MTR.2009.8 Charles and Marion Hessey Photographs

Mountaineers catalog number: MTR.2009.8

These notes are by Lowell Skoog. This collection was donated to the Mountaineers by the estate of Marion Hessey on 8 April 2008. While compiling these notes, I applied numbers to the slide trays and boxes using blue masking tape. I refer to these numbers below. Note that the various boxes listed below have been combined into four "container boxes" labeled C1 through C4.

35mm slides in rotary (non-Kodak) trays

These trays (each in its own box) are in container boxes labeled C1 through C3. Each tray holds 100 slides and the trays are generally full. For best quality, look in the sections of the trays that I've noted. (As I reviewed the slides, I sometimes pulled out good ones and refiled them at the end of the tray.) My special interest is Washington skiing, so I've noted slides on this subject which may be of less interest to others.

  • Tray 1: Mt Robson skiing 1950, Mt Assiniboine skiing 1952, Canadian Rockies and Sawtooths in summer.
  • Tray 2: Cascades misc (esp. Goat Rocks), Hogback skiing 1950s (#90 to end).
  • Tray 3: Ugly logging, family, Christmas, Gold Hill cabin and skiing, pre-Crystal Mountain (#69 to end).
  • Tray 4: Hessey log house construction 1961, Mt Assiniboine skiing 1952, Canadian Rockies misc.
  • Tray 5: Gold Hill cabin summer and skiing, 1960 cabin construction (#74 to end best).
  • Tray 6: New Zealand 1987, Canadian Rockies 1985, Artist Point 1985, summer.
  • Tray 7: New Zealand 1987.
  • Tray 8: Alpine Lakes area 1950s-60s, summer.
  • Tray 9: North Cascades, mostly summer (#65 to end best).
  • Tray 10: Rocky Mountain parks etc, local domestic photos.
  • Tray 11: Alaska-Canada 1985.
  • Tray 12: North Cascades, mostly summer (#86 to end best).
  • Tray 13: Goat Rocks summer, misc critters and flowers, Goat Rocks ski 1953 (#91 to end).
  • Tray 14: Alpine Lakes summer, W.O. Douglas wilderness, Chiwaukum ski 1966, Spanish Camp ski 1958 (dupes, #86 to end best).
  • Tray 15: Olympic mountains 1970, a few Napeequa-High Pass shots.
  • Tray 16: Phelps Pass, Lyman Lake summer, Boulder Pass, Ice Lakes, White Rock Lakes 1959 (#67 to end best).
  • Tray 17: Gold Hill and Crystal Mountain skiing 1940s-60s (#56 to end best).
  • Tray 18: Naches Valley scenes, critters, Christmas.
  • Tray 19: "Home environs" - Naches Valley scenes.
  • Tray 20: North Cascades, mostly summer, Coleman Basin ski (#71 to end best).
  • Tray 21: Glacier Peak area, especially Napeequa 1950s and 1982, White Rock Lakes 1959 (#59 to end best).
  • Tray 22: Eureka Creek summer 1976, Methow-Okanogan 1983, Olympic mountains, Gold Hill skiing (#87 to end).
  • Tray 23: Chelan-Sawtooth summer, Skiing Hogback and Goat Rocks 1953 (#82 to end).
  • Tray 24: Chelan-Sawtooth summer, Star-Hoodoo ski (#25-27), Spanish Camp ski 1958 (originals #28-57), Sunny Pass Pasayten ski 1970 (#58-69), Pasayten summer 1958.
  • Tray 25: Glacier Peak area, White Rock Lakes 1959 (#1-13), Mt Rainier (#52-76); Kennedy Hot Springs, 1950s Napeequa (#77-87); Napeequa 1982 (#88-93), Lyman Lk and Burroughs Mtn ski (#95-98).
  • Tray 26: Glacier Peak area, White Pass (#53-81), Totem Pass to Hanging Gardens (#82-87), White Rock Lakes 1959 (#88-93), Marion on trail (#94-97).
  • Tray 27: Alpine Lakes region including Enchantment Lakes (#66 to end best), Enchantment Lks ski 1949 (#89-93), Chiwaukum ski 1966 (#94-100).
  • Tray 28: Misc Cascades, Mt Adams 1948 and Mt St Helens 1952 ski (#91 to end).

 


2x2 slides in slide storage boxes

These slides measure two inches by two inches. Every box contains about 100 slides (or more). Many of the slides are slightly grainy and the focus is not razor-sharp, so the overall quality of these slides is typically no better than 35mm slides. There are exceptions.

Box 1 - "Alligator skin" box

This box contains miscellaneous photos (in summer) from all over the Washington Cascades. When the box is open like a book (with the lid on the left) all of the left row and most of the center row contain such slides. Some have a magenta cast. In addition, I've separated out other slides into the following groupings:

  • Chuck and Marion Hessey wedding, 1954
  • Napeequa Valley, especially glacier shots
  • White Rock Lakes, 1959
  • Other glacier photos, especially Mt Daniel, Cascade Pass area
  • Misc skiing: Spanish Camp, Goat Rocks, Mt Baker, Cleman Mtn
  • Gold Hill skiing
  • Lyman Lake skiing

Box 2 - Metal box

  • White Rock Lakes, 1959
  • Weasel Creek, Agnes Valley, 1955
  • Pyramid Peak, Lake Chelan, 1955
  • Milham-Mirror Lake, Emerald Park, 1954
  • Nevarre on skis and snowshoes
  • Oval Lakes
  • Anacortes Crossing
  • Silver Star (from Goat Peak?)
  • West Fork Methow, Snowy Lakes, 1967
  • Autumn-Winter local (Naches Valley)
  • Alpine Lakes (good shot of Mt Daniel glacier, 1965)
  • Mt Adams, 1953

Box 3 - Metal box

  • Cascade Pass area, summer
  • Goat Rocks, summer
  • Hogback, Goat Rocks skiing, 1953-55
  • Holden and Lyman Lake skiing (3 slides)
  • Fifes Ridge summer

Box 4 - Metal box

Many of these slides have a significant magenta cast.

  • Rocky Mountain ski trip, 1954: Sun Valley, Alta, Jackson Hole, Aspen (Chuck and Marion Hessey with Rick Mack).
  • Napeequa Valley via Little Giant, Boulder and High Passes, 1953 and 1956. (1953 trip included 13-year-old nephew Phil Dahl.) There are many historically significant photos of the Napeequa Glaciers.
  • Naches Valley scenes (labeled as "local domestic"). One slide depicts Chuck Hessey skiing on Cleman Mountain.

Box 5 - Cardboard box

This 7x10x3-inch cardboard box has many 2x2 slides sort of thrown inside. (I added dividers to keep the slides neat.) This box is currently in a larger box together with the miscellaneous slides in processing boxes listed below.

The box contains miscellaneous photos from throughout the Cascades, most of low quality. Some have a significant magenta cast. There are a few skiing pictures from the Muir Snowfield (1953) and Mt Baker ski area (1955). There are two photos of skiers on top of Crystal Mountain (mid-1950s), where the ski lodge now stands, with Mt Rainier in the background.

 


Miscellaneous slides in processing boxes

These are in a cardboard container box inside box C3. Most of these are 2x2 slides but a few are 35mm. Unless otherwise noted, all pictures are in summer.

Box A - Chroma Color Lab

  • Methow-Pasayten scenes
  • Lake Chelan, Pyramid Peak
  • Chiwawa, Icicle Rivers
  • Oval Peak summit

Box B - Chroma Color Lab

  • Misc 35mm ski photos, good quality
  • 2x2 ski photos: Chiwaukum 1966, Goat Rocks 1953, Gold Hill, Hogback

Box C

  • Chiwaumum ski 1966
  • Snowy Lakes summer

Boxes D, L, N, O, Q, S, T
Misc Cascades and/or Olympics

Boxes E, F, G, H, I, J, K, R, Y
Olympics 1969-70

Box M
Lyman Lake ski

Boxes P
Mt Stuart area, Lake Louise AB

Boxes U, X
Napeequa Glacier (1) and misc

Box V - 35mm
Local (Naches Valley) scenes, developed Aug 1990

Box W - 35mm
Gold Hill cabin construction 1960 with photo of Chuck and Marion Hessey eating ice cream, also Louis Creek Basin (1)

Sheet 1 - 2x2
While scanning selected slides, I removed a few of them from glass mounts. My scanner cannot accommodate these mounts, and the mounts seem to encourage the growth of redish mold (rust?). So I placed these slides in an archival page. I've stored the page in the larger box containing the "miscellaneous slides in processing boxes."

  • Marion Hessey, Tom Lyon and Dorothy Egg ski across McCall Basin, 29 Mar 1953.
  • Cars at Morse Creek on the Chinook Pass highway, 10 Apr 1955.
  • Gold Hill (Crystal Mountain) powder skiing, 1950s.
  • Tom Lyon views Mt Rainier from Hogback Mtn, 27 Mar 1953.
  • Two skiers traverse Hogback basin enroute to Shoe Lake, 26 Mar 1953.
  • Tom Lyon (shirtless and on skis) views Old Snowy, Mar 1953.