Fifty muddy springs ago, the people of Chehalis got together and built themselves a railroad.
It was less than a mile long, this stretch of track, but it jump-started the brand new Chehalis Industrial Park. More than that, it represented community action and grass-roots investment that is still impressive half a century later.
Calling themselves the "Gandy Dancers," an old term for a team of railroad builders, more than a hundred businessmen and community leaders met on weekends in the spring of 1957 to build 3,450 feet of track out to an old farm along Bishop Road south of town.
Men wearing fedora-type hats laid railroad ties, pounded them into place and dug a culvert by hand. Their wives served lunch.
This coming weekend marks the 50th anniversary of their final work day.
At times it was dirty work, according to Gail Shaw and Ed Pemerl. Shaw was a leader of the Gandy Dancers and Pemerl volunteered with the crews when he could get away from his shoe shop.
"It was winter, and you had to watch where you stepped. I remember I went up to my crotch in mud," Shaw said.
A community group affiliated with the Chehalis Chamber of Commerce and the nascent Chehalis Industrial Commission raised money for the railroad extension by "selling" railroad ties. The governor even ponied up a few bucks to buy a tie.
The railroad served the first tenant, a Goodyear tire plant. In the ensuing years, the industrial park has expanded to many hundreds more acres and manufacturing jobs.
Five decades later, the spirit of volunteerism and community involvement exemplified by the "Gandy Dancers" is still alive in the community.
Both Pemerl and Shaw attended a fund-raiser for the new Chehalis library earlier this year.
Shaw and Pemerl are also stalwarts of the Industrial Commission, which bought the initial land for the Chehalis Industrial Park back in the mid-1950s, and which still actively buys and holds land for future industrial development.
A few weeks ago, I invited the two out to coffee at the Kit Carson Restaurant. I wanted to see if their experience in such a famous community volunteer project (the "Gandy Dancers" were written up in Readers Digest and the Christian Science Monitor) gave them insight into ways to strengthen our towns today.
"Be a volunteer and contribute to your community. Democracy is you," was the advice from Shaw, who, despite his long, deeply wrinkled face, still projects a feeling of youth and energy at age 88.
He remembers being "a young squirt," new in town after coming west to work for the I.P. Callison company.
Bill West (better known as the namesake of W.F. West High School) called Shaw into his office.
"He opens up his big rolltop desk and says, 'Have you ever thought about helping out in the community? We need some young men on the Claquato cemetery board,'" Shaw says with a laugh - and adds that he joined, and has been on the cemetery board ever since.
To honor his years of work pushing for industrial development, the Lewis County Economic Development Council recently instituted the Gail and Carolyn Shaw Industry Award.
The lesson of his life seems to be one of involvement. He's viewed as a leader because of his willingness to put his shoulder to the wheel (and his shovel into the mud), and get to work.
"Be a joiner to support your community, whether it's your church or the chamber of commerce," he says.
That kind of spirit doesn't get old, even after 50 years.
Brian Mittge has covered local issues for The Chronicle since 2000. He may be reached by e-mail at brianmittge@hotmail.com, or by telephone at 266-0568.
