At the time of this January 1974 photo, the U.S. was fully engulfed by an energy crisis following the oil embargo instituted by Arab countries after the 1973 Yom Kippur war against Israel. The oil shock sent prices soaring and American consumers experienced long lines at gas stations as a result of rationing. Back in Krain, Mat and Martha Verhonick were unfazed.
The energy crisis was of little concern to Mat, shown here adjusting kerosene lamps providing light for his Enumclaw farmhouse. The family used neither electricity nor gasoline with their main source of energy being wood for heat and kerosene for light. By the time of this photo their miserly existence was further exasperated by rising property taxes.
With only $40 per month in Social Security, high property taxes nearly drove them off their land, as told on several occasions through articles in the Seattle Times. Verhonick passed away four years after this photo was taken at age 90. The family farm he inherited from his father, a Slovenian immigrant was located north of S.E. 392nd at its intersection with 272nd north of Jim Puttman’s ranch.
Today, Verhonick’s former 80-acre farm now comprises eight homes on nine lots ranging in size from 5 to 20-acres. This is the final of a four-part series featuring 1974 images by Josef Scaylea, all courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian.
