Drive North

  Union, Washington
Thursday, February 26, 2009

Built in 1922, the first Dalby Waterwheel was a wooden cultivator wheel that broke during a heavy winter two years latte. In 1924, Ed and Ethel Dalby brought this wheel by boat from Seattle to Dalby Creek. It has been used in the Seattle cable car system, most likely on Queen Ann e Hill. Ed and his father, Will Dalby, mounted the wheel and attached dredge buckets which had been used on the Denny re-grade in Seattle. When the massive wheel was assembled, it produced electricity for the Dalby home and several cabins on their property until 1940's. Through no longer providing electricity, the wheel has continued to turn throughout the decades, adding to the pleasure of many a passerby.

 











Every time I have driven West on Hwy 8 heading for Shelton or Aberdeen, Washington I think . . . I would like to take a photo of these huge steel sculptures of the Bull and Cow, but I have always been going West and the sculpture is on the East side . . . and it is usually dark on my way home . . .This time I was on the right side of the road, at the right time of the day . . . even though it was raining I stopped . . . they are so cool . . .

 











These sculptures are maybe 30 feet tall . . . Rumor has it that the cow and bull ornaments are made out of a set of former fuel tanks the owner couldn't get approval from the Department of Ecology to dispose of. So, he cut them up, welded them into art and got around DOE.

GOOD JOB - more people aught to create such creative alternatives!

Jackie Whedbee