Abandoned Ghost Town by the train tracks! (Lester, WA)
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Took a long time to get here but found the town of Lester that was officially abandoned in 2002. Hope you enjoy!
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The town of lester is completely torn down now! :( So this video is a small part of history
The plaster and wood paneling is from the later part of the 1800s. I really wonder what the restroom would have been, considering that indoor plumbing in the PNW didn't come until later. And especially with those toilets. It might have been that people were living there until the 1950s when no one needed the railroad. I'm definitely not an expert on this subject so feel free to comment constructive criticism:)
I was going to say that the slatted framing in the walls was from early 1900’s. At least homes I have been in here in Wisconsin that are really old. Awesome to see the insides of these houses!
Darn, it looked a place where you can peacefully hang out and hide
the item towards the end is a washer and the "rolling pin" looking thing on top would press the excess water out, to make the clothing dry faster while on the clotheslines. :)
Aaliyah Gomez Wow thank you so much! I was wondering what that was. lol
The rollers are called "wringers" and you can still buy units like these for people who chose to live off grid. they make it easier and more effective to get the water out between washing and rinsing. Then, the clothes dry faster, too.
Aaliyah Gomez It's called a ringer washer. My granny used one.
My mother had one. I was always terrified that the wringer was going mangle me.. She warned me that it would take my arm.
It's a wringer washer put cloths in wash them run them through the two pins which is the wringer.
So back in the 60’s when my Dad was a kid, his family used to own a summer home in Lester and he remembers the REAL reason(s) that Lester later became a ghost town, and according to him it had little to nothing to do with the railroad.. He said that in (approx) 1967 local government officials began notifying residents that they were initiating eminent domain procedures. (Eminent Domain is essentially when the government comes in forces you to sell them your property for at or near market value). Their expressed reasons for initiating eminent domain in this particular case (assuming my Dad’s memory is serving him correctly here) was because Lester is located at the headwaters of the Green River (yes, THAT Green River) and, as such, is in Tacoma’s watershed so the government was growing concerned about the potential for the river to become polluted.. Another, and perhaps far more salient reason for Lester’s demise was the closure of the Scott Paper Co. paper plant,
Wow thanks so much for the extended personal information. Very interesting to say the least. I heard that lester is no more. :(
I lived there in 1965 and that is what happened thy took the property worked for Scott paper as parts man lots of memories good people and fun
OMG! This gave me chills SO bad!!!! My family slept up there and woke up to a dozen elk in the yard!!! That first building you were in was were Gert lived last. We had family reunions there. Gert was my husband at the times aunt. She was a the school teacher up there and her husband uncle Frank was principal. I miss it up there!!! So peaceful and quiet. RIP Aunt Gert you and all your stories are missed by us all.
The houses were built around 1920.Communities always built up around train tracks. There were no interstates back then, and very few highways. So the train stations were the place to be hear for convenience sake. Eventually they would become a named town and then either rise to become a city, or fade away. The fading was usually due to businesses closing like with Detroit. D'lo, Mississippi is another such town. My father was born there in 1918. D'Lo grew quickly into a bustling city thanks to Finkbine lumber company. Twenty years or so later it dwindled to a small town again because the pine trees they milled were gone.Weather had a role in a towns boom or bust also. Tornadoes and floods wiped out many a town.I love the history of places. The buildings designs and so forth.You made a good video! It was eye candy for me!Oh, and that was a nice porch swing you saw, not a bench. Everybody had one. After supper you'd sitoutside on one and listen and watch the world. Because it was hot and nobody had air conditioning.Thanks for the tour!Go on Google Maps and search along the woods by the railroad tracks. There's probably thousands still left.
ThIs was like rail workers cabins to maintain the lines year round but especialy over winter they would work around the clock making sure the snow and avalanches were cleared and fallen trees removed . The hinged doors were likely personal lockers or supplies
Super interesting. Washington is so beautiful and haunting. I’m so proud to call this state my hometown.
There are so many areas I’ve not yet explored and I cry 😭
For the record, this site was the Lester Guard Station- part of the USFS North Bend Ranger District. The larger building was the office/ bunk house, the back building strictly a bunkhouse. The metal clad building was the gas pump house, and the large shed building was a place to store the tanker trucks for firefighting, as well as the tools and other supplies. It also had a work room with a table saw for any construction/repairs needed. I worked out there several times in the late '70's early '80's when I was a USFS employee. It was a pleasant place to live and work, very quiet and not the least bit spooky- though I always thought it would be a great place for a Halloween party, if you could get people to drive all that way. There were several other abandoned homes in the general vicinity. The Tacoma Watershed would come and plow them under so no one could live in them- I always thought they were bunch of jerks for chasing everyone out. Anyhow- this is what you're seeing.
Great comment. I got sucked into the rabbit hole of Lester recently. Lifelong Puget Sound resident and I had no clue this place existed. Such an amazing history
I'm so surprised this video only has 21k views. Thank you for explaining where the location was/is. And giving as much info as you possibly could about the town and the elder lady.
Awesome video! 👍
That old fridge was typical of what was manufactured and sold right after WWII. The real attraction with those was the fact you could keep ICE CREAM solid at home!! I was born in 1952 and my Mom and Dad almost never got over the joy in that feature : )
this guy has such a beautiful soul
Great video!!!!!!!!! So sad this town is gone its amazing to look back in time!!
the first group of 3 structures used to be a us forest service stock camp/guard station where mules and horses were kept and local rangers lived when not out on patrols. the uw website has some really nice photos of the camp when it was in good condition.
Can't believe you've never seen a wringer/washer before.
Never had to use one so didn't think about it till I saw it. Lol. Thanks John!
You are correct about the ladder being a fire escape. Seen them on all the ranger stations i worked on refurbishing for Olympic nat. Park. All built around the 30's
I was in Lester in the Mid '60's on business. The town was active at that time...
Wow that's amazing!! What can you tell me about it? How was it during it being active?
There were still about 15 to 20 small homes and buildings when I visited Lester in 1994.
Do you know where the old bottle dumpster atAnd were the old buildings were at
Great video once again Love the ABBA shirt.
Ram
Those washers got your clothes clean! The wringer wrinkled them pretty good but got all the water out! Abba was an awesome band!!!❤❤
I'm so glad now that I DIDN'T like your first video I watched, because after you replied to my bad comment (remember that ?). I subscribed & now love all your videos.. & even tell others to go to your channel & sub. You got a good family clean channel. You remind me of my youngest son..a real sweet young man.
Anyway, love your videos & I'm still trying to play catch up watching your older ones. Be careful & stay safe !
Shirley Harrison Wow thank you Shirley! I do remember me replying to you on that comment but I can't remember what exactly the conversation was about. But that is extremely kind of you. Much appreciated and good luck on catching up on my older videos. As you probably already know, my newer videos are alot better than my older ones.
It was technical term " Wringer Washer" self explanatory. Most sold was Westinghouse.
At the end of the video you were looking at a machine. It is an old ringer clothes washer. You would fill it with water, put your clothes in and start the diesel or kerosene motor to run the agitator to wash your clothes. Then after the wash you would put the wet clothes through the rollers to squeeze out the excess water and hang them on the line to dry.
This is so cool. I love in WA and am always looking for abandoned places to visit. I will have to check this out. Thank you for sharing. Debbie.
Hey debbie, thanks for watching. Unfortunately, this is all torn down now. :(
Grew up in Kittitas County, never heard of Lester. Redrum is from The Shining. 11:52 is a washing machine.
The round tub with the spindle in the middle and the two rollers attached to it, was a washing machine. you washed the cloths in the rotating tub, then ran them through the wringer before you hung them up on the cloths line to dry.
Wringer washer..............THE AGITATOR STILL LOOKS ABOUT THE SAME!!! hahahahahahha. good video thanks for showing everything.
Who saw 666 Elm Street at 12:17?
Joey Snell Jr I noticed that too but it also said " body parts for sale " above the addy
Wait. Is that actually real, or did he put that there for the video?
What about "body parts for sale " 12:15 ?
I bet you could buy that town cheap and restore the buildings. You could own your own private town.
David Brown Unfortunately I heard that they tore down all the buildings
No. It is inside the Tacoma watershed. That's (one reason) why the town was condemned and abandoned.
Nope. Our family couldn't even move up there after Gert passed.
Nice intro, very informative with the history/background of the ghost town. Cool video!
Hey thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the history behind it. :)
Harmin vlogs :)
I was at Lester about a year ago and the town has been leveled. There are no ruins left.
Yep I was there yesterday. The last buildings depicted in the video gone. Ran into the city of Tacoma patrolman out there and he mentioned the buildings were torn down due to liability risk, he mentioned a lot of tourists would come back there to explore especially around Halloween for haunted house and there is still an active bnsf train that goes through there over stampede pass that was worried about tourists not paying attention and getting hit. He mentioned there could be as much as 150 people out there back when the buildings were still there. They thought about blocking access at the “walk only” gate, but they still allow people to walk from that gate to the old town of Lester, about 1/8 of a mile past the more modern rail buildings there are clear signs that say not to advance further, so that’s where the legal exploring ends. There are still some old building foundations scattered around, but no more focal buildings anymore..I would expect fewer people to visit in the future because of this...and I think that was their goal in the demolition. They wanted to preserve history but the liability risk was too much with the volume of people visiting..
Called a wringer washer. The squeezer thing is the wringer. A marvelous, modern appliance in the 1930s!
@Infamous Crime Location. If you think you may have heard of Redrum before, he was a horse that was kidnapped in I think Ireland, unfortunately never to be seen again and we always say Redrum was Murder spelled backward.
Wow cool a wringer washer machine very cool place
The building with all of the doors inside would have been a sort of company storage shed used by workers who worked there during its prime. The narrower doors were probably lockers where they kept their personal belongings (street clothes, lunches, etc) while they were working.
Maybe someone answered already, but that was a wringer washing machine..quite the advancement at the time. I think the houses were built much earlier than 1940's..people just updated their appliances so that is why they are from that era. The house's structure, layout, etc. seems early 1920's? Just a guess. Thanks for the video. Always done great!
I love finding out about old towns and places..I've been searing abandoned towns in Washington and by far this is my favorite I've found so far..I'm gonna check out your channel and see if I can find more..if youd like to see the old abandoned cabins I've found or twin lakes up by mt Baker I have videos on my channel of that..I hope I find more old town cool stuff on your channel. Thanks for q great video..I loved seeing the artist mushroom it was so big
That one thing was an old wringer type washer used to wash clothes, my grandmother had one when I was about 6 years old and I got my arm hung in the wringer all the way up to my shoulder
It’s a washing machine and roller to squeeze clothe “dry”
Thanks for letting me know!! 👍👊😀
There were orange postings on a couple of the buildings. Are they marked for demolition? The machine in the woods is an old wringer washing machine. Usually accompanied by wash tubs. You would put the washed clothes through the wringer into the first rinse tub, and then through the wringer again into the second rinse tub. Wringer washing machines could be dangerous for large-breasted women... Great find again! Thanks!
Unfortunately these buildings were all knocked down. Really nothing left from the ghost town anymore. :(
was the last building a storage facility with individual locker type things
Super cool! My husband and I just moved to Washington from Florida back in December and we’ve been trying to find new places to visit, might have to check this place out!
Jordyne Timms Hey Jordyne, funny coincidence as I have been traveling around florida for awhile. Do you have any abandoned recommendations down there? Unfortunately, this ghost town has been demolished. :(
The thing at 14:08 is a washing machine .
I know you would think he would know that. What with a washing mangle on it. My mother had a similar machine.
It is called a crawl space. In most homes like that, getting dirty was the only way to fix leaky or total blown water pipes. The last thing is an old washing machine.
My grandpa grew up there. wild.
Love your video 😊
old ringer washer not a bread machine
cool little places. i like the infro you give , it helps to know the story behind them. thanks
Nice video I'm defiantly subbing and leaving like!!
Hey BGP, thanks so much! Where are you guys from?
+Harmin vlogs we're from Leeds England
What you asked about that you didn't know what it is. ... it's a washing machine! The wash would be done in the tub portion, swishing clothes back n forth. Then you'd sekect the lever function to dump the soap water and then manually fill the tub with water for the rinse. The upper rollers, the"wringer" were used to wring the clothes you'd take from the rinse water, then roll them through. You'd shake them after getting them off the roller they'd be tightly compressed so you'd shake them out, put them in a basket and then hang to dry 😊
Loved this video!! :-)
Sad vandals found it
Vandals didn't destroy the town, the City of Tacoma did. The person making the video is trespassing on City of Tacoma Watershed land. Lester existed from 1880 until 1986 when they closed the school. I drive logging trucks in the watershed regularly.
Only came here cuz I thought you were going to use a metal detector. I stayed because you found something old and forgotten. He told the story from beginning to it's final chapter. you did good. Oh by the way that's from a washing machine. Haha happy hunting.
It's a washing machine and the other building looks like a shop to work on cars and trucks
my sisters and her boyfriend tried looking for it, we got their but we walked for more than 3 miles and still couldn't find it. we had other people trying to find it but no one found it. it was like a scavenger hunt
Wow that sucks Charity! It took me no joke 3 or 4 hours to finally find it and then a few hours it seemed to actually walk to it. Sorry you couldn't find it.
I know several people who lived there in the 70s. I'm from Enumclaw.
Washing machine
Movie reference was from The Shining
Love it! Thanks
You are so welcome!
In the last minutes he sits below a sign that reads "Body Parts For Sale 666 Elm Street" am I missing something?
I visited Lester in the late 80's - sort of a creepy place. And nice ABBA tee-shirt!
Nice old buildings ,shame they don’t want to keep them ..Bread-maker lol.. can tell you know your way around the kitchen ..great video 😀
Hi Harmin, liked your video and my wife and i are planning on going there tomorrow. I thought it was like a mile walk in? Some people said 3-4 hours? How long did it take you to walk?
Ken VanderPol It seemed like it took several hours to walk from the closed off bridge but they may be partially due to the fact that I got lost. Definitely plan on 2 hours each way probably at the least
Harmin vlogs thanks for the info!
My husband and I just got back from Lester today. There ARE NO BUILDINGS left standing.
Jane Jane What?? No way. That's so sad. History is gone forever
there is nothing left?I was actually thinking about looking into what would it take to buy a place like it
Thank you so much for sharing this historic video. I wonder about the electic system? Seems like the electricity was put in last. That was an electric ringer washer.
Jimmy Happy Smith Thanks for watching Jimmy! I'm not sure about the electricity. Appreciate you letting me know about the washer as well.
Its an old washing machine
The Shining thats the Movie "Redrum" is from.
Thanks Steely!! I knew it was from a familiar movie
No problem. Good vid ! Im going to watch some more of your vids ton.
+Harmin vlogs I couldn't help but laugh the way you said it. loool your so cute. 😆😄
That was a wringer washing machine.
At around 12:00 ... that's an old school washing machine and the rollers are to squish the water out!!! Duhh lol
Pseudo Intellectual Haha thanks. Many people have pointed that out.
So cool I need to explore my neck if the woods I’m curious whats around little mattawa around the saddle mountains😇
ok if memory serves me the building with al the doors was the town store ad that old thing in the yard was an old washing machine
Sorry, but I would’ve been tempted to grab a couple of things from there. Sad to see them just rot!
I bet they were cute little homes back in the day
the sign in the doorway says body parts for sale. at first i thought that referred to that neat car door by the antique washer and dryer. then i finished reading the sign. 666 elm street.
Good thing you went the year that you did because the buildings have since been demolished by Tacoma Water and not much remains anymore.
Yeah I agree! Sometimes timing works out perfectly
Great video man
Thanks Bro!! :)
Redrum came from the movie the shining.
good job bro keep it up i liked ur video love from pakistan
That is a old washing machine and ringer
What you see is a clothes washer and a ringer.
Can. You. Please. Show. All. The. Old. Coal. Mines. In. The. Cle. Elum. Area. I. Have. Been. To. All. Of. Them. I. Rode. Dirt. Bikes. Camped. In. The. Bullfrog. Flats. Area. Old. Hill. Climb. #9. Now. Part. Of. The. Golf. Course. Thanks
😅😂now that is the funniest thing I have ever heard that guy not knowing that he was looking at a washing machine..Hell i am only 64 and had one in my house. 😅
It would be good without the creepy music
Sorry about that Chris. Very early video so I was still trying to figure things out
Reminds me of Fried Green Tomatoes...
lol. wringer washing machine. Fun video. Too bad about the town, it would have made a nice camp ground with cabins.
primrozie I heard that all the buildings were torn down
How do you find these places I'm new to Washington I'm by Spokane
Paige Lee Hey Paige! I honestly just Google the heck out of places. I usually type in abandoned places in whatever state I'm in or city. That combined with people giving me suggestions.
The thing you wondred, what it is.....it an old wringer washing machine
Thank you Henry!! I appreciate that.
That would be cool to rebuild it make it alittle bigger im from Washington.
Well the sky is the limit for rebuilding as it's all gone now
DIG THE CREEPY MUSIC!!! would you do it for TWO scooby snacks??
Love your Tee Shirt and ABBA
🧡😀👍 Thank you jennifer!! I absolutely love them too!
Old washer with ringer to ring out clothes to hang to dry
A ringer washer
I went there before seeing this video
Keanan Jordan Haha awesome man!
Interesting cool
Paige Lee Thanks Paige!
ringer washing machine.
Town looks just like Detroit!! lol
Old school washing machine
ringer washer
Ringer washing machine
Esa era una lavadora y los rodillos eran para exprimir la ropa y tenderla al sol
ABBA?
Yep good catch! 😀👍
Can't believe I never seen this video since I've been a subscribe for as many as at least 5 years. REDRUM "Evil dead 2"
Hey Chris! Yes you have been with me for a long time. I can't thank you enough for all the support through the years. This was a cool little explore. Yes redrum 😆
@@InfamousCrimeLocations Thanks for the reply. Hope you are doing well bro. Good to hear from you and can't wait till the next upload. I was doing some binge watching,lol! Take care man.
Old wringer washer for clothes
Lilly Cisler Thanks lilly!