End Of The Line

It’s the 60th anniversary of a tragic and destructive day in downtown Olympia

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Ending Theme music is by Skrill Meadow. www.skrillmeadow.bandcamp.com

This story was adapted from a piece I did a while back before I knew any of the survivors. It played at the start of episode 73 Of Olympia Pop rocks http://www.olympiapoprocks.com/podcasts/2017/10/16/opr-73

You probably can’t see these amazing photos from your podcast player. Go to Welcometoolympia.com to take them all in.

On 4th Ave. looking west. Note the Eastside Tavern’s sign on the right. The nearest car is Joyce’s 57 Ford. The car behind that is Doug’s family’s 56 Ford. *State Archives

Looking north East from the air on day 2. I believe the building to the right of the train depot is the grocery store that Ruth’s family parked in front of after a spot opened up. *State Archives

Looking south from within the China Clipper. Yes, that’s a boxcar where the front windows and door should be. Judy was seated in the far left booth. Doug was 1 or 2 tables behind her. Joyce and her group of ladies were seated about where you see the word Southwest printed on the boxcar as I understand. *State Archives

View Looking from 4th Ave. and Adams ST. looking west. *The Daily Olympian photo

I used my running app to chart the course of the runaway’s path. The jig at the freeway was just due to a lost signal. The old spur line tracks to the depot (which is now Pet Works) are long gone. They branched off around 7th Ave. from the tracks that are still there today. The old tracks would have passed through what is now the Planned Parenthood building. My app charted an elevation drop of 124 feet over 2.2 miles, though I think you could shave 1/10th of a mile off due to the imprecise tracking. This is still an active track. It is not legal to walk it. If you decide to walk the route anyway, watch out for trains.