The timbers for this project have a story of their own. According to our local historian Isabel Jones, the trees were planted on what is now called ‘Evacuation Hill’, from a bundle of seedlings leftover from replanting the local forests after logging, which the workers didn’t feel like going out to plant, so they planted there. That would have been a long time ago, because these were big trees!
Early in this project we had hoped to use some of the trees from the Tolt River ‘log jam’, now a legend in our area, after the flood of January 2009. As the project got delayed we soon realized this was not an option. But along the way our new city manager Ken Carter realized that those seedlings which had grown into huge trees had been categorized as ‘hazard trees’ because of their proximity to houses and a disease which was weakening them. We went out and checked them and they looked like good sound trees with plenty of timber for the project. They were primarily Douglas fir trees, which are excellent strong woods for construction, with just enough cedar trees to make our sheathing materials for the roof and utility structure.
Sno Valley Logging came and took the trees out in the winter of 2010/11, and delivered them to Isaacson’s Sawmill, a small, one-man operation located on the Redmond/ Fall City Road. Many people commented on the beautiful timber being milled and stored there.
We had anticipated breaking ground in Spring 2011, so it was a great courtesy for Isaacson’s to store our large load to cure there until now. Jon Romanelli, our contractor is thrilled with the quality of the wood, it is hard to get access to this high grade of material, and he is confident we have plenty of Douglas fir and red cedar wood to complete this project.