History’s main track

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, May 5, 2001

Gold Bar Museum opens for the season

By Leslie Moriarty

Herald Writer

GOLD BAR — Don Bearwood sat on the old wooden train depot bench with a smile on his face.

"I can just imagine how many people have sat on this bench throughout the years," he said. "If only this bench could talk."

Not much in the Gold Bar Museum talks, but every single artifact tells a story.

The tales of early days of the railroad and gold mining town are affluent in the small museum, which has been operating since 1995. Today marks the opening of another season.

The pioneer museum will open at 1 p.m. With special visitors and about 15 volunteers on hand, locals can tour the place and share in special memories of the town.

Bearwood and his wife, Ellen, are volunteers and spend a number of weekends each summer at the one-story wooden structure on U.S. 2 between First and Second streets.

An architectural lighting designer, Bearwood spent most of his life in Seattle. But since the 1940s, when his father would take him on fishing trips on the Wallace and Skykomish rivers near Gold Bar, Bearwood has thought of it as his second home.

So when he and his wife retired about 10 years ago, they moved there and began looking for ways to become a part of the community. A few years ago, they found the museum.

"I’ve always loved history," he said. "I guess I just don’t want the local history to get lost or forgotten."

That’s part of the reason why he bought a 1929 Ford Model A sports coupe, which he often drives to the museum.

Inside the museum is an old schoolroom complete with class photographs of some of the first school years in Gold Bar. The town was founded in 1900 and incorporated in 1910. Its first school came along in 1901.

Because the Great Northern Railroad passed through Gold Bar, it became a place where travelers and those who worked on the railroad would stop overnight. The town had several hotels and restaurants in its early days.

"And while the train was waiting to make its next run, the people would get off and go pan for gold in the river," Ellen Bearwood said. "That’s where the town’s name comes from."

There’s a sewing room in the museum filled with intricate dresses from the early days. It’s one of her favorite places in the museum.

"I just love how they sewed in those days," she said.

Photographs telling the history of the town adorn the walls, including one of a passenger train wreck between Gold Bar and Index from the early 1900s.

The teller’s window from the original Gold Bar post office is part of a display. There are some original post office boxes, and letters and stamps that date back to 1898.

Various pieces of farm equipment and tools make another interesting display. And at the back is a typical early 1900s kitchen, complete with wood stove.

A favorite exhibit added last year is that of a miniature "N" scale model diesel train that depicts Wallace Falls and the Cascade Mountains. Volunteers hope to find a steam engine this year.

The train room boasts of the original bench from the Gold Bar Train Depot. A train engineer in full uniform is seated nearby, as well as a young lady traveler.

The museum was the idea of Helen Van Wyk. She died in 1996. Since then, volunteers have run the place and look for donations for exhibits. Some of the items are a part of the permanent collection. Others are on loan from local families.

"That’s one of the benefits of working here," Ellen Bearwood said. "We get to meet so many interesting people, and they all have stories to tell."

You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436

or send e-mail to moriarty@heraldnet.com.