Mountaineer Annual, March 1979 Idona L. Kellogg

Meany Ski Hut Celebrates Fifty Years

Fifty years ago a dream came true-Meany Ski Hut was a reality! On Armstice Day, 1 928, Dr. Edmond S. Meany stood with 100 Mountaineers and guests to dedicate a 2-story shelter that had been built by weekend volunteers in two months of back-breaking labor.

To build the hut, club members became carpenters, masons, and pack-horses hauling supplies by hand uphill 300 yards from the Northern Pacific Railroad at Martin to the Meany site. In addition to erecting a 20 x 50’ 2-story frame building large enough for 50 people, they made tables and benches, brought in bed springs, mattresses, and other furniture, and even managed to pull a kitchen range weighing 1,700 pounds up the mountain with block and tackle.

Dr. Meany, beloved president of The Mountaineers from 1908 to 1935 and a University of Washington Professor, had purchased for $125 and donated fifty-four acres of the NPRR 1886 construction campsite known as Tunnel City. From 1886-1888, Tunnel City had housed at least 200 construction workers building the two-mile long Stampede Pass Train Tunnel and temporary switchbacks. By 1928, all that existed of Tunnel City and its workshops, warehouses, hospital, restaurant, and saloon was a station house labeled “Martin” and a few employees’ cottages. (In the summer of 1964 NPRR destroyed all of its buildings at Martin.)

For several years prior to 1928, Mountaineers on special outings to Stampede Pass had been impressed by the open areas around the present weather station, the power line hill, and the magnificent open timber of Meany Hill. This favorable terrain and the accessibility by train so inspired these explorers that they talked the Mountaineer Board of Trustees into approving “a plain ski shelter without luxurious embellishments” and $1,700 was appropriated for construction. Many materials and supplies for the hut were donated.

Meany Hut still stands a stone’s throw from the eastern portal of the Stampede Train Tunnel, on the eastern slope of the Cascades, in the heart of acres of enchantment, almost 3,000 feet above the sea. But how Meany has changed in these last fifty years!-And this is because Meany has been blessed with a steady flow of dedicated volunteers ready to labor mightily.

Skiable areas have been created and two rope tows constructed along with a shelter for rope tow machinery which has been rebuilt several times. A 25x30’ 3-story addition to the Ski Hut went up in 1939 and the hut capacity was increased again in 1971. Fire escapes were added to both east and west ends of the hut and the drying room was enlarged and floored with concrete. Numerous other smaller building projects took shape.

Maintaining the equipment has taken an enormous number of volunteer hours. The Bombardier Sno Tractor used to haul skiers from Stampede Overpass to Meany since the trains stopped service in 1960 has needed careful attention as it is Meany’s lifeline. The Cat Trail and bridge over Stampede Creek have been rebuilt several times after sections were washed out by flooding. Meany’s newest crew member, a Thiokol Spryte Sno-cat which now packs Meany’s lower slopes, takes hours of service time.

The following is un unbelievable example of the extreme effort and efficiency of Meany Volunteers. The connecting rod broke through the block of the Bombardier sno-cat on a Sunday evening trip out in 1976. The motor was rebuilt and the Cat running in three days.

Possibly the most arduous task of all was clearing the ski areas. Art Winder, long-time Mountaineer and early visitor to Meany, describes one standout pioneer Meany character and workparty in this way. “William B. Maxwell could cajole almost anyone into a long, sweaty, blistering cutting brush day or cutting stumps down to skiable size, or leveling or filling slopes. If the work lagged from frustration or exhaustion he would plead for ‘just two more hours and we’ll have it done’ and full activity would resume. Of course he’d be out the next day doing the same thing.”

That’s what it has taken to bring Meany through 50 highly successful years!!!

Gigantic Birthday Party - Sept 23-24, 1978

On September 23-24, 1978 eight of the original Meany crew and 450 other Mountaineers and guests invaded Meany for a gigantic birthday party to cheer Meany into its next fifty years. The eight early Meanyites were: Gus Hudson, Harriet Taylor Tiedt, Opal Maxwell, Andy and Kay Anderson, Herb and Eugenia Strandberg, and Fred Ball. Highlights of the weekend were the Sunday dedication program and the huge salmon dinner.

Bob Cram masterfully and humorously emceed the dedication program. Royce and Rhea Natoli organized the program agenda, contacted the participants, and arranged for this variety show. Virginia Reid did a tremendous job as overall chairperson for the entire birthday weekend. Patti Polinsky took charge of the elaborate, perfectly-prepared, and very efficiently served salmon dinner.

Wanda Van DeVanter, who supervised registration, reported that Dawn Steere, former Meany woman patrol racer in the 1930’s, now living in Orange, California, and Nancy and Trevor Dick and family from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, probably came from farthest away.

Other facets of the Birthday Weekend were just as outstanding as the Sunday program and Salmon Feed. There were the tours of Meany grounds and ski runs; Coleman Leuthy’s mushroom identification treks and lengthy labeled mushroom displays, films of Meany action shown by Bob Bentler, Doug Damm, and Roger Thayer; album and picture exhibits; a Campfire Songfest led by Nancy Adams; folk dancing organized by Arne Svensson with live music by Art Nation and Richard Svensson, and a misty Sunday morning outdoor worship service led by Cadett Barnes.

And now more about that Salmon Dinner which was a lavish Indian-style feast. 174 pounds of fish fillets, turned into delicious outdoor barbecued salmon, were served with herbed brown rice, marinated minted peas, cornbread and honey, coleslaw, and vegetable nibbles with edible apple swans. A huge birthday cake was the dessert. Unbelievably, the entire crowd was fed within 45 minutes.

The enormous birthday cake created by Idona Kellogg caused “oohs” and “ahs” as onlookers read the many signs posted near each miniature scene on the cake. The cake was meant to be a visual presentation of Meany history with the ski runs, rope tows, Hut, railroad tracks, all cut out of cake or built with small ceramics and figurines. Thirty-five one pound cake mixes were used to make the monstrous cake.

Even the weather cooperated! What started as a weeping misty weekend turned dry and smiling by the time the salmon was ready to serve, although large tents had been put up just in case.

For the Sunday Birthday Ceremony, Bob Cram, old-time Meanyite and well-known cartoonist and television personality, hosted a lively hour of laughter and nostalgia as he interviewed past Hut Chairmen about “interesting” events that occurred during their reign.

Fred Ball, an energetic 81-year-old and the 1932 Hut Chairman, entertained the group by singing “Wild Bill Maxwell,” a tale written by Art Winder in the 1930’s about one of the best-loved and most colorful of Meany’s early skiers. Much credit was given to “Max” for organizing the backbreaking labor necessary for building the Hut and clearing the lane. Maxwell’s widow, Opal, proudly beamed in the audience as “Max’s” story was told in song.

1948 Hut Chairman, Malcolm Post, keenly recollected the early-day preparations for the winter - getting in the coal and the gas drums. He jokingly said, “Between a crew of girls moving the coal and another crew upon the hill cutting logs and the fellows pointing out where the logs should be put, we did pretty well.”

Bob Gram’s imitation of “Charlie’s” jungle noises in the men’s dorm had the crowd roaring. As Cram said, “He had no rhythm to his snoring.”

Hut Chairman of 1955-56, Dick Merritt, with his “monologue”, humorously gave his impressions of some of the “people problems” found at Meany. What was going to happen if “juniors” took over the Lodge?

Bill Brockman, 1953 Hut Chairman, told of some of the technical problems of getting highly-esteemed, over-weight “Nashie,” the cook, up the hill each weekend. She prepared the meals at Meany for twenty nine years, from 1935 to 1964. Peggy Grass has been our ingenious cook for the last eleven years.

“Times were really gloomy at Meany in early 1960,” Doug Damm, Hut Chairman at that time, recounted. “The trains stopped in March, 1960 and the rest of that season supplies had to be hand-carried all the way from the highway.” Doug hilariously told the story of a test run behind Tom Van DeVanter’s station wagon to determine how people would react to being towed in by the Cat on ropes. Apparently after a speedy start, a little panic, and a frantic call to “STOP,” Tom applied the brakes and the skiers all plowed into his open tailgate.

Bob Cram said this of Walter Little, who has skied Meany for forty of its fifty years: “ Walt was a pioneer in ski technique. Anything that was crazy Walt had already tried.” Besides his many technical contributions Walt concocted many of the names around Meany Hill like “Psychopath” and “Lower Slobbovia”. Walt, with his keen intellect, has helped create the friendly and witty Meany atmosphere.

Mountaineers President Jim Sanford, after giving some warm welcoming remarks, had his turn at story-telling as he introduced present Hut Chairman, Ray Nelson. Ray has served for twelve years.

Many others contributed to the program. Art Nation fiddled as dancers spun out the nine-pin reel. Steve Stout sang “In the Mountains,” a song he’d just written. The “Impoverished Players” portrayed by three skits 1) the Erection of Meany Hut, 2) Life at the present day Hut, and 3) Meany of the year 2023, with skiers arriving by airbus and being served by a robot.

The technical details were carried out with incredible smoothness. There was not a traffic problem anywhere in spite of the number of cars maneuvering those narrow mountain roads. Camping, fire, water, garbage, and sewer facilities had been carefully planned for. Even the problem of getting the heavy dining room tables from inside the lodge to the grounds took ingenuity. A stage was built and straw bales brought in. Much work was done to prepare the lodge and immediate grounds.

The Birthday Weekend was another prime example of what can be accomplished by dedicated, hard-working, and determined volunteers. May that caliber of volunteer be with Meany for the next fifty years!