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Mount Baker Club
P.O. Box 73
Bellingham, WA
98227




Mount Baker Club -
the founding fathers of the Ski to Sea Race
 
 
 
 100 Years - A Centennial Celebration
   
Centennial News is updated each month - Leading to 2011
 1952 Photo Venton E. Groot & J.J. "Count" Dolan
October 4, 2007 - Dated September 25, 1952, this photo shows Vinton E. Groot, and J.J. "Count" Dolan, very active members of the club.  Not sure, but I think the photo was taken locally, in one of those years' super-early snows.  They are standing on a snowpile, up at Mt. Baker way, I believe, in Glacier.
They were long time members, and pillars of the Club in those days.  Count was retired in his early 70's, and Vint was still barbering at his shop in downtown Bellingham---as I recall it was near "Frank's Place" on Railroad, perhaps the space now occupied by "Tommy the Tailer" Click Here for Full Photo>>>
Super friends and hiking companions from a kid on up...

---Earl Ciley, Club member since 1947 
Email Earl at: earl.cilley@stanford.edu
Next Centennial News: Winter, 2007  
 Mount Baker Club Names Twin Falls
June 2007 - Twin Falls--named by the Mt. Baker Club committee, after the opening of the Glacier-Mt. Baker Trail;, 500 ft.  drop (estimated). On Lookout Creek, dividing into two distinct falls, as if one were not beauty enough, the trail passing close in to the foot of them.  Courtesy of Whatcom Museum of History & Art
 1911 ASCENT OF MT. BAKER IS HERCULANEAN TASK
May 2007 - Read the typed account by Charles Easton taken from Bellingham Daily Herald, August 6, 1911 regarding Mount Baker Marathon race planning that year.

Well Known Local Authority Points Out Dangers and Trials of Journey When Made in Attempt to Cut Down Time Limit -- Like Climbing Flight of Stairs Two Miles in Height. More >>>
 1916 Club Proposes Mt. Baker National Park
April 2007 - Do you know who was a member of the Mount Baker Club in 1928?  Well, maybe you have a friend of a friend who was with us in 1928.  The roster is one image, it make take 1 minute to load on your computer.  If you want to print it, it's easier as one page.

The Mt. Baker Scrapbook was compiled by Charles F. Easton, club member and historian of the Mount Baker Club and his wife Ada Hamilton Easton. In 1916, Charles Easton took this scrapbook to Washington D.C. to lobby for the bill to establish the Mount Baker National Park in the State of Washington. The proposed legislation died of neglect with the advent of United States entry into the First World War.

Membership Roster Courtesy of Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Click Here to see the 1928 Roster.  It make take 1 minute to load.

1928 Membership Roster

Charles F. Easton
Click Here for Full Story on Charles F. Easton
Image Courtesy of
Whatcom Museum of History & Art

October 14, 1932
Club Meeting Minutes -
George Hipkoe, editor of the Rambler, reported that Vol. 1 of the bulletin was now ready to be bound.  It was moved by Harrison McAdams, seconded by Mary Hibner, that this volume be dedicated to the late Charles F. Easton, and that a copy be placed in the Public Library in addition to the official club copy.  The motion was unanimously passed.
Mt. Baker Scrapbook
Click Here for Full Story at Whatcom Museum
"Mt. Baker — Its Trails and Legends: A Chronology of the Discovery, Exploration, Improvement, Study and Development of the Great Koma Kulshan of the Lummis" is a scrapbook album, composed of materials dated between 1868-1941. It is a large format scrapbook with 261 (19 x 24") pages of hand drawn maps, black & white and hand tinted photographs, watercolor paintings, pen and ink line drawings, illustrations, text and index. The information chronicles early ascents and expeditions, the Mt. Baker Marathon, eruptions, and forest rangers of the district. Illustrations document pristine views, specific outings, wild life, glaciers, ice caves, lakes, trees, and mountains of the area. The scrapbook contains historic, scientific, botanical, geologic and other information about the mountain
 
 1911 & 1966 - The Birth of the Ski to Sea Race
March 2007- The Mount Baker Club initiated the Mount Baker Marathon Race in 1911.  It was reincarnated in the 1970's as the Ski to Sea Race.  Read how the Ski to Sea Race developed out of a letter to the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce on December 12, 1966.

As Fred Elsethagen put it: "Here's one to throw in the hopper and see if it pops!"  <Click Here for 1966 Letter>


1911 Mount Baker Marathon Photos
Top-Hugh Diehl in automobile in 1911
Middle-North & South Routes to Mt. Baker
Bottom-Joe Galbraith running in woods.


 
1st Centennial Celebration a Success at Museum

Day Dedicated to Gary Haufle
Led Effort to Restore Winchester Lookout

February 2007 - View archived photos of Winchester Lookout Restoration in 1982, by Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.
Click Here for 1982 Winchester Lookout Restoration Photos
A large crowd estimated between seventy and eighty attended the February 11th presentation of the Mount Baker Club at the Whatcom Museum.  This was the first Centennial Celebration event for the club.  Chris Engelhardt, President, dedicated the day to Gary Haufle, who led the effort to restore the Winchester Lookout.  Gary suddenly passed away last November.  He had been planning to be at the event.  The presentation focused on club history, and how the club helped to establish some of Whatcom County's most treasured and scenic areas.

The club will be holding community events over the next four years, to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the club and the Mount Baker Marathon.  Come back for more stories about how the club was formed, and why the Mount Baker Marathon was considered the biggest race on the west coast. 
 
HISTORY
  • MOUNT BAKER CLUB DEEDS HISTORICAL PAPERS TO WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Archived Photos
  • Ski to Sea Race started with the Mount Baker Marathon in 1911 Sponsored by the Mount Baker Club - Bellingham Herald Article
  • Earl joined the club in the 1940's and is still a member today. - Read his story
Winchester Lookout
In addition to our busy schedule of outings, the club maintains the historic Winchester fire-watch lookout on Winchester Mtn. More >>>


Click for Enlargement
Twice a year we carry up supplies, clean, paint, and do what ever general maintenance needs doing to keep the lookout in tip-top condition. The lookout is open for public use on a first come first serve basis, however, the club reserves the use of the lookout for the lookout work parties. We try to give as much notice as we can. Call the USFS Glacier Information Center or contact Mel at 360-392-1015.

WINCHESTER DONATIONS
The Board thanks the following individuals for their generous donations to the Mount Baker Club’s Winchester Fund:

WINCHESTER DONATIONS
The Board thanks the following individuals for their generous donations to the Mount Baker Club's Winchester Fund.  Donations to Winchester Lookout Fund made in Memory of Gary Haufle:

Anita McCullough, $25
David and Christina LaBelle, $15
Virginia and Jerry Lowe, $15
Carl and Ruth Hoth, $10
Leanne Farkas, $20
Shawn Robins Family-$13
Fritz and Illse Weimann, $20
Duane and Ann Sammons, $100

Ben Strom, B'ham $20
The Young's, Seattle $10
Erin Donahue, B'ham $3
The Erbotoeszer's, Mt Vernon $10
Neal Jacques, Seahurst $10
Bill Atkinson, Stanwood $20
Jeff Ries, Lynden $25
Robert Deimel, Maple Falls $25
The Hutchersons, N. Carolina $50

Each will receive a complimentary copy of our club newsletter, the Rambler.

Thank You!
Join the Club!

Help us maintain the lookout by sending donations to:

Winchester Lookout Fund
C/O Mount Baker Club
P.O. Box 73
Bellingham WA 98227

Make checks payable to Mount Baker Club. 

ARCHIVED PHOTOS
Archived Photos

On September 26, 2001, the Mount Baker Club conveyed, by deed of gift, its significant papers, club documents, photo and news scrapbooks, Ramblers and minutes of its meetings from 1928 to present to Western Washington University for use at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies. Archivist Elizabeth Joffrion (Ruth Steele is present Archivist), in accepting the material for Western, stated that much of the collection has local historical significance and would greatly enhance the University'’ research and studies of the region.

From the inception of the Mount Baker Club in 1911 out of an idea by Charles F. Easton, a Bellingham jeweler, to promote the Mount Baker area as a national resource, and for formally since 1928, the club has maintained and kept complete and accurate records of its activities in documents, pictures, minutes of meetings, Rambler newsletters (first published in August 1928), books and periodicals.

For more than 90 years the Mount Baker Club has actively and continuously explored, hiked, and skied, maintained trails and lookouts, camped, biked and canoed the Great Koma Kulshan of the Lummi’s (steep white mountain) area. Thanks to the foresight and efforts of Easton and the initial organizers of the club, the Mount Baker area is today one of the premier recreation landmarks in the Cascade Range.

The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies is located in the Washington State Archives Building
Ruth Steele, Acting Archivist
Contact for All Reference Requests
Phone: (360) 650-7747    Fax:  (360)650-3323
Email: Ruth.Steele@wwu.edu

(25th and Bill McDonald Parkway in Bellingham 360-650-7747)

The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies encourages club members, students, and the general public to examine the collection at any time. Weekday hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. An inventory of the collection will soon be accessible on the Center’s web page
http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/cpnws/mbclub/mbclubtitle.htm

Club members who have club material (old Ramblers, letters, pictures, newspaper articles, artifacts or documents they believe would add significantly to the collection), please contact club Trustee Larry Ripes at 360-715-3303.