Welcome to Seattle's Log House Museum! This douglas-fir log structure built in 1904 shares the history of the Duwamish Peninsula from 1851... to yesterday.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

More Summer events!

July 23-24 - Alki Art Fair - SWSHS and the Log House Museum will be having a booth at the Alki Art Fair next weekend. Join us on Saturday at 2pm on the main stage for a vintage bathing suit fashion show!

August 14 - Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social! Stop by the museum and enjoy ice cream in our courtyard. Come on summer, I know you can do it!

September 24 - Museum Day - Join us in celebrating the Smithsonian's Museum Day. Register on their website for free admission to museums around the city on 9/24

October 22 - Save the date for our annual gala at Salty's

We have begun a new partnership with The National Trust. Show your membership card when making a purchase in the Log House Museum's gift shop and receive 10% off! If you are a member of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society that means a whopping 20% off for you!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Long overdue update

Poor Log House Museum blog, so neglected......

1) 4Culture funding is secure!!! Well for now. Thanks to everyone who contacted their legislators in regard to this. In celebration, Advocate4Culture will be throwing a party on June 28th at the Paramount. See you there! More info - follow this link

2) Log House Museum summer events - we've got a few. See our facebook page for more specifics:
June 25 - Alki Bike Tour
July 4 - Membership Picnic
July 9 - Hood Hunt, take 2
July 16 - Riverside walking tour - please rsvp, this is a popular one!
July 24-25 - Alki Art Fair, we will be there with a temporary exhibit on the history of the bathhouse and bathing suit fashion show. 2011 is the centennial celebration of Alki Beach
August 14 - Ice cream social

3) I am at the Washington Museum Association's conference this week in Walla Walla. It's great to hear about all of the exciting projects other museums around the state are taking on.




Saturday, May 21, 2011

The fight for 4Culture is not over!

NEW BILL TODAY! SB5961 needs your help ASAP!!!

There's a new bill for 4Culture, which actually sweetens the deal for the arts. This is a direct outcome of your advocacy. We are being rewarded in this next attempt to pass a coalition bill.

The new bill, SB 5961 is dropping in the Senate today. We all need to send two emails immediately. The special session ends on Wednesday, so this is one of our last chance efforts. Lists and text suggestions below.

1. An email to people who voted yes for SB 5958.
Subject: Thank you and Yes on SB 5961

"Dear Senator,

Thank you for voting yes on SB 5958. I was saddened by its failure, but I noticed and am grateful for your support. Please now vote yes on SB 5961, which will fund 4Culture, saving jobs and growing our economy.

Thank you again."

Copy these email addresses into the BCC field for the above message. These are the nice people that voted yes on SB 5958.


2. Send this email to Senators who didn't vote yes on SB 5958:

Subject: Vote YES on SB 5961!

"Dear Senator,

As a strong supporter of arts and heritage, I was hurt by the failure of SB 5958. I noticed you were not among the yes voters. With SB 5961, you have another chance to create jobs, grow our economy and keep our region competitive in the new economy. Failure to pass SB 5961 will kill jobs and stunt our area's economic growth.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Good News!! 4Culture and the Dix

1) 4Culture may not be done yet! 2 bills have been reintroduced that may save arts and heritage funding in King County. From Advocate4Culture's website:

Hey advocates we have a ton of crazy stuff going on in Olympia. We are very lucky to have two rockin' bills that will save 4Culture.

What can you do to be part of saving 4Culture?

1. ATTEND a public hearing this Tuesday, May 17th at 1:30 pm in support of the hot new SB 5958, sponsored by Senator Scott White. This hearing will be held in the Cherburg Building. If you need a ride, contact us.

2. CONTACT your Senator! Our old friend SSB 5834, is back in play and it's on the Senate floor. They've adjourned until 10 am Monday, May 16th, which gives you the whole weekend to let your Senator know"VOTE YES ON SSB 5834 and SB 5958!"

3. SPREAD the word to other arts and heritage advocates. Make sure they've contacted their senator too.

We're sooooo close to saving 4Culture, an amazing resource for the cultural community and citizens of King County. Please help!


2) The Steamer Dix recovered? That's the word on the street! Two different dive teams have been looking for the Dix wreck site over the past few months and it looks like someone found something down in Puget Sound.

SWSHS#2009.44.84

Using a five passenger submarine and a remotely operated vehicle, a team of local explorers has discovered a historic Mosquito Fleet Steamer in Elliott Bay near Alki Point that they believe is the SS Dix, which sank in 1906 and has not been seen since. After 104 years, the sinking of the Dix is still considered the worst maritime disaster in Puget Sound.

On November 18, 1906, the Dix was underway from Seattle to Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island with 77 passengers and crew when she struck the three-masted schooner Jeanie one mile west of Duwamish Head. The Dix sank within minutes with a loss of thirty-nine lives.

At the time of the collision, the Captain of the Dix was below decks, collecting fares and First Officer Charles Dennison was at the helm. Dennison failed to see the SS Jeanie, which had slowed to almost a full stop to allow the Dix to pass. Seconds before impact, Captain Philip Mason, aboard the Jeanie, blew his steam whistle and reversed his engines to prevent a collision. For unknown reasons, Dennison suddenly turned toward the Jeanie, and struck just below the bow of the much larger schooner.

The bowsprit of the Jeanie caught on the superstructure of the Dix and momentum heeled the small steamship over allowing water to pour into the hull. This flooding, in conjunction with the added thirty tons of ballast proved to be a deadly combination and the Dix sank quickly. The passengers on the upper decks were able to escape, but the thirty-nine passengers that were below decks went down with the ship and are possibly still entombed within the wreck.

Explorer and underwater videographer Laura James has searched for the location of the Dix for two decades. In early March, 2011, believing she had located the Dix, but lacking the resources to explore those extreme depths, she began collaborating with wreck diving author Scott Boyd, and OceanGate, a local submarine exploration company. Boyd and James first scanned the wreck using surface sonar from aboard Boyd's boat, Dive Bum, to confirm that it was likely to be a notable shipwreck and not another sunken barge.

OceanGate then provided a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with an experienced crew on Dive Bum and on March 19, 2011, the first video images of the wreck were recorded along with high-definition sonar. "The deep wreck is clearly a wood-hulled passenger steamer from the Mosquito Fleet era and is in a location consistent with the last sighting of the Dix," said James.

On April 14 and 15, OceanGate’s five person submarine Antipodes made three dives totaling 11 man-hours on the newly discovered wreck, which sits at a depth of 500 feet, about one mile north of Alki Point. "The photos, video, personal observations and sonar images captured during the hours spent on the wreck are all consistent with the vessel being the Dix," said Boyd. The pilothouse and much of the upper deck cabin is still in place, as is the propeller. The wreck is laying on its starboard side, pointed towards Port Blakely almost directly below the intersecting plots of the courses of the Jeanie and Dix.

Additional submarine dives are planned to gather more information and images to document the wreck using the latest 3D sonar technology. "It's a rare privilege to dive in a submarine to a depth where very few people have been," said Joel Perry, OceanGate's VP of Expeditions. "To visit a wreck that might be such an important piece of local history that nobody has seen before is an awesome experience."

The steamship Dix was built in 1904 by Crawford and Reid in Tacoma; displacing 130 tons and 102.5 feet long. She was mistakenly built too narrow, only 20.5 feet wide, which made her very unstable and caused her to roll uncomfortably. During initial vessel testing, she was discovered to also be top heavy and thirty tons of ballast were added to help keep her upright. The Seattle and Alki Transportation Company then put the Dix to work shuttling up to 150 passengers between downtown Seattle and Alki.

About OceanGate

OceanGate is an Everett based marine exploration company that owns and operates manned and unmanned submersibles. OceanGate’s mission is to open the oceans to those inspired by deep-sea discovery and help advance humanity's understanding of the marine environment. OceanGate expeditions support the work of marine researchers, filmmakers, historians, and other organizations devoted to exploring and protecting the world’s marine habitat and artifacts.

http://www.opentheoceans.com/dix.htm


Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Alki Hood Hunt


We have an event coming up in a couple of weeks. Thursday April 14th, the Log House Museum is organizing a Hood Hunt, a non-competitive neighborhood scavenger hunt. It is also the same night at the West Seattle Art Walk. So come out, meet some neighbors and learn some cool facts about your community!

The 'Hood Hunt #10: Alki

When: Thursday, April 14th. You can start whenever you want between 6:00pm and 7:00pm

Where: Log House Museum (3003 61st Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116)

Who: Anyone and everyone, invite your friends!

What: Map-based scavenger hunt: 20 checkpoints in half a square mile

Bring: There will be map & questions provided at the event, but you can always bring your own! (available on the Hood Hunt website 1-2 days beforehand)


No cost, no registration, no official results, no prizes, no complaints!


Friday, March 11, 2011

SWSHS and KOMO news, plus today's fav. photo find

1) Great news if you are hoping to see more of our photo collection online! We have recently begun working with komonews.com to add a historic photo column to their online West Seattle coverage. Every Friday check their website for a new post.

www.westseattle.komonews.com




2) Favorite Photo Find of the Day
This one is a little out of the ordinary for me. Maybe it brings back suppressed nostalgic memories of being forced to attend all of my brother's endless sporting events, but something about this picture really strikes me. Plus there is a bicycle!



Unidentified West Seattle football players at practice
2005.32.898, West Seattle Herald collection

Friday, February 25, 2011

Alki recreation

This is what I have been trying to tell people! From a July 11, 1971 newspaper article. Found in SWSHS's research files while looking for materials relating to the Southgate Roller Rink.