Pictures of flooding in the Mineral area

The Elbe bridge over the Nisqually:

East Creek in Pleasant Valley:

Kootney Creek in Pleasant Valley:

Mineral Creek:

Quick road update

SR 161 northbound is closed at 317th Street E and SR 161 southbound at 304th Street E due to water over the roadway. No detour available.

SR 7 southbound is closed at Elbe. This is a manned closure, local traffic only south of Elbe on SR 7. This is because of flooding at Morton, but if you’re only heading to Mineral, they should let you through.

I-5 is closed at Chehalis, as are the rail lines, and down to two lanes each direction in Fife, but people are still getting through.

So it sounds like from Mineral, you can get north on 7 to Spanaway, where there may be detours. From Morton, depending on how exactly they have closed 5 at 12, you might be able to get south to Portland. No one gets to go to Spokane, though.

Good news! The park seems to be ok, according to the News Tribune:

Mount Rainier officials have reopened the Nisqually entrance into the park.

The entrance was closed Wednesday evening as a precautionary measure.

Officials were concerned about flooding, which didn’t develop overnight.

The road between Longmire and Paradise is closed for snow removal.

The National Park Inn at Longmire is open.

Why you couldn’t get your mail today

The Mineral Post Office was burgled last night.

At 6:30 AM, Donna Page notified Don Johnstone, the Assistant Postmaster, that the door from the lobby to the counter was open and broken. The Postmistress was notified and the Lewis County Sheriff and the Postal Inspector came out to Mineral to investigate.

No mail was disturbed.

The thieves did get away with cash, stamps, and money orders. There is damage to the door. The Assistant Postmaster reports that the fingerprint dust is stickier than you would imagine, but the Clorox Wipes take it up pretty well.

The Post Office staff request that if you have any leads, you report them to the Lewis County Sheriff. This is a federal crime, and appears to have been committed by a person or persons with locksmithing knowledge, or prior post office knowledge.

Good News for Mineral Lake Lodge

The Sheppard’s received some exciting news this morning.  A filming crew from Animal Planet are coming for a stay in March. 

The five member crew from Maryland will be filiming the beavers at Northwest Trek and need a place to stay. They followed the links on the Northwest Trek web site, and chose the Mineral Lake Lodge as their home away from home.

Fire Engine Dedicated

About fifty people met last evening at the Fire Hall to help dedicarte the new fire engine.  Ed Brown, Fire District Commissioner, introduced the volunteers, and the other Commissioners.

Ed explained how a small community like Mineral was able to afford a fire engine that cost nearly $300,000.

After the introductions, the gathering toured the fire house, looked at the different equipment, and some even took rides in the new engine.

Ledger’s Weather Station Upgrade

The final steps were taken Saturday (01-27-07) to upgrade the Ledger’s Weather station.  A crew added an additional ten feet to the mast that serves the wind gage.  This lifts the gage well above roof level, and we hope improves accuracy.

Did You Notice?

On Monday the 22nd of January, Lewis County Public Works Department employee’s replaced the street signs in Mineral. The new signs are the same green and white, and the Ledger has not been able to note any name changes.  The new signs are about 1/3rd bigger and easier to read.

Garbage pickup

Due to the snow last Tuesday, no one’s garbage got collected. This week, you can put out an extra 32-gallon container, and the fine sanition engineers will get out of the truck and toss it in without charging you extra. Do remember that this is lots of extra work for them, so if you see them, say “Thank You”.