Three Bellevue Parks

BY margaret Laliberte, EASTSIDE HERITAGE CENTER VOLUNTEER

The Vertical File at Eastside Heritage Center is a treasure trove of original miscellany—largely newspaper clippings—organized into hundreds of topics pertaining to Eastside history.  An old-fashioned browse through a manila file is likely to turn up intriguing and unexpected tidbits for those with a love of our local history.  Take the Bellevue Parks files, for example.  Here’s a sample of some little-known and/or long forgotten stories about three Bellevue parks.

Enatai Park’s “Crater.”  The park, at 10661 S.E. 25th St., is a peaceful sanctuary of big left maple and conifers.  But to access the picnic tables and children’s play area the visitor must make a steep descent into what appears to be a deep crater.  How can this be?  An article by local historian Lucile McDonald dated October 23, 1983 (newspaper unknown) solves the mystery.  At the same time that the first floating bridge between Mercer Island and Seattle was being built in the late 1930s, crews were also improving the old roadway leading east to North Bend to create the four-lane Sunset Highway.  The local Lakeside Gravel Company excavated a large gravel deposit on the site of today’s park to provide surfacing material for the new roadway.  Once the quarry was no longer needed, the crater was used for while as a garbage dump until local residents stymied that use.  The property was sold in 1940, and in 1950 the owner sold the property to the City of Bellevue.

Brian Goldbloom’s “Ruin”

McCormick Park’s granite “ruin.”  A familiar sight in the narrow park that runs along the north side of N.E. 12th St. in downtown Bellevue, across from the Belletini residence, is the enigmatic granite construction that some might feel looks like a ruined cathedral.  Its backstory can be found in a June 23, 1989 Journal American editorial.  The sculptor, Brian Goldbloom, created numerous pieces of public art in the Pacific Northwest during that era, working mainly with natural stone materials.  According to the editorial, his vision of this creation was something that would add a sense of the past to Bellevue, which he felt is too young to have a deep sense of time and place.  He also wanted to create something that would, in his words, “draw people in so they’d want to hang around.”  Ironically, the current pandemic created the circumstances that have drawn small groups of two or three locals at a time to sit on the stone pieces of this artwork to socialize.

Bellefields Nature Park, Bellevue American newspaper clipping.

Bellefields Nature Park’s tikis and totem.  The separate identity of this early park has vanished today, merged into the larger Mercer Slough Nature Park. The land for the original Bellefields Nature Park, at the north end of the slough and running between 118th Ave. N.E. and Bellevue Way, was purchased by the City of Bellevue in 1957.  Because of the deep deposits of peat underlying the site, original plans to develop tennis courts and a golf course had to be shelved. As  Lucile McDonald explained in a 1983 article, “the greens would be bouncy,” and costs to develop the area would be prohibitive. So Siegfried Semrau, the city’s park’s director, decided to develop  a “nature park.” Boys from the state’s Youth Corps built a network of trails through the park over four years, earning  $25 a week for their work. A 1969 article in the Bellevue American noted that the park department’s sign maker, Earl “Bud” Baunsgard. “ has created several wood carvings… to surprise the hiker as he strolls along the trails.  Two tikis and a totem pole greet park users with a trio of brightly colored frogs.”

The tikis and totem are long gone, but a “heritage” park sign built by Baunsgard still stands in the city’s Killarney Park.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

Native Americans of Puget Sound and the Eastside Part 3

Stories and Art Works

BY Barb williams, EASTSIDE HERITAGE CENTER VOLUNTEER

Beaver Lake Park house post

The Native Americans of Puget Sound and the Eastside have enriched this region and the world with the many gifts of their culture. Some of these include:  Art, Dance, Theatre, Science, Philosophy, Life Skills, Technology, Psychology, Education, History, Genealogy, Nomenclature, and Stories. Written, oral and tangible elements remind us of the presence of these people as we explore their heritage and learn from them.

Rivers, mountains, sloughs, lakes, cities, towns and marine vessels with Indian names  are constant reminders of the impact these people have had, and still have, on this region. The Duwamish and The Snoqualmie are two Seattle fireboats that have Indian names.  The former was built in 1890. Together they fought the Grand Trunk Dock fire that erupted in Seattle on July 30,1914.  Snoqualmie Pass carries the name of the  Snoqualmie people living in that area. Places such as Issaquah, Sammamish, Leschi,  Nisqually, Snohomish, Tahoma, Stillaquamish, Seattle (Sealth), Skagit are all Native American names used today. These names are woven into the tangible and geographic fabric of the Lake Washington and Puget Sound regions.

Names, stories and artworks are gifts that spring from the beliefs, creativity and richness of local Native American culture. Women basket makers were respected for their skill and artistry in creating utilitarian and beautiful baskets usually woven from plant materials. Some baskets were so tightly woven they could hold liquids. Others were made with twigs spaced apart. These clam baskets allowed the water, sand and mud to drain out. Loops along the upper rim held ferns in place to cover food items in the basket. Harvesting, preparing and working with the plant materials is a skill in itself. Creating the basket and its design is another skill. It takes many years before a basket maker becomes an accomplished artisan. Some women became weavers making traditional Salish ceremonial blankets with white background and occasional dark lines. The blankets were usually made from mountain goat hair and that of a small dog. The breed of the dog is yet to be determined, but it is thought to have resembled a small white poodle or pomeranian whose hair could be sheared. These women held a respected position in the villages. 

2004.013.004 - Naming Blanket, made by Fran and Bill James.

2004.013.005 - Cedar bark woven with bear grass, made by Yvonne Peterson.

Dudley Carter's carving at Marymoor

Much of the fiber artwork such as baskets and weaving took place in the longhouses, as did the story telling. Local Indians lived in houses made from split cedar wood planks. The roofs were slanted from front to back in order to shed the rain. Large roof beams held up by decorated house posts were carved by skilled craftsmen. These posts, like the ones presently found at Beaver Lake Park in Sammamish, often depict stories, characters and songs. Song Dots on the posts represent songs while the figures represent stories. Stories are teachings that tell about the origin of things in the world, human characteristics and natural features. A Snoqualmie story titled, “Snoqualm, Moon The Transformer”, tells about the origins of the area between North Bend and Snoqualmie. Snoqualmie (English spelling) means “The Transformer’s People”.  A decorative pole depicting the story was carved by non-Native American Dudley Carter. The artwork can be found at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The story tells about how two Indian sisters fell asleep in the Snoqualmie prairie after digging fern roots. During the night the younger sister looked up at the stars above and wished that she could marry the white star and her sister marry the red star. Her wish came true when the star men picked up the girls and took them to the sky world. The elder sister became pregnant and delivered a baby boy who later was named, Moon the Transformer. By this naming time he had become an adult and the sisters had returned to their home by making a rope and sliding down it. Rat later chewed on the rope which fell to Earth from the sky world. The rope turned into a rock presently known as, Quarry Rock. As an adult, Moon transforms the Snoqualmie area by creating the natural features and peoples. He then goes into the sky to shed light by night while his younger brother, Sun, sheds light by day. The original version of the story is long, rich in detail and can be found at the University of Washington libraries.

Salmon Woman sculpture located at Highland Community Center, Bellevue

Native American art works are located in a myriad of places throughout the Eastside and Washington State. One Eastside location is at the front of the Highland Community Center on Bel-Red Road, Bellevue. The sculpture, created by Tom Jay and installed in 1991, is titled “Salmon Woman”. Some art works are local while others travel farther afield. A statue of Nisqually tribal leader and treaty rights activist, Billy Frank Jr. who died in 2014 at the age of 83, is being installed in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. A totem pole created by Lummi carvers is being taken to President Biden. It began its cross-country journey from Washington State on May 25, 2021 with an expected return date of June 14, 2021. The sacred journey with many stops along the route is a way of calling attention to the protection of Indigenous sacred places. The pole will be featured in the fall of 2021 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian --- a fine tribute to the original peoples of this land through the power of their art, stories and culture.

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Resources

Books:

Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Images of America: Maritime Seattle, 2002.

Bohan, Heidi, The People of Cascadia: Pacific Northwest Native American History, 2009.

Pamphlet:

Beaver Lake Park: Totem Pole and House Post Dedication, 12/5/1992.

Newspaper Articles:

Snoqualmie Valley Reporter, “Moon The Transformer” by Kenneth G. “Greg” Watson.

The Seattle Times, “A Sacred Journey” by Linda V. Mapes 4/12/2021.

The Seattle Times, “His voice will speak”: Billy Frank Jr. statue to represent state at U.S. Capitol    4/15/2021.

Dudley Carter: An Unusual and Forgotten Artist

Dudley Carter: An Unusual and Forgotten Artist

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1997BHS.027.052

Dudley Carter's iconic Forest Deity carving, near Bellevue Shopping Square circa 1947.

Dudley Carter was Redmond’s most famous sculptor, working with cedars and redwoods to sculpt Native American-inspired works. His more prominent works include the Haida House at Slough Park and “Forest Deity” at Bellevue Square.

Carter was perseveringly productive and his lifestyle challenged many modern American conceptions of life. He got his first paid job when he was 6 and kept working until his death almost 95 years later. He reportedly took one vacation and never again, preferring to continue working. He never had a formal Western education because he grew up among Native American peoples such as the Kwakiutl, Haida, and Tsimshyan, far away from schoolhouses. He also believed modern medical practice was a waste of money. He avoided seeing a doctor, instead eating a minimalist diet and fasting when needed.

Carter didn’t start sculpting until he was in his 40’s; the Depression in the 1930’s decreased demand for his services as a logger and gave him more time to explore his self-expression. One of his first major pieces was “Rivalry of the Winds”, which the Seattle Art Museum bought in 1932. He later moved to California and there created “Goddess of the Forest” at the 1939-1940 San Francisco World Fair, which gained him more recognition. He moved back to Seattle in the 1940’s.

Kemper Freeman Sr., the developer for Bellevue Square, loved Carter’s work on “Bird Woman” at the Bellevue’s first arts festival in 1947 and commissioned a work for Bellevue Square. At the time, Carter had a day job as a forest engineer for a timber company. He worked on what became “Forest Deity” every night from 10 pm to 2 am in the Snohomish woods close to Granite Falls until he’d finished.

The finished work revolves around the serene face of the deity, who according to some interpretations is female. There’s a small wreath of dogwood blossoms on her head. At the top of the work, an eagle chick peeks out from under the large head of its mother. In both American and Native American cultures, the eagle represents power through its speed and majesty in flight.

Carter would first sketch his sculpture on paper, then model it in small scale with clay or wood. Only then would he use a chainsaw to build the general form of the work from a giant log. Finally, he would use a double-bitted ax and other traditional hand-held tools to create the character of his piece. He believed that electronic chainsaws, while fast, removed all the personality and idiosyncrasies that make a sculptor’s work special. Occasionally, he would forgo planning and sketching in favor of finding inspiration in the natural shapes of driftwood from beaches.

Carter’s work is also displayed at Chinook Middle School, the Redmond Senior Citizens home, the entrance to Marymoor Park, and the Seattle Art Museum. Despite living around his work, I had never noticed it. Next time I’m at Bellevue Square, I’ll be sure to look for “Forest Deity”.

For more information, a documentary titled “Dudley Carter” was made in 1982.

By Alice - EHC Youth Volunteer