The starting point for Percy's trek would have been Camp Lewis. He doesn't mention being driven from there to a point where he started walking.
As for the end point, the 'Rainier Inn', Google provides no evidence of anything today that fits Percy's diary entries; i.e., a commercial establishment in winter snow country that would have been open for dining on a Thursday evening at the end of February, 1918. However, thanks to Joy Werlink, a Manuscript Specialist at the Washington State Historical Society we have a very plausible identification for the 'Rainier Inn':
"Although nearly impossible to verify, I suspect that that the “Rainier Inn” mentioned in your grandfathers diary may have been what is currently known as the “National Park Inn at Longmire”. Today, Longmire is a reasonable (about 2 hour) day trip by automobile from Fort (Camp) Lewis."
The distance of about 2 hours travel from Camp Lewis fits Percy's timeline of almost 6 hours from the arrival of Leuit Ricker at 'zero' at 5:30, walking to the 'Rainier Inn', having supper there and getting back to Camp Lewis at 11:20P.M.
The journey begins with Percy walking from 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM on February 26, 1918. At the latitude of Camp Lewis, sunset occurs just before 6:00 PM at the end of February so he was walking for 3 and a half hours starting long after full dark.
On the 27th, Percy got up at 6:00 AM. Sunrise was not until almost 7:00 AM, so he would have prepared breakfast while it was still dark out. He stopped for supper at 6:00 PM which would have been just after sunset on a snowy evening. Still, he wrote to Berniece after he ate.
On the 28th Percy woke up at 5:00 AM, two hours before sunrise. Despite slow going in the snow, he made it to 'zero' 2 and a half hours before his Lieutenant came to pick him up, a half hour before sunset. There is no clue as to exactly where 'zero' was. It probably was not in sight of the Inn. It also was probably not too far from the Inn; the Lieutenant had to walk that distance both ways.
We do not have a specific time for when Percy started walking on the 28th, but from all the other times, and accounting for lunch stops, he was walking for a total of over 20 hours. At about 20 minutes to the mile, this equates to about 60 miles, which is close to the distance from Camp Lewis to Longmire.
There is no clue to Percy's exact route. The fact that he returned to Camp Lewis on a motorcyle indicates that there was a clear highway to Longmire. His references to 'slow going' in the snow indicates his path was probably not along that highway.
| Copyright © 2013 Michael Barbour |