THE MONUMENT IN THE SAGE
About six miles north of Coulee Dam, the little village of Belvedere squats on the southern edge of several miles of nothing but sage brush, alkali flats, and an assortment of ancient gray boulders.
The gray of the sage and the gray of the boulders blend to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. The highway traveler, if he should even bother to glance out across the lonely sage, would have no way of knowing that one boulder is any different from any other.
But one is different. Not in size, nor in shape, but because it stands as a marker for the location of a tragic airplane crash which occurred at this very spot over thirty years ago.
There are no guideposts and no trails leading out to it, and unless the hunter knows where it is he would find it only by accident, and then probably, only after hours of searching.
It stands about a mile north of Belvedere and approximately a half mile off the highway to the right. It is, by a rough estimate about four feet tall and three feet wide. One side has been worn flat by centuries of rain, wind and sand. It is on this flat side that a bronze marker, to the memory of the flyer who lost his life at this spot, has been mounted. Inscribed on the marker is this simple legend:
IN MEMORY OF
THOMAS DOUGLAS STIMSON
April 26, 1931
______
A Pioneer
In Northwestern Aviation
The Wibur Register, under the dateline of April 30, 1931, carries the only account to be found locally of the tragedy. It states that Thomas Douglas Stimson, an experienced birdman, was on his way from Hellgate to his home in Seattle. He had bought a lamb from a rancher at Hellgate and was taking it home as a pet for his children. Experts who went to the scene concluded that the lamb had caused the crash.
It is evident, they said, that the lamb became unmanageable and caused the wreck. The lamb's head was wedged between the controls of the ship and thus could have made it impossible for the driver to prevent the wreck.
Whether the lamb was the cause of the crash or whether it wasn't, there will always be many unanswered questions. For instance: Men who remember the old fashioned airship say that the head of the lamb could not have been driven into the controls except by terrific force, such as the crash would have been. They believe that if the lamb had anything to do with the crash then it would have had to have been the cord that was found around its neck. They feel that some how the string may have become entangled in the controls.
Another question that arises is why the plane was up in this area to begin with. If the flyer was on his way to Seattle from Hellgate, then he was either off his course, or else he had another reason for being this far north. A local resident, who was aboard the old Steveson Ferry at the time recalls that the plane was flying low enough for the pilot to lean out and wave. The plane crossed the river, still flying north, and only moments later crashed int o the sagebrush. Just above the crash site lies a fairly flat stretch of land. If we were to assume that the pilot knew he was in trouble, and was attempting to reach this flat, then the assumption would immediately contradict itself because he could just as easily have landed in one of the fields on the Steveson place. Logical reasoning then leads to the belief that for some unknown reason the pilot was unable to bring the plane up from the river into the high area above Belvedere.
Another question is: Who walked around out through the sagebrush until they found this one special old gray boulder and who mounted the bronze plaque in the center of it. There is one thing that we do know however, and that is that some one cared enough to take the time to gather a number of smaller rocks and lay them in a perfect circle around the monument.
Virginia Beck
Published in The Star
February 3, 1966
About six miles north of Coulee Dam, the little village of Belvedere squats on the southern edge of several miles of nothing but sage brush, alkali flats, and an assortment of ancient gray boulders.
The gray of the sage and the gray of the boulders blend to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. The highway traveler, if he should even bother to glance out across the lonely sage, would have no way of knowing that one boulder is any different from any other.
But one is different. Not in size, nor in shape, but because it stands as a marker for the location of a tragic airplane crash which occurred at this very spot over thirty years ago.
There are no guideposts and no trails leading out to it, and unless the hunter knows where it is he would find it only by accident, and then probably, only after hours of searching.
It stands about a mile north of Belvedere and approximately a half mile off the highway to the right. It is, by a rough estimate about four feet tall and three feet wide. One side has been worn flat by centuries of rain, wind and sand. It is on this flat side that a bronze marker, to the memory of the flyer who lost his life at this spot, has been mounted. Inscribed on the marker is this simple legend:
IN MEMORY OF
THOMAS DOUGLAS STIMSON
April 26, 1931
______
A Pioneer
In Northwestern Aviation
The Wibur Register, under the dateline of April 30, 1931, carries the only account to be found locally of the tragedy. It states that Thomas Douglas Stimson, an experienced birdman, was on his way from Hellgate to his home in Seattle. He had bought a lamb from a rancher at Hellgate and was taking it home as a pet for his children. Experts who went to the scene concluded that the lamb had caused the crash.
It is evident, they said, that the lamb became unmanageable and caused the wreck. The lamb's head was wedged between the controls of the ship and thus could have made it impossible for the driver to prevent the wreck.
Whether the lamb was the cause of the crash or whether it wasn't, there will always be many unanswered questions. For instance: Men who remember the old fashioned airship say that the head of the lamb could not have been driven into the controls except by terrific force, such as the crash would have been. They believe that if the lamb had anything to do with the crash then it would have had to have been the cord that was found around its neck. They feel that some how the string may have become entangled in the controls.
Another question that arises is why the plane was up in this area to begin with. If the flyer was on his way to Seattle from Hellgate, then he was either off his course, or else he had another reason for being this far north. A local resident, who was aboard the old Steveson Ferry at the time recalls that the plane was flying low enough for the pilot to lean out and wave. The plane crossed the river, still flying north, and only moments later crashed int o the sagebrush. Just above the crash site lies a fairly flat stretch of land. If we were to assume that the pilot knew he was in trouble, and was attempting to reach this flat, then the assumption would immediately contradict itself because he could just as easily have landed in one of the fields on the Steveson place. Logical reasoning then leads to the belief that for some unknown reason the pilot was unable to bring the plane up from the river into the high area above Belvedere.
Another question is: Who walked around out through the sagebrush until they found this one special old gray boulder and who mounted the bronze plaque in the center of it. There is one thing that we do know however, and that is that some one cared enough to take the time to gather a number of smaller rocks and lay them in a perfect circle around the monument.
Virginia Beck
Published in The Star
February 3, 1966
THE MONUMENT IN THE SAGE
About six miles north of Coulee Dam, the little village of Belvedere squats on the southern edge of several miles of nothing but sage brush, alkali flats, and an assortment of ancient gray boulders.
The gray of the sage and the gray of the boulders blend to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. The highway traveler, if he should even bother to glance out across the lonely sage, would have no way of knowing that one boulder is any different from any other.
But one is different. Not in size, nor in shape, but because it stands as a marker for the location of a tragic airplane crash which occurred at this very spot over thirty years ago.
There are no guideposts and no trails leading out to it, and unless the hunter knows where it is he would find it only by accident, and then probably, only after hours of searching.
It stands about a mile north of Belvedere and approximately a half mile off the highway to the right. It is, by a rough estimate about four feet tall and three feet wide. One side has been worn flat by centuries of rain, wind and sand. It is on this flat side that a bronze marker, to the memory of the flyer who lost his life at this spot, has been mounted. Inscribed on the marker is this simple legend:
IN MEMORY OF
THOMAS DOUGLAS STIMSON
April 26, 1931
______
A Pioneer
In Northwestern Aviation
The Wibur Register, under the dateline of April 30, 1931, carries the only account to be found locally of the tragedy. It states that Thomas Douglas Stimson, an experienced birdman, was on his way from Hellgate to his home in Seattle. He had bought a lamb from a rancher at Hellgate and was taking it home as a pet for his children. Experts who went to the scene concluded that the lamb had caused the crash.
It is evident, they said, that the lamb became unmanageable and caused the wreck. The lamb's head was wedged between the controls of the ship and thus could have made it impossible for the driver to prevent the wreck.
Whether the lamb was the cause of the crash or whether it wasn't, there will always be many unanswered questions. For instance: Men who remember the old fashioned airship say that the head of the lamb could not have been driven into the controls except by terrific force, such as the crash would have been. They believe that if the lamb had anything to do with the crash then it would have had to have been the cord that was found around its neck. They feel that some how the string may have become entangled in the controls.
Another question that arises is why the plane was up in this area to begin with. If the flyer was on his way to Seattle from Hellgate, then he was either off his course, or else he had another reason for being this far north. A local resident, who was aboard the old Steveson Ferry at the time recalls that the plane was flying low enough for the pilot to lean out and wave. The plane crossed the river, still flying north, and only moments later crashed int o the sagebrush. Just above the crash site lies a fairly flat stretch of land. If we were to assume that the pilot knew he was in trouble, and was attempting to reach this flat, then the assumption would immediately contradict itself because he could just as easily have landed in one of the fields on the Steveson place. Logical reasoning then leads to the belief that for some unknown reason the pilot was unable to bring the plane up from the river into the high area above Belvedere.
Another question is: Who walked around out through the sagebrush until they found this one special old gray boulder and who mounted the bronze plaque in the center of it. There is one thing that we do know however, and that is that some one cared enough to take the time to gather a number of smaller rocks and lay them in a perfect circle around the monument.
Virginia Beck
Published in The Star
February 3, 1966
About six miles north of Coulee Dam, the little village of Belvedere squats on the southern edge of several miles of nothing but sage brush, alkali flats, and an assortment of ancient gray boulders.
The gray of the sage and the gray of the boulders blend to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. The highway traveler, if he should even bother to glance out across the lonely sage, would have no way of knowing that one boulder is any different from any other.
But one is different. Not in size, nor in shape, but because it stands as a marker for the location of a tragic airplane crash which occurred at this very spot over thirty years ago.
There are no guideposts and no trails leading out to it, and unless the hunter knows where it is he would find it only by accident, and then probably, only after hours of searching.
It stands about a mile north of Belvedere and approximately a half mile off the highway to the right. It is, by a rough estimate about four feet tall and three feet wide. One side has been worn flat by centuries of rain, wind and sand. It is on this flat side that a bronze marker, to the memory of the flyer who lost his life at this spot, has been mounted. Inscribed on the marker is this simple legend:
IN MEMORY OF
THOMAS DOUGLAS STIMSON
April 26, 1931
______
A Pioneer
In Northwestern Aviation
The Wibur Register, under the dateline of April 30, 1931, carries the only account to be found locally of the tragedy. It states that Thomas Douglas Stimson, an experienced birdman, was on his way from Hellgate to his home in Seattle. He had bought a lamb from a rancher at Hellgate and was taking it home as a pet for his children. Experts who went to the scene concluded that the lamb had caused the crash.
It is evident, they said, that the lamb became unmanageable and caused the wreck. The lamb's head was wedged between the controls of the ship and thus could have made it impossible for the driver to prevent the wreck.
Whether the lamb was the cause of the crash or whether it wasn't, there will always be many unanswered questions. For instance: Men who remember the old fashioned airship say that the head of the lamb could not have been driven into the controls except by terrific force, such as the crash would have been. They believe that if the lamb had anything to do with the crash then it would have had to have been the cord that was found around its neck. They feel that some how the string may have become entangled in the controls.
Another question that arises is why the plane was up in this area to begin with. If the flyer was on his way to Seattle from Hellgate, then he was either off his course, or else he had another reason for being this far north. A local resident, who was aboard the old Steveson Ferry at the time recalls that the plane was flying low enough for the pilot to lean out and wave. The plane crossed the river, still flying north, and only moments later crashed int o the sagebrush. Just above the crash site lies a fairly flat stretch of land. If we were to assume that the pilot knew he was in trouble, and was attempting to reach this flat, then the assumption would immediately contradict itself because he could just as easily have landed in one of the fields on the Steveson place. Logical reasoning then leads to the belief that for some unknown reason the pilot was unable to bring the plane up from the river into the high area above Belvedere.
Another question is: Who walked around out through the sagebrush until they found this one special old gray boulder and who mounted the bronze plaque in the center of it. There is one thing that we do know however, and that is that some one cared enough to take the time to gather a number of smaller rocks and lay them in a perfect circle around the monument.
Virginia Beck
Published in The Star
February 3, 1966
Inscription
IN MEMORY OF
THOMAS DOUGLAS STIMSON
April 26, 1931
______
A Pioneer
In Northwestern Aviation
(On memorial northwest of Belvedere, WA)
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