Holden Mine History: Creation of the Townsite
We are grateful to the photographers Larry Penberthy and Ray Baker, and their descendants for allowing us to use their images. To view the full set of mining period photographs, click here.
The mine site on the south side of Railroad Creek had accommodations for 100 people, but accommodations for 450 people were needed after 1937. The townsite was located on the north side of Railroad Creek and consisted of four 50-man dormitories, ten family homes, a guesthouse, a 264-person dining hall, a one-room school, and a staff house for single engineers and management staff.
The townsite was completed in 1938, and two more dormitories, an addition to the school and recreation hall, and a hospital were added. The hospital had rooms for patients, a dentist office and an apartment for the resident doctor. The largest town building and center of the community was the recreation hall. It contained a commissary, county library, and a multi-purpose gymnasium for theater, movies, dances, community meetings and religious services, plus a four-lane bowling alley, lockers and showers, pool tables, card room, and barbershop.
The architecture of the company buildings and homes was rustic with high pitched roofs and wood shingle siding stained in shades of greens, rusts and browns to blend with the surrounding forest. At the request of some of the workers for a family campsite, the construction company, Winston Brothers, surveyed and platted a site west of the main town, put in sewers, water mains, and electric lines. The mine company leased the 50′x100′ lots with facilities for $20 per year and electricity at one cent per kwh.
Because the camp was inside a national forest, employees constructed the 101 neat and attractive homes according to Forest Service requirements in the area that became known as Winston Camp. This addition separated the community geographically and socially, leaving single workers, management and staff in the townsite and working class families.
Holden was a company town, and no private businesses were allowed. Salesmen were allowed to visit, families placed their grocery orders with a store in Chelan, and merchandise could be ordered by mail. Because of lack of a bank, the company made tin 50-cent pieces, and packaged them in $5.00 bundles. Employees and spouses signed receipts at the commissary when they needed money, and the payroll office deducted the receipts from the employee’s wages. The company did not allow a liquor store on the premises, and employees placed orders for liquor with the bus driver who traveled daily between the lake and mine. A town constable was employed to maintain fire-fighting equipment and outdoor recreation facilities and to serve as the company’s representative to state and federal agencies dealing with forest, fish, game and criminal regulations.