6 dead, 19 saved in air crash

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 15, 1953

Last of survivors taken from wreck on Cascade slope; Crews fight snow, dark to reach injured GIs

Plane wreckage—The battered fuselage of the DC-3 transport which crashed in the Cascade Mountains 10 miles east of Selleck, in the Cedar River watershed, is shown in this dramatic aerial photograph by Post-Intelligencer photographer Tom Carson. Note the trees felled by the plane. The transport’s wings were torn off and left behind in a twisted trail of wreckage. Six died in crash, 19 survived.

In a herculean rescue effort by air and land, all 19 survivors of the 25 persons aboard a twin-engine DC-3 transport plane which crashed at the base of a snow-covered Cascade Mountains peak near Selleck were brought out Tuesday night.

The wreck occurred early Tuesday morning.

The Army-chartered Miami Airlines plane, carrying soldiers and a crew of three from the East Coast to Seattle, crashed 40 miles southeast of Seattle in the rugged Cedar River watershed, 10 miles east of Selleck, in a blinding snowstorm. The flight began at Washington, D.C.

Six men were killed, according to the Army and Coast Guard. Lt. Cmdr. Robert T. Norris, coordinator of the rescue operation.

Both pilots, 4 soldiers killed

They were the pilot and copilot, Capt. A.J. Lerette Jr. and William E. Harshman, both of Miami, and four soldiers whose names were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

In shuttle tuns, helicopters carried out survivors, many of them injured seriously. Trucks took over the burden after darkness grounded the helicopter.

The first two survivors brought out were Adra Bebe Long, stewardess, Miami Fla., and Pvt. Odell Matthew of Washington D.C. Both struggled out through deep snow for help before being found and picked up.

M.E. Merett, sanitation patrolman for the Seattle Water Department, picked up Mrs. Long and took her to Selleck in a station wagon.

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Selleck once diverse entertainment center in late 1920

By Nobu Yoshimitsu

Noriyasu Abo (Pei’s son) at the Selleck logging camp.

Selleck today is a sleepy community in rural, Southeastern King County, but it was once known for its thriving logging and lumber industry. In the early decades of the 20th century, Japanese immigrants were central to these enterprises. In addition to the labor they provided, they also contributed to building a diverse culture.

My great-grandfather, Peichi (Peiichi or “Pei”) Abo, was one of these early Japanese immigrants. First arriving in 1905 via Vancouver, BC, he was employed as a rail worker while studying English. He moved to the town of Selleck, where he worked for several years before being promoted to the position of foreman of the Selleck logging camp in 1915.

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Selleck history survives—owner seeks ways to keep town alive

Originally published in the Seattle Times, December 17, 1986

By Jim Simon

In its heyday, Selleck was a testimony to American corporate energy.

Running three shifts a day, the massive mill owned by the Pacific States Lumber Co. turned out nearly a million board feet of lumber each week. Its power was generated by an on-site steam plant; to feed the saws, the surrounding hillsides were stripped of virgin stands of Douglas fir and red cedar.

Built in 1908 as a workers’ camp, Selleck became a full-fledged town with two hotels, its own hospital and school, a tavern and a community hall. Nearly 900 people lived there at one point: East Europeans, Irish, Italians—and a contingent of Japanese recruited to produce lumber used to rebuild Tokyo after a 1923 earthquake leveled that city.

The good times came to an abrupt end in 1939, when Pacific States went bankrupt and dismantled its mill to provide building materials for the war effort.

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The foothills

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 5, 1972

There’s little activity in Cumberland to disturb a Husky dog sleeping in the sunshine. Once a thriving coal mining community, today there are, well, the memories …

By Walter A. Evans

(This is the 19^th visit Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff reporters and photographers have taken to introduce the people, industry, and lifestyle of cities, towns, and rural communities around the state. Next week: Bellingham.)

The names are little more than memories now, once thriving communities of people who made their living from deposits of coal buried beneath the ground of the Cascade foothills. They bore names like Cumberland, Kangley, Kanasket, Bayne, and Selleck.

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Old mill town a vestige of the past

Originally published in The Seattle Times, July 31, 2007

By Cara Solomon

SELLECK—In the quiet of this forest clearing, there once was a bustling way of life, with a school, a hotel, and a dance hall for hundreds. Bands traveled to town on Saturday nights to play.

That was back when the woods were loud with logging. Now the sound of Selleck is children scouring the nearby creek for snakes. Parents talking on the porches of century-old houses. A few dozen people, living in a time capsule of a town.

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44 years of service: Selleck teacher to be feted

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, May 19, 1962

By Rill Schear

Mrs. Lulu S. Kombol, Scott Jamieson, 7, and Betty Tackett, 7. One of the first graders sported a shiner during a Selleck School reading lesson. Times photo by Vic Condiotty.

A long and significant teaching career will reach an appropriate climax tomorrow in the remote King County town of Selleck.

Mrs. Lulu S. Kombol, nearing the end of 44 years as a teacher, will be honored by three generations of grateful former pupils at a reception from 2 to 5 o’clock in the Selleck School.

She has taught the first and second grades there 19 years. Previously she taught in Centralia, Ravensdale, and Cumberland.

Her influence has been profound.

Alex McDougall, the principal, said: “She’s the most dedicated teacher I’ve known.”

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The community of Selleck welcomes you!

Originally published in a brochure by Selleck, Inc., date unknown

What is Selleck?

Selleck is a quiet residential community at the “end of the road.” If you are looking to get away from the urban pollutions of litter, smog, crime, and gridlock you’ve come to the right place. You won’t find crowds, pollution, or fancy shopping in Selleck. What you will find is a pace of life that is slower, a neighbor who is friendlier, and all of the clean air, open spaces, and elbow room the great outdoors has to offer. So unwind in our traditional small town atmosphere—and welcome to the town of Selleck!

As a guest of our community, we would like to tell you something about the town of Selleck—past, present, and future.

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A short history of Selleck

Originally published in the MVHS Bugle, February 1999

By Margie Markus

I’m sure some of you who read this will remember much more than I, but this is only some of the things we remember about Selleck. I gathered some of my information from articles I have on Selleck. Some came from my memories and my mother’s memories (Eva Litras).

Frank Selleck’s home is in the foreground while the Selleck School is in the background. (Photo courtesy of Lloyd Qually.)

Where is Selleck? Are you asking yourself that question? To those of us who lived in Selleck or nearby places—we know where Selleck is.

At Four Corners—the intersection of Highway 169 and the Kent-Kangley Road—you would follow Kent-Kangley east to and through Ravensdale, taking a left at the Y in the road. Go through Kangley and on to Selleck, where the road ends by automobile to the public.

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Teaches 52 years, still likes kids

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 30, 1957

By H.J. Glover

Pedagogue and three generations: Mrs. Lulu Kombol (center), Selleck schoolteacher, talks with Tom Mattioda, who was in her classes years and years ago. At right is Mattioda’s daughter, Mrs. Betty Ljungdahl, also a former student. Children, now in Mrs. Kombol’s classes, are Mrs. Ljungdahl’s. They are (from left) Bruce, six; Eva Louise, seven; and Leon, eight. Mrs. Kombol has taught 52 years. — Photo by H.J. Glover.

SELLECK, June 28.— After 52 years of school teaching on these lush, green slopes of the Cascade mountains, Mrs. Lulu Kombol still is convinced there is no juvenile delinquency.

Oh, there’s delinquency all right, Mrs. Kombol firmly says, but it’s parental delinquency—the lost ends of the human universe weaning their offspring on the milk of failure.

“In this modern age of broken-homes, can-openers, liquor, and blood and thunder movies, children fail to get the idols-and-ideals, which only parents can give,” Mrs. Kombol said.

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Old sawmill town remembered

Originally published in Northwest Nikkei, May 1994

By Ed Suguro

A 1924 photo of the Selleck Japanese community. T.Z.Maekawa is the man in the striped tie with hand in pocket, third row from top; Heiji Sakakibara is the man standing next to him. The Rev. U.G. Murphy is sitting far right third row from bottom. Mr. Abo, the foreman, is sitting in the middle with the baby.

Before World War II there were a number of company sawmill towns like Mukilteo, Snoqualmie, Selleck, Eatonville, National, Onalaska, Walvill, and Longview in which the Issei worked and the Nisei grew up.

Selleck was about 10 miles east of Maple Valley and was recognized by the King County Landmarks Commission as a historical landmark and by the National Register as a historic district. It was a company town in which the Pacific States Lumber Company, one of the largest on the West Coast, employed a number of Issei.

Among those who lived there were T.Z. Maekawa, who worked at the mill, and the Rev. Joseph Sakakibara, who grew up there until high school.

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