onto the end of the freight platform and a cattle pen was built by the farm so that shipments of cattle could be unloaded. Mr. Elbridge Amos Stuart, became very interested in the merits of using purebred cattle for increased milk production and began buying such cattle wherever he could obtain them and then shipped them by rail to his farm.
A scow type ferry was built to operate on the river below the spur and some of the first purebred cattle received on the farm were shipped in on the Milwaukee railroad and ferried across the Snoqualmie River to establish the world famous Carnation herds.
By February, a switch was installed west of the spur, with the points and switch stand encroaching about 12 feet onto the east end of pile trestle bridge FF-876 and the Carnation Spur was connected up to it. This increased the length of the spur to 570 feet and made it a two-ended siding. The purpose was so that a milk car could be set off here, for loading, and then picked up by a westbound train later for delivery to the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company plant at Monroe, 15.3 miles west. This evaporated milk plant condensery was built along the Great Northern Railway in 1908 and was owned by the same interests as those who owned Carnation Farms. By 1914 the railroad was running a second milk car on the Everett Line from Duvall to Monroe, receiving about 125 cans per day at that point. By 1920 a private bridge was built across the river by the Carnation Farms, near the east switch of the spur, doing away with the old river ferry. In 1924, a timber incline and loading dock was constructed near the east end of the siding that allowed for farm trucks to drive up onto the elevated platform, back to the edge and dump their loads directly into gondola cars spotted alongside the structure.
By 1920 a private bridge was built across the river by the Carnation Farms, near the east switch of the spur, doing away with the old river ferry. In 1924, a timber incline and loading dock was constructed near the east end of the siding that allowed for farm trucks to drive up onto the elevated platform, back to the edge and dump their loads directly into gondola cars spotted alongside the structure.
Photo Below the private bridge over the river:
The entire spur was retired July 30, 1957 and the rails and switch material were piled up at the site, where they remained for 16 years until 1973, when the Everett branch beyond Snoqualmie Falls was abandoned and the rails pulled up two years later. Today, there are still railroad ties in the ground, near the east end, from the old spur, marking the Stuart site.
Photo below, the sign in the 1920's:
Photo below appears to have been taken in the 70's :
Please visit “Carnation Farm and Camp Korey” GC226DQ by Shaddow for the history of Carnation Farms.
History of this cache:
The Stuart Spur was originally placed by Akitahikers on 06-10-2012, She placed a lot of really great caches in the area, unfortunately most of them were archived in the spring of 2015. I am attempting to bring some of them back online for the community to once again enjoy. This cache is the original container and log, in it's original location. The original cache page was GC3NB9P. Most of the information about Stuart comes from Allen Miller a local historian.
The Cache:
You are looking for a small sized container, the hint will lead you right to it. When you depart the main train towards the river you will need to turn to the right at the bottom of the short hill. There is some brush that has overgrown the geotrail to the cache but it is still very much passable. It is also worth your time to explore the other fork of the trail, there to the left, just a few steps down it and you will be able to see pilings on both sides of the river from the private bridge that use to be there. The cache is available 24/7, but the closest parking (see additional waypoints) is open during daylight hours only and you need a discover pass.
Please know that if you found the original version of this cache you are welcome to go out and sign the log again, and then log your find on line as this is a new cache listing and new owner so technically it is considered to be a different cache.
congratulations goes to Jesandtodd for FTF of the reincarnated version of this cache!
 This cache was placed by a WSGA member. If you are a geocacher in the state of Washington, please consider joining Washington State Geocaching Association. See the WSGA website for details. |