Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on January 03, 2021, 08:21:26 PM
Here's an old picture of the Rafts of Logs on Lake Kapowsin back in the day, that might explain where they all came from! :chuckle:
Doug
Post by: duckmen1 on January 03, 2021, 08:45:11 PM
Wish it wasn't like that out there because it could be an enjoyable lake for many adventures.
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 03, 2021, 08:57:31 PM
Post by: Sutherland on January 03, 2021, 09:54:11 PM
Post by: rasbo on January 04, 2021, 02:00:47 AM
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 04, 2021, 03:36:32 AM
Post by: trophyhunt on January 04, 2021, 06:49:37 AM
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 04, 2021, 07:01:11 AM
Edit to say rail brought a lot of logs down as well.
Post by: trophyhunt on January 04, 2021, 07:04:29 AM
A lot of logs were flumed down to Kapowsin and never saw a truck. They did also haul down into Kapowsin too. I believe there were six separate sawmills and 2 cedar shake mills at the height of Kapowsins glory. When the mills started shutting down, they hauled into the reload with oversize trucks. The train took them from there out to Port of Tacoma.Sweet, thanks man.
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 04, 2021, 07:24:34 AM
This is a great coffee table book, awesome pictures and history. Not tons about kapowsin in it but lots of western Washington history.https://www.ebay.com/i/264679670025?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28 (https://www.ebay.com/i/264679670025?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28)
Here's a paper I've never seen before if anyone's interested in it. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1734&context=etd (https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1734&context=etd)
Post by: Bullkllr on January 04, 2021, 07:26:30 AM
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on January 04, 2021, 08:29:01 AM
Even used Ericksons after that..
spent many years there in the 70's and later...
Hated when they started charging access to the woods behind it.
.
Have not been back in years..
Post by: Alchase on January 04, 2021, 06:08:54 PM
So much glass on the ground from broken windows.
Post by: Panic Minnow on January 04, 2021, 09:11:02 PM
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 04, 2021, 09:28:30 PM
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 04, 2021, 09:42:08 PM
I camped on the island a lot as a kid, of course thats a big no no now. Ive been told there was a whore house on that island in the early days :yike:
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 04, 2021, 09:58:02 PM
Post by: highside74 on January 04, 2021, 10:08:49 PM
Post by: birdshooter1189 on January 05, 2021, 07:01:16 AM
It's a fun lake to fish. I've had afternoons where i've caught and released 60+ bluegill, pumpkinseed, black crappie, rock bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and trout.
The parking lot is all paved now, so not much gravel to sling around. The parking lot is usually mostly full when I've been there.
I've seen some homeless camps in the bushes to the east of the public boat ramp and also along the eastern edge of the lake.
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on January 05, 2021, 09:47:26 AM
My dad says they did a pretty big salvage years ago. It was before I can remember though. It would be really interesting to see some of those boardsI remember them pulling up a lot of logs, took out one we always fished by because the bluegill would run 10"+
Never figured out another one that was as consistent a producer of that size.
Even though they took out a lot of logs, it didn't seem to reduce the number much..
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 05, 2021, 11:31:28 AM
If your referring the a house that shares the name of a garden tool yes. From what I know and have been told. I grew up next to a gentleman that had been there since the 40s and his dad was there when it was a busy city and said there sure was. Would be so cool to safely dive the lake. So many lures :chuckle:
I spent a lot of summer days finding lures and digging for old bottles down there. The house i grew up in was actually down next to the lake then moved up the hill later on. Built in 1908. The thieving has a been an issue for as long as I can remember, although I would say its gotten better.
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 05, 2021, 11:35:21 AM
In the mid to late 70s my dad owned a 2 man saw mill at 304th and Meridian just behind where the gas station is now. He cut short/small orders for Willows lumber until he passed in 1978. I was just 4 then and remember logs being dropped of and playing in sawdust piles as tall as the building. I also remember driving the logging roads behind the lake hunting with him the year he passed. As a boy of 8 or 9 a neighbor of ours would take my brother and I down 304th to where the train tracks are and we would park and walk down the tracks to a path to the edge of the lake. It was swampy and they had boards set out to get to an old log barge that was tied up to shore. We would night fish by lantern light for catfish often from that barge. It was an amazing place for a kid that age. A nice man from church would take us frogging with spotlights around the lake also. Slow going looking for dead heads and cruising the lake short netting toads. Good times.
Thats awesome. I knew a family that pulled a lot of frogs out of the lake. I could never get into it, the taste was fine more of a mental thing :chuckle: lots of people collecting those snails too, I never got the courage to try them lol
Post by: ctwiggs1 on January 05, 2021, 12:29:42 PM
I have a tough time wanting to go back with that public ramp being the only option. It's pretty sketchy and I'm really not interested in dealing with strung out tweakers when I'm in my recreation time. Maybe sometime I'll try it out again when I can empty the truck out and make it very unappealing for a break in.
Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on January 05, 2021, 12:55:42 PM
I remember when I was 10 years old we arrived at the lake and discovered neither one of us had put the oars in the car. We found a couple of old 1X6's floating along the shore to use as paddles, we didn't get near our Limit that day but it made for a memorable Trip. Sure was a great lake for Spiny Ray and Big Carryovers just trolling a Fly over them big logs when the leaves started to change color.
We were Trapping Beaver and Muskrats in November up on the North End of the lake when a storm hit. Dodging Sunken Logs amongst the Whitecaps made for an interesting zigzagging struggle back to the Launch.
Dad was giving his little 15 horsepower Evinrude all she had, as he took orders from his soaked Kid navigating off the bow.
We didn't tell Mom about that one (as the two drowned Rats snuck in the back door to find a change of clothes.) :IBCOOL:
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 05, 2021, 01:15:07 PM
Post by: rasbo on January 05, 2021, 03:38:41 PM
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 05, 2021, 03:45:57 PM
Post by: ctwiggs1 on January 05, 2021, 04:01:19 PM
Ericsson’s was the best. Man when we pulled in we always hoped that the 14 foot smoker craft was sitting at the end of the dock. We would rent it every time if it was there. We thought we were sailing the biggest boat on the lake :chuckle:
Same!!
Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on January 05, 2021, 09:49:10 PM
The the Lily Pads would come alive next to our boat and up would pop an Otter chewing on a Crappie. We had suspected they were in the neighborhood as evidenced by all the Crayfish Shells on the logs.
This same Family also frequented both Ohop and Tanwax lakes and when they showed up we knew it was best to move down the lake.
The Resort over on Tanwax had a Old Pet Raccoon inside a Rabbit Cage that used to love eating all the Freshwater Snails you would bring him up from the lake. These were Big Black Snails about an inch across and he could eat them as fast as a Kid could collect them. :tup:
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 06, 2021, 10:37:03 AM
Ericsson’s was the best. Man when we pulled in we always hoped that the 14 foot smoker craft was sitting at the end of the dock. We would rent it every time if it was there. We thought we were sailing the biggest boat on the lake :chuckle:
Same!!
So you were who would take it :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on January 06, 2021, 04:47:20 PM
"I knew a little bit about Lake Kapowsin’s history from what my Dad told me. He said that at one time, 100 years ago, it had been a booming logging town. The lake now is so quiet and peaceful that it’s hard to imagine how raucous the town must have been with lumber mills and around 900 residents. There are still shanties from the era around Lake Kapowsin, and rumor has it that a train sits at the bottom of the lake, an eerie reminder of the past."
Lake Kapowsin actually came into being about 500 years ago when a mudflow rushed down the slopes of Mt. Rainier. The mudflow dammed a creek, flooded the valley, and drowned the forest in the rising water, creating Lake Kapowsin. When the first settlers arrived, they leveled the trees poking out of the lake and used the lake to float logs. Fires destroyed half the town years later, and eventually local businesses were moved or destroyed. Less than 400 people live in the city of Kapowsin now.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is considering designating Lake Kapowsin as the state’s first freshwater aquatic reserve because of its unique geologic origins, natural habitats, and relatively undeveloped shorelines.
Around 1503, Mt. Rainier unleashed the Electron Mudflow. This lahar, a river of mud, began on the western slopes of the mountain, taking with it trees as big as three meters in diameter, and swept down the Puyallup River to Puget Sound. The process dammed the Kapowsin tributary and created the lake we see today.
Settlers began trickling into the area in the 1880’s. Fred Hilgert and his wife are credited with establishing the first homestead on Lake Kapowsin. This was short-lived, as a railroad was built through their backyard and forced them to move away from the shoreline. Lumber mills popped up along Kapowsin’s shore lands and the Lake was used as a log pond. Employment steadied and expanded, the population grew, and by 1910 the town of Kapowsin was bustling. The lakeshore was home to workers and their families, and supported businesses and schools. Seattle and Tacoma used connecting railways to bring lumber from Kapowsin for building expansion. By the 1920’s and 30’s, however, the timber boom town of Kapowsin gave way to mill fires and Tacoma’s unrealized reservoir plans.
Today the 512-acre Lake Kapowsin preserves the remains of a mature old growth forest, and thus contains evidence for dating the historic lahar.
Kapowsin Lake was surveyed by a crew from September 7-9, 1999. Multiple gear types Electrofishing, Gill nets, and Trap nets.
Largemouth bass and bluegill were the most abundant species sampled both numerically (32.6 and 42.5 percent, respectively) and by biomass (39.4 and 26.3 percent, respectively). Other species sampled during the survey, in order of highest to lowest abundance, include: yellow perch; rock bass; pumpkinseed; black crappie; brown bullhead; and Coho. Few largemouth bass of quality size and greater were encountered during the survey. Similar to bass, few bluegill of quality size and greater were sampled from the lake.
Post by: Alchase on January 06, 2021, 06:33:42 PM
Lots of perch, crappie, bass though.
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 06, 2021, 06:36:55 PM
Post by: Alchase on January 06, 2021, 07:06:10 PM
Post by: Bullkllr on January 06, 2021, 07:10:12 PM
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 06, 2021, 07:20:43 PM
I fished it regularly from 1990 through 2010, then the breakins got to bad. Never saw a silver. Too Many limits of rainbows to count though.
Yes, lots of rainbows I didn't catch that they didn't list them there. Regarding the coho, loaded may be an exaggeration but there were plenty that came through. A neighbor of mine caught and smoke many of them over the years. Ive seen a few recently within half a mile of the lake in the creek, but not in the amounts I used to see them. Hopefully you didn't lose too much out of your rig, the tweakers suck
Post by: ctwiggs1 on January 06, 2021, 07:52:30 PM
I’ve loaded up a stringer or two of good perch in that lake and certainly many limits of trout. Kokanee here and there. Bass are all throughout.
Fun lake. I just don’t want to park my truck there anymore :dunno:
Post by: highside74 on January 06, 2021, 08:13:30 PM
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on January 07, 2021, 06:39:56 AM
We also used to catch chum in the winter while duck hunting..
Been at least 15 years though...
Post by: ctwiggs1 on January 07, 2021, 07:13:41 AM
Looking back, we probably should have figured out what it was. :dunno:
Post by: Dhoey07 on January 07, 2021, 07:38:48 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 07, 2021, 07:50:48 AM
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 07, 2021, 08:11:43 AM
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 07, 2021, 08:41:15 AM
And Bigfoot
Batsquatch... :chuckle:
Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on January 07, 2021, 12:53:49 PM
As Kids our imaginations would run wild as we peered into the Deep Water from our small two man Rowboat.
We could imagine all kinds of creatures lurking in the depths below, just waiting for that small hand or foot to be dangled over the side.
I remember having that creepy feeling when our boat would pass over a huge submerged log. You could see it looming out of the darkness as the sun shone through the water. What was that I saw moving down there?
Yikes!
Post by: Buckhunter24 on January 07, 2021, 01:03:39 PM
Post by: ctwiggs1 on January 07, 2021, 01:15:58 PM
Post by: Bullkllr on January 07, 2021, 01:37:27 PM
The lake has seen it's share of tragedies for sure. This one among others:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/pierce-county-man-drowns-in-same-lake-where-mom-brother-died-38-years-ago/ (https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/pierce-county-man-drowns-in-same-lake-where-mom-brother-died-38-years-ago/)
Post by: castie2504 on January 09, 2021, 10:58:22 PM
Post by: 257wbymagkiller on January 10, 2021, 06:02:07 AM
Post by: GWP on February 25, 2021, 12:27:43 AM
Post by: deerhuntr4885 on February 25, 2021, 08:24:46 PM
Post by: GWP on February 25, 2021, 11:43:24 PM
Post by: AL WORRELLS KID on March 06, 2021, 01:03:00 AM
Post by: pnwbestlife on March 08, 2021, 02:03:19 PM