It was the flood of 1996 that closed down this building, and here we go again! Just got the roof on, so the water decided to enter the building from the bottom side up.....photo below right is the high water mark. Really great new roof though. No moisture from above! A tide gate was blocked, a dike was breached, a record amount of rain fell in a very short time, and mid-town Skamokawa turned into Lake Skamokawa! A week later, and the lake has been reduced to several puddles, Grange members have begun removing water soaked articles, and fans have been installed in the building to encourage the drying-out process.
Photo left shows the inside level watermark of the 1996 flood.
Photo right shows the exterior and this flood's high water level.
(click on photos for enlarged views)
Photo left shows the level of the 2006 flood. These two pictures reveal the higher level of the 2006 flood.
Skamokawa Grange
Meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays, 7:30pm, at the
Skamokawa Grange Hall. We love guests. And we have really good
snacks. More info? skamokawagrange@yahoo.com
In November of 2005, Charles Parker wrote a letter to the Wahkiakum Eagle, asking anyone interested to attend a meeting in support of bringing back the Skamokawa Grange Hall. The turnout was enthusiastic, and typical for around here, practical. "The Grange already owns the building. Rather than raise an awful lot of money to buy it, and then have to start all over again raising money to restore it, why not just re-organize the Skamokawa Grange?" That bit being done quickly, we settled down to the nuts and bolts of where to start with our dilapidated building, and for many of us, finding out what the Grange is, and how to become a relevant part of it.
Skamokawans are an independant lot. The order of meetings was tweaked, the ritual streamlined, some office's titles updated. Visiting Grangers often comment on the changes, but the soul remains intact, The Grange is a fraternal organization, at its heart is fellowship and community service. (Photo: Left: Skamokawa Grange hosted a presentation to the community from Wahkiakum Port District 2)
So far, Skamokawa Grange has aided Dollars for Scholars, The Wahkiakum County Fair, held a benefit auction, a public forum on community pesticide spraying, and provided a venue for any local political candidate who wished to share their views and intentions.
And that was without heat or electricty to the building.
Well, the power is on now, and as we head into our second year, we look forward filling this Hall, with music and dances, forums and fundraisers, and anticipate having a pretty good time doing it!
Skamokawa Grange Meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays, 7:30pm, at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. We love guests. And we have really good snacks. (Photos, Left: Frank Webb and John Luthi realign dining area porch, Right, below: the roofers arrive!)
For the first time in 10 years, a Grange Meeting was held in the Skamokawa Grange Hall.. with President Karl Moody presiding. Instead of a "silver drill", we held a "diesel drill" to keep the heat on for the duration on the meeting. For lights, John Luthi brought along a portable generator, and as long as the gasoline held out, we had lights.
We celebrated the success of the first community use of the Grange Hall, with the auction for Treasure Collupy. The two and a half hour event brought in just over $2000, with an extra $50 or so donated by participants for the restoration of the hall. A hearty thank you! to everyone who donated auction items and a huge thanks to the bidders!
New members took the obligations: Left to right: President Karl Moody, Assistant Steward Bill Chamberlain, new members: Bill and Linda Mahitka and Carrie Kennedy and Lady Assistant Steward Kay Chamberlain.
Skamokawa Grange meetings are held on 2nd and 4th Monday nights at 7:30, now at the Skamokawa Grange Hall, 18 Fairgrounds Road. Bring your selves and your ideas for restoring this great community asset!
was held on Sunday, March 19th. The roof was repaired, sod removed and replaced with gravel at the building entrance, worn and stained ceiling tiles were removed, lighting fixtures were cleaned and bulbs replaced, tables were assembled and decorated to hold the many donations received for the Treasure Collupy auction.
Linda Mahitka puts a shine on the new porch posts!
On a sunny day in March, 2006. The hall has sat unused, since late 1996. Roof is straight, and the siding is mostly good. The ell to the left suffers from water infiltration, in the area where it is joined to the main building and along some of the sill plates.
Replacing the porch posts will be one of our first jobs. Although there has been some sagging, the building rests on 2x12 joists in really good shape.
Downspouts to nowhere....
We will be holding another work party soon. Come along to a meeting. They are held 2nd and 4th Mondays at 7:30pm, currently at the Methodist Church in Skamokawa. Meet some old-hand Grangers and some really new ones, and share some really good treats!
The hall's old stage curtain is in great condition, It displays the names and phone numbers of local businesses from decades ago. Many names are familiar in the community today. The mountain scene is a detail from the center of the curtain.
The technology committee is happy to report significant progress--we have developed and implemented four web sites--one for each of the community granges and one for the pomona grange. These web sites supply a dynamic interface allowing all grange members to post information on any topic and for multiple grange members to post additional responses or information.
To date, Krist Novoselic has been busy posting information at the Grays River Grange web site, and Kathleen Morgain has been posting minutes at the Skamokawa Grange site. All grange members are welcome to add information, as well as post new information at the relevant web sites!
In addition, to further the efforts to expand access to Internet technologies for Grange members, we've begun building computers out of old used spare parts and training Grange members on how to use the computer to connect to the Internet, check email, and browse web sites. John Luthi, of the Skamokawa Grange, was the first recipient of such a computer and training, and followup technical assistance has been arranged with a neighborhood "computer genius-in-training".
The Skamokawa Grange will be using this website to keep track of what we're all up to. You can expect to find minutes, reports from officers and committee chairpersons, announcements of meetings and events, and who knows what else!
Thanks for visiting. Please bookmark our site and come back soon to see what's new.
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