Category Archives: history

Along Chuckanut’s Shore

Posted on April 5, 2014 by jpkenna

July 4th, 1890 Following a winter of separation, Susie Taylor teaching school in Seattle and Jimmy Scanlon working railroad construction up in Fairhaven, the couple are reunited for the holiday.  Excerpt from Beyond The Divide: Leaving behind the throngs on … Continue reading →

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Mike, growing up back East

Posted on April 1, 2014 by jpkenna

  As Seattle begins recovery from a June fire that leveled nearly its entire commercial district, Jimmy Scanlon continues working railroad construction in the booming, more-northerly Puget Sound city of Fairhaven. Learning his girlfriend Susie Taylor came through the Seattle … Continue reading →

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Paddle, Paddle, George E. Starr

Posted on March 13, 2014 by jpkenna

Twice I’ve made the approximately 600-mile trip up the inside passage from Puget Sound to Southeast Alaska in a salmon troller–and one return trip. Averaging 5 to 6 knots, anchoring or tying up each night, seven to ten days from … Continue reading →

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Blizzard of Books, Queries, Reviews, Blogs

Posted on March 3, 2014 by jpkenna

OK, the accompanying sketch–from a photograph of the Pennsylvania Railroad depot in Rahway, New Jersey, following a late-19th Century snow storm (likely the legendary Blizzard of 1888)–might strain the metaphor a bit. Certainly it’s undeniable that in our early 21st … Continue reading →

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Where Have You Gone, Maxwell Perkins?

Posted on February 19, 2014 by jpkenna

Was it easier to get a book published before the recent onset of mass-digital (mostly self) publishing? It may depend on the type of book. Media celebrities, no matter how vacuous, seem to have no trouble getting book deals with … Continue reading →

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Joe Hill–Not Forgotten

Posted on January 15, 2014 by jpkenna

On January 10th, 1914, A Salt Lake City grocer (a former policeman) named John G. Morrison and his son were murdered. A Swedish-born itinerant laborer went on trial for the crime, and was convicted and sentenced to death. The young … Continue reading →

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Trains (large and small) and Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2013 by jpkenna

Our regional shopping mall here in Bellingham, Washington, dating from the late 1980s, recently had a grand re-opening showing off its multi-hundred thousand dollar face lift. I didn’t attend. I’ve got nothing against shopping malls. It’s just that I can’t … Continue reading →

Posted in history, nostalgia, railroading, social criticism, writing | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A View from the Track Up

Posted on December 5, 2013 by jpkenna

A major physical challenge in maintaining railroad track is that just about everything being worked on is less than a foot off the ground. A little like farm labor in that respect. After much of a lifetime of blue-collar jobs, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, railroading, self-publishing, writing | 5 Comments