On several occasions this column detailed how improved roads and expanded vehicle ownership spawned a new industry – destination resorts. Unlike today’s version of flying in jets to far-flung vacation spots, the resorts of the 1920s catered to weekenders with newly acquired automobiles looking for nearby recreational facilities featuring natural attractions. Greenwater on the Naches Pass road, now Highway 410 was such a destination.
Captain Dick Craine was a colorful character who early in life parlayed his 1890s Alaskan adventures into a traveling show that employed a troupe of Eskimos. His “Alaskan Village” was displayed at pageants and expositions, eventually reaching the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. For the next 12 years, Craine and company traveled as far as London and Paris but spent most time in America on the Chautauqua summer festival circuit.
By 1920, Capt. Craine and wife, Bessie set up shop near the fading coal mining town of Franklin where they built an early incarnation of the Green River Gorge Resort. After selling their Green River holdings in 1924, the Craines relocated to Greenwater where, according to several accounts he erected the original Naches Tavern. It was described as “one of the most picturesque rustic structures to be found on the Pacific Coast.” Log cabins were also available for rent to travelers.
That’s Dick Craine in the white shirt and vest, assisted by canes standing in front of his establishment. This 1924 photo number G75.1-001 comes courtesy of the Tacoma Public Library and appeared in the April 4, 1926 issue of the Tacoma Sunday Ledger. It was also featured in Louis Jacobin’s 1925, “Glimpse of a Charmed Land” as a picture by Urie of Enumclaw. Information about Dick and Bessie Craine was provided by JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian and Dr. Richard Feldman who has amassed a catalogue of material about the Craines. Next week a look at the Naches Tavern in 1926, and the following week the rebuilt structure still doing business as the Naches Tavern.
https://www.restaurantji.com/wa/enumclaw/naches-tavern-/
