The Olympian, Sept 23, 1960
Violence in McCleary 1936
(Summary of descriptions of 1936 McCleary attacks from book "Agitprop : the life of an American working-class radical : the autobiography of Eugene V. Dennett".)
November 1936, violent attacks were made on striking members of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union at McCleary, Washington.
McCleary Lumber Company refused to deal with union since the 1935 general strike of timber workers.
One hundred and fifty two union men were locked out of the mill in an effort to destroy the union,
Company recruited scabs, mostly from drought-stricken areas.
Peaceful pickets were brutally clubbed and tear gassed on November 24 by Washington State Patrol officers. The attack came at 8:45 am. Chief Cole, head of WSP, signaled the attack.
A group of twelve women were gassed, one of whom had a leg injury from flying gravel.
Police fired tear gas directly in face of a pregnant woman, she was then clubbed down. Her husband, Geer, trying to help her, was then himself beaten down.
Mrs. Geer received a shoulder injury. Homer Evans ended up with a severe concussion. Paul Hasbrook, Paul Carr, and Mrs. Goodpaster were also all injured. Everyone injured were residents of McCleary.
McCleary came under de facto martial law. Many state patrol were stationed there for several weeks.
Local businessmen complained that they could not conduct usual business under this martial law shutdown of the city.
From the periodical Man! December 1936-January 1937: Vol 5 Issue 1 . Report by Guy B. Askew
Each drew a picture of how people had been gassed in Tacoma, Longview, Aberdeen, and more recently in McCleary. They stated that persons, mostly women and children had been gassed while they were several blocks away from where any strike or labor dispute was in progress.
Quote from article Anti Tear Gas Bill Passes by Large Majority in The Timber Worker , Feb 5 1927, discussing proposed bill.
"... ideal for poultry, Christmas trees and cascara raising"
There are eleven full time farmers and eighty tree farm residences and part time farmers in this area. Their main crops are oats and hay, utilized for their own livestock and dairy cows.
Soil very poor in productivity........however ideal for poultry, Christmas trees and cascara raising.
There are a few authorized tree farmers and Mommsen Bros. (John and Henry) have one of the outstanding ones in the United States consisting of over 700 acres.
Proceedings: McCleary Community Study, McCleary, Washington, 1955-1956
Imagine a Canal through McCleary
In 1936 the State Canal Commission was appointed to further plans for a canal from this inlet [Budd Inlet, Olympia] to the Columbia River, through McCleary and by way of Grays and Willapa harbors.
Washington, a guide to the Evergreen state, compiled by workers of the Writers' program of the Work projects administration in the state of Washington. Portland, Or., Binfords & Mort [1941]
Skookum Inlet to Elma via Summit. This route would follow a valley they has been eroded in certain low lying masses of rock that occur between the Black Hills and the Olympics. The highest point on the line as surveyed is 420 feet above tide. For at least five miles the excavation for a canal would be in basalt.
One of these alternate possibilities is a line running from Elma approximately up the Cloquallum River, crossing a divide at the head of that stream, thence down the easterly slope of the divide, and entering Puget Sound through Hammersly Inlet. Another possible alternative is a line running from Elma through McCleary, thence down the Kamilche into Skookum Inlet, or from McCleary crossing over to Kennedy Creek and thence into Totten Inlet on Puget Sound.
Report on proposed canals connecting Puget Sound--Grays Harbor, Grays Harbor--Willapa Bay and Willapa Bay--Columbia River, by the Canal Commission of the state of Washington, June 7, 1933 .. [Olympia, 1933]
Although these alternative routes would have been shorter than the main proposed route of Chehalis - Black River, studies determined that a McCleary route would require tons more excavation and water - plus it would destroy the oyster industry at Skookum Inlet.
When 35,000 leaflets fell on McCleary
In the early 1950s, McCleary, Washington was one of several locations in an:
"American peacetime operation aimed at determining the ability of the airdropped propaganda leaflet to spread information".
The name of the overall project was Project Revere and the name of the specific experiment McCleary was in was Operation Eight Towns.
Project Revere was an Air Force and University of Washington operation. Test 1 used eight communities in western Washington that were small, reasonably close to Seattle, and locations that would be taking in refugees if larger cities were attacked.
McCleary was Town H, population 1,175. Necessary local authorities were contacted before the leaflet drop, they agreed to keep information out of the media until the experiment was done. Aerial photos and maps were created prior and then on a Wednesday around noon, leaflets were dropped by plane over the town, unannounced. In McCleary the greatest number of leaflets were dropped - about 35,000.
Two light planes were used for McCleary because of the large quantity of leaflets. One plane at a time, with pilot and a leaflet dropping crew of two. I haven't yet found out the exact date of this McCleary drop, it would have been some time between 1951 - 1953.
The leaflets stated:
"One raid by an enemy bomber could paralyze... radios - telephones - newspapers. In such a disaster leaflets like this could be dropped from airplanes to give official instructions. You are an important part of this scientific test to find out how effective leaflets are for spreading vital information to everyone."
Readers were asked to be modern day Paul Reveres and help spread the word. A survey was also included and postage was paid so participants could mail the leaflets in as instructed.
The next Saturday (media still not talking about the drops) face to face interviews were done.
Some findings of the overall project were that children were universally the fastest and most thorough at picking up the leaflets. 4-8 leaflets per person were found to be the sweet spot of message diffusion. Also in some locations the color yellow did not work for the leaflets, aphids were attracted to the color and covered the leaflets. Photos of aphids on leaflets could be used as counter propaganda by an enemy.
Altogether, Project Revere dropped approximately 750,000 leaflets involving 51 message versions in 44 flight missions over 35 unwarned communities. In the process of this experience a list of 50 measurable factors which might influence the accurate distribution of leaflets on the ground was compiled. These 50 factors concerned only the plane-to-plane speed, packaging, wind and weather, visibility, timing (day and hour), terrain, population density, drop patterns, etc. The experience of the Project developed some information on many of these patterns. (source The Flow of Information: An Experiment in Mass Communication, by Defleur, Melvin L.;Larsen, Otto N.)
DeFleur, M. L., Larsen, O. N. (1958). The Flow of Information. New York: Harper
Dodd, Stuart Carter. (1959). Formulas for Spreading Opinions. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 22(4), 537-554.
Hertzler, Robert L. (1953, November 29). Measuring Firepower of "Paper Bullets". The Seattle Times
Pearson, J. Bruce. (1957). Message diffusion under uncontrolled conditions. Boulder: University of Colorado Press
Thanks to SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.) for insights
(May 31, 2025. This now co-owned blog is revived. Still musing about our hometown McCleary.)
From "They" to "We" : the McCleary Bear Festival
Still no phone camera, but I will occasionally offer links of interest. Here's a documentary from the mid-1990s about the history of the McCleary Bear Festival--
Be prepared to stop
Jan. 3, 2020
After all these years my little flip cellphone is starting to fail and Verizon seems to be already pulling support bit by bit as the ancient gizmo I use has been deemed obsolete. So this is my final post on this blog. Adios.
[Update: Apr. 7, 2021: Shortly after this final post the COVID-19 pandemic broke out changing the world forever. In many ways the dramatic transition to a new reality has made me glad I stopped this blog when I did. The changes since Jan. 3, 2020 have been so enormous that the images on the posts have become nostalgic in a very short time period, faster than one would expect]
Taking a rest
Jan. 3, 2020
After a busy holiday season the Christmas wreath takes a break on a park bench.
Parsonage?
Dec. 23, 2019
This structure was, and I could very well be mistaken, the parsonage at one time for the Assembly of God Church.
Pickleball Court
This part of Beerbower Park was first developed as a tennis/badminton court. Yes, as if enough McCleary people in the late 1950s/early 1960s were going to actually go out and spend energy playing these sports. What were the planners thinking?
So in short order the area became kind of a weird nothing spot. I took my daughter there when she was first learning to ride a bike with training wheels as it was a safe area from cars. For a spell there was an effort to turn it into a skateboard park.
Today it has been made into a court for pickleball, which has become a fast-growing sport across the country. I do see folks playing there now and then and it looks fun!
McCleary City Band Bandstand
Dec. 23, 2019
Around the area of this corner, Maple and Third, there used to be a bandstand for the McCleary City Band. Yes, such a group actually existed. The story goes someone ordered a ton of musical instruments and then they were handed out to interested and no doubt bored out of their mind workers, many of whom had not the slightest idea of how to play any instrument or read music.
So the bandstand was built and uniforms were issued. For short time the muddy metropolis of McCleary had a city band. It must have been a hoot to hear. The placement of the bandstand would indicate this was considered close to the center of the action at that time, more so than it is today.
After the probably merciful short life span of the band, the bandstand was enclosed as a small building and served as the office for a dentist for a brief time.
The current McCleary City Hall is in the background and a sandwich sign for an espresso stand in the foreground attempts to divert coffee addicted Washingtonians. It still amazes me that McCleary has not had a tavern for several years yet we have not one but two, two drive-thru coffee stands.
When future historians write about McCleary's creeping gentrification, this switch from alcohol to caffeine will be an early indicator. Not making a judgment here, just an observation.
After the floods
Dec. 22, 2019
This town was built on a cedar swamp and sometimes the branches of Wildcat Creek like to get out and stretch a bit. Over 100 years ago Jake Anderson, who owned the west half of town, used to pole through what is now the Maple Street area in his little skiff.
In modern times First Street is especially bad. In 1990 the street was a raging river as I recall. Cars in the Rainbow Park lot off of First were in the water up to their door handles. Beerbower Park was a lake. The little pedestrian bridge between the Park and Mommsen washed out. Actually it was almost gone as a result of the high water and a couple kids rocked it away, finishing the job. I saw it happen.
The 1990 flood happened right after Simpson clearcut a hill on the southeast corner of town. Following the flood Simpson turned the property into a housing development and after having cut all the trees comically named it "Evergreen Heights." Although too late for the 1990 victims, they did install a retention pond.
Another place that used to flood was near the intersection of Summit Road and what is now Buck Street out in the new development north of the railroad tracks the McCleary Grange lost due to some unfortunate financial decisions from what I understand. Anyway, I see they have a retention pond there now.
Dumpster display
Dec. 14, 2019
No need for dumpster diving when things are set next to it in a fine display. Rainbow Park.
Horseshoe Globe
Dec. 13, 2019
Visited the Westport Winery today and saw this great art piece by McCleary's own Tyler Hansen.
The Death of Newspapers
Dec. 10, 2019
Newspaper boxes at Cheemas turned introvert. First we saw pay phones vanish from McCleary. Newspaper boxes are next.
Urban logging
Nov. 25, 2019
That guy up there who is removing a 50 year-old Doug fir in a residential neighborhood has a lot more guts than I do.
Whether in the woods or in the town, logger work is dangerous, risky, and those who perform it have my total respect.
As I approached this worksite I saw a lot of raccoons and squirrels fanning out away from the tree-cutting. They were running through the neighborhood with little suitcases.
Soggy work zone
Nov. 24, 2019
Dollar General construction site. The impact of this place on traffic, the residential neighbors, rain runoff, and possible competition with local business will be interesting to watch. Hopefully most of their employees will be McCleary area residents.
Dollar General swimming pool?
This interesting swimming pool-sized excavation at the Dollar General construction site has me puzzled. Wouldn't it be great if it was going to be a public indoor swimming pool, y'know, for kids?
Tim Bear's Gangrene
Hard to see in this photo, but the moss on Tim Bear is growing so thick it makes the poor thing look like it has a severe case of gangrene.
Rain Country Christmas Tree
Nov. 15, 2019
I am so tempted to put a wrapped present under that thing.
Dial phones
Nov. 13, 2019
Remember these?
First off, I am not a hoarder. In fact I am minimalist. But for some reason I felt compelled to fish this dial phone out of the trash bin at the McCleary Community Center in 1978 when some family member decided it was worthless during the sale of my grandmother's estate. She was born in Centralia in 1891 and died at St. Pete's in 1978.
Every now and then I will dial the extinct line just to hear that old clickety-click of the rotary dial, and remember.
McCleary was ahead of the rest of Grays Harbor County when the town was the first to have rotary phones. The downside was that after 2 or 3 minutes (I cannot recall which) a polite tonal interruption would intrude and say that time is up. Only long distance calls had unlimited time. Local calls, many of them on party lines, had only whispy windows of times to communicate.
McCleary at that time had it's own phone company and the local phone book was so thin that even Caspar Milquetoaste could rip it in half.
Nick Rillakis
Nov. 12, 2019
The McCleary HealthMart Pharmacy currently has a portrait of Nick Rillakis on display.
Rillakis had a store called Rhodes Grocery which basically stood on the very spot his portrait is on display. It was built in the 1920s and heralded as the first concrete structure in town. In the final years of this building it was festooned with murals by James Abbott and served as a storage unit place as it fell into increasing neglect and disrepair. In the 1980s-1990s Abbott's work was all over the place but is now more difficult to locate.
Anyway Nick was part of the Greek wave of workers who came to McCleary when old Henry lured foreign workers here who were not likely to unionize and would be prone to demand to be treated like human beings instead of the slaves they became. Unlike the Italians who came here, the Greeks were economically better off from their point of origin. Those who were not killed in the woods or died from other causes and landed in the McCleary Cemetery just made their wad of dough and went back home. But a few Greeks hung around and the last ones survived into the 1970s.
Some of the Greeks ran a gambling house and bordello in the building that later served as The Pines restaurant and tavern. The Greeks also hosted some of the earliest meetings for the workers to unionize there. The space is now the big empty lot on Main and Maple.
I recall Nick as a rotund, bald, gregarious and bombastic fellow. The most notable part of his store was an old timey giant wheel of cheese close to the entrance where customers could select the size of their slice. Going into his store was sort of like making a trip back in time. But that describes a lot of McCleary in the 1960s.
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