Monte Cristo by Philip R. Woodhouse
Review:
Monte Cristo by Philip R. Woodhouse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My parents drove us up to the old Monte Cristo town site in our beige station wagon sometime in the late seventies before the road was washed out on December 26, 1980. Our childhoods were spent camping along the southern loop of the Mountain Loop Highway, built atop the old railroad right-of-way that led to the sporadically bustling mining town. When we got older, we hiked the 4 miles my parents had driven us years before to see the old railroad turntable and rare relics collected around the scrappy, miniature cabins. Today, plans are in place to clean up and contain the arsenic-rich tailings left behind by the various 19th and early 20th century mining operations to prevent continued contamination of groundwater and rivers below. Even if you do not have a personal connection to this beautiful part of the Pacific Northwest, Philip R. Woodhouse’s invaluable and entertaining history, “Monte Cristo” is a remarkable read you will always remember.
Woodhouse’s extensive research and approachable writing ensure that not only are historically significant details and photos preserved before they turn brittle and decay, but the evanescent spirit of the time is illuminated and celebrated before we lose the last few individuals who either lived there or sat at the feet of those who did listening to amazing stories of a time nearly impossible for us in the internet age to fully comprehend. This small, periodically populated mining town, crushed time and time again by the unrelenting landscape, never became the source of limitless wealth its name foretold, but it nevertheless played a key role in the history of the Puget Sound region and even the country. If you are fascinated by the difficulties our ancestors faced trying to make a living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, enjoy a flawlessly written history or want to better understand our current age through the lens of time, I heartily recommend this remarkable and invaluable work.
View all my reviews
Monte Cristo by Philip R. WoodhouseMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
My parents drove us up to the old Monte Cristo town site in our beige station wagon sometime in the late seventies before the road was washed out on December 26, 1980. Our childhoods were spent camping along the southern loop of the Mountain Loop Highway, built atop the old railroad right-of-way that led to the sporadically bustling mining town. When we got older, we hiked the 4 miles my parents had driven us years before to see the old railroad turntable and rare relics collected around the scrappy, miniature cabins. Today, plans are in place to clean up and contain the arsenic-rich tailings left behind by the various 19th and early 20th century mining operations to prevent continued contamination of groundwater and rivers below. Even if you do not have a personal connection to this beautiful part of the Pacific Northwest, Philip R. Woodhouse’s invaluable and entertaining history, “Monte Cristo” is a remarkable read you will always remember.
Woodhouse’s extensive research and approachable writing ensure that not only are historically significant details and photos preserved before they turn brittle and decay, but the evanescent spirit of the time is illuminated and celebrated before we lose the last few individuals who either lived there or sat at the feet of those who did listening to amazing stories of a time nearly impossible for us in the internet age to fully comprehend. This small, periodically populated mining town, crushed time and time again by the unrelenting landscape, never became the source of limitless wealth its name foretold, but it nevertheless played a key role in the history of the Puget Sound region and even the country. If you are fascinated by the difficulties our ancestors faced trying to make a living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, enjoy a flawlessly written history or want to better understand our current age through the lens of time, I heartily recommend this remarkable and invaluable work.
View all my reviews
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