Holden Village

Holden Village
	Holden Village
	Holden Village
Basic data
State :	United States
State :	Washington
County :	Chelan County
Coordinates :	48 ° 12 ′ N , 120 ° 46 ′ W Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ N , 120 ° 46 ′ W
Time zone :	Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 )

Holden Village is a year-round Evangelical Lutheran Christian center in the Northern Cascade Range in Washington state . Formerly the site of one of the largest copper mines in the world, the Holden Mine , today Holden can only be reached via a passenger ferry across Lake Chelan , the Lady of the Lake , or via hiking trails along the Cascade Range. Holden Village is the largest spiritual center in the United States and operates with a special permit from the Forest Service, an agency of the US Department of Agriculture.

geography

Holden Village is located in Washington's Cascade Range , within the Wenatchee National Forest. As it is inaccessible to motorists, visitors (volunteers, guests and hikers) usually take a ferry that goes up Lake Chelan from Chelan or Fields Point Landing to Lucerne. From there they continue to use a local bus, which takes them about 18 km to Holden Village via a dirt road with twelve switchbacks. Holden employees and guests greet the arriving buses with applause. However, it is also possible to reach Holden Village via a variety of walking routes.

history

Mining Era (1896–1957)

In 1896, James Henry Holden staked his first claim in the area, which later became Holden Village. However, due to the cost and difficulty of transporting copper from the isolated mine, the company was not fully productive until 1937. In 1938 the mine began to profit, producing about 1,800 tons of copper ore per day. With the success of the mine, miners and their families began to settle there who were still recovering from the Great Depression . The Howe Sound Company , which owned the mine at the time, built a town north of Railroad Creek soon after the upswing the mine took . The village of Holden, Washington consisted of a number of accommodations, a sports hall, bowling alley, canteen, school, hospital and other facilities. To the west of the village was a patch of smaller houses intended for miners with families.

The Holden Mine and the town of Holden flourished for many years regardless of isolation. However, after World War II , metal prices fell and the mine’s stocks began to dwindle. The mine was closed in 1957.

Holden Village (1957-present)

After the mine closed in 1957, Howe Sound Company began looking for a buyer for the Holden mine and the town. With a asking price of US $ 100,000, the remote property could not be sold. Wes Prieb, a member of the Lutheran Bible Institute (now known as Trinity Lutheran College in Washington), however, saw the potential for a spiritual center at the old mine. First he asked Howe Sound Company to donate the property to the Lutheran Church. The company initially refused, but eventually sold the town for a dollar.

The purchase of the mine and buildings initially posed many problems for the Lutheran Bible Institute . The properties were out of date and had been neglected for many years. Many had become unsure of their substance; the remnant did not meet modern building standards. With the help of an army of volunteers, the Lutheran Bible Institute successfully restored and renewed many of the buildings. The Village soon began to function as a summer spiritual center. Originally only one center used exclusively in summer was intended; only a handful of employees remained there in the first few winters. However, the infrastructural requirements and the beauty of the area surrounding Holden Village, even in winter, led to the expansion into a year-round center.

Rehabilitation of the mine

The Holden Mine of the Howe Sound Company was partly profitable due to low cost of on-site operation. The low-grade copper ore, for example, was initially concentrated and the residues from processing were deposited on many hectares of wetlands near the mine exit. Although this practice was not uncommon at the time, it affected three remote and otherwise pristine federal wilderness areas (The Glacier Peak Wilderness Area ). Modern restrictions came into effect after the mine was closed, banning such practices, and the US Environmental Protection Agency eventually declared the Holden Mine area a place where compensation can be used for environmental damage. Compared to other such areas in the United States, the damage in Holden has been compensated very little because of the importance of the area. The Railroad Creek flows directly below the landfill and experiences a significant input of iron, which reduces biodiversity and seals the water bed.

Before an interim solution was implemented in 1989, when the residue dump was covered with gravel, the fine dust was blown up by winds at speeds of more than 16 km / h, thus reducing the air quality. Holden and partner agencies have planted the landfill cover with trees with mixed success. Federal and state agencies have also sought solutions to contaminate the water flowing from the landfill into Railroad Creek. The Rio Tinto Group has been identified by the EPA as a potentially responsible party for the recovery costs. The search for a mutually acceptable solution to the problem turned out to be lengthy and arduous; but an agreement seems to be in sight. The negotiations between the state, federal government, Holden Village officials, and the public can be viewed in a federal report, including the fourteen proposed alternative solutions.

The renovation efforts took place between 2011 and 2016. In the summer of 2011, Holden started his normal program, but the work (with up to 65 employees) in and around the village also began. Continued in summer 2012, these “early works” projects paved the way for the “correct” renovation in 2013–2015. During these years, Holden Village saw changes to its program to accommodate and feed more than 200 construction workers who worked in shifts around the clock. At the end of 2016, the number of construction workers will decrease as the work is completed and the volunteers will continue to work on the renovation projects of the village. Holden Village welcomed guests for Christmas 2016 and New Year 2017 and started normal operations in spring 2017. A five-year test phase will then begin in which the need for further work in the eastern part of the area will be analyzed. If necessary, this will have an indefinite impact on Holden Village at this time.

Holden Village today

Today Holden Village operates as a year-round spiritual center. The work relies largely on volunteers for the daily chores. The center respects and hosts people of all faiths and origins as part of the community. Holden Village is inundated during the summer months with visitors and their families who stay for a few days, a week, or a month. In the summer, the center organizes a wide-ranging program with events on science, theology, art and philosophy for all age groups. Winters in the center are much quieter, although it is a popular destination for the Christmas holidays and the New Year. Large amounts of snow fall in Holden Village (over 18 feet on average), so snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are popular activities.

traffic

The sight for visitors who leave the Lady of the Lake in Lucerne

Holden Village remains almost isolated today as it was when it was founded; it is still not possible to reach the place only by car. Buses leave Holden Village in the morning and tumble down the treacherous switchbacks. The jetty on Lake Chelan, which is connected to Holden Village, is called Lucerne; this is where the buses meet the daily arriving and departing boats. The Chelan Boat Company , based in Chelan, Washington , operates two boats (the Lady of the Lake II and the Lady Express ) as feeders to the center. These boats carry passengers up and down the lake; they stop at the hotel town of Stehekin , at hiking trails, staff accommodation and in Lucerne, where they take visitors to Holden Village. Although some visitors to the center leave their cars in Chelan and take the ferry from the Chelan Boat Dock , others drive along the lake path to the large parking lot at Field's Point Landing near Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park . Holden Village operates a bed and breakfast a few miles from Field's Point which mostly caters for the center visitors who use this landing site.

hike

In addition to day hikes in the mountains surrounding the center, long-distance hikers can reach the place via various routes.

The most important and popular tour starts at the entrance to the Phelps Creek Trail near the end of the Chiwawa River Road . The route is mostly flat for 8 km, then climbs quickly over Spider Glacier to Spider Gap and then turns downhill to Lyman Lakes (about 9.6 km west of Holden), from where a well-marked path to Holden finally follows the Railroad Creek on hard Lake passes.
Hikers coming from the west side of the mountains can reach Holden via a 23 km walk up the Suiattle River Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail to Suiattle Pass ; all you have to do is make a two-mile detour to Lyman Lakes via Cloudy Pass .
Holden was previously accessible from Stehekin via indirect trails at Devore Creek and Hilgard Pass , but the 2015 Wolverine Fire destroyed much of the trail system in the area.

Picture of Lodge 3 in June 2010.

Exterior view of the dining room, June 2010.

Community

Most of the year-round Holden Village residents are volunteers. Most residents have special jobs - from kitchen helpers and housekeepers to heavy machinery mechanics and electricians - which they do all year round. Living together is the rule in the center; Guests are integrated into the community of volunteers. The residents' families live in chalets , sometimes with another couple or another family. Other residents live together in the accommodations known as lodges. Meals are taken together in the dining room at specified times; Meat is used very sparingly. While guests and volunteers are given a great deal of freedom in organizing the daily routine, Holden Village as an institution expects to come together during the daily evening Vespers and Sunday mass. Holden Village is known for the Holden Evening Prayer (referred to as Vespers '86 in the center), a form of traditional Vespers. The Holden Evening Prayer was composed by Marty Haugen, a distinguished composer of liturgical music in the United States, during a sabbatical in the winter of 1986.

Domke Lake Fire (2007)

Image of the Lucerne landing site during the evacuation of the staff from Holden Village on August 14, 2007

In August 2007, around 300 guests and employees had to be evacuated from Holden Village because the nearby Domke Lake Complex - forest fire threatened the center; only 25 people were left behind to keep the center functioning. While the center itself was never directly threatened, the only access road was in danger. During the operation, Holden Village provided room and board for the men and women of the fire brigade squads. Six weeks later, on September 21, the center reopened to guests.

Wolverine Fire (2015)

Dry weather conditions across Washington state led to many devastating forest fires in 2015. On June 29, 2015, a lightning strike in Wolverine Creek caused a fire that spread towards Lucerne and became part of the Chelan Complex fire; In the course of this, the center (residents, guests and workers in the renaturation project) was evacuated on August 1st and 2nd, shortly before the fire blocked access. A small team of 4–5 residents stayed to operate the extinguishing system, which was operated around the clock with river water; They also looked after the firefighters who were on the front lines in the surrounding mountains, protected the wooden structures from glowing ashes and helped clear a protective ring around the center and the renaturation area. The Chelan Complex fire widened further towards the lake, so that the Holden Bed & Breakfast and Lake House was evacuated on August 15; the cities of Chelan and Manson were also threatened. On August 28, the fire had moved far enough to allow some employees to return, which was possible for all residents on September 7.