FS archaeologists and faculty and students from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) worked with PIT volunteers to locate the remains of the late-19th-century mining town of Monte Cristo and to map and document the site to better understand its contribution to Washington’s history.
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Monte Cristo, ca. 1894. The town’s main street was named Dumas Street, part of the Count of Monte Cristo theme used by promoters of the mines and town. Note the steep slope and the buildings on stilts. Many of the platted “streets” were no more than footpaths, like the upper portion of Dumas Street climbing the hilll in the background. |
| PIT volunteers and PLU students examine a railroad turntable mechanism, used to reverse the direction of locomotives at the end of the line. (Built to last, the turntable still turns!) The interpretive sign in the foreground reads, “Locomotive Turntable: Workers turned a locomotive and coal car around and stored them overnight in a barn on the far side. The turntable was enclosed in a large, round wooden building.” |  |
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PIT volunteers and PLU students record the remains of the assay office, one of several historic buildings whose locations have been identified by the Monte Cristo Preservation Association. Unfortunately, the archaeological evidence of these buildings is readily visible on the ground because treasure hunters have dug into the site. |