THEN AND NOW: Harry Langdon, Truck and Huge Old-Growth Log

This fabulous photo of Juanita pioneer Harry Langdon, now in the Kirkland Heritage Society archives, is revealing and important on multiple levels.

First, it shows one of the first non-Indian inhabitants of Juanita, and one of its first businessmen. Second, it shows the area's first garage, which Langdon opened about 1917 at the intersection of today's 98th Avenue NE and Juanita Drive, then known as Juanita Junction.

In addition, it almost certainly shows the immensity of the old-growth timber logged from the hills of the Kirkland area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The photo is also a great example of why preserving old images like this is so important. Although there is no date on the picture and precious little information came with it, it nonetheless tells us a lot.

Harry Langdon was born in 1870 and died in 1927, and we can say the photo must have been taken during the period of 1917-25. Langdon's father Rowland built a house just up the hill from here on Northeast 116th Street (then called Langdon Road) in 1887 at the site of today's McAuliffe Park. It still stands, if I'm not mistaken.

Harry first operated a store at Juanita Junction, and apparently after Lake Washington was lowered in 1916 with the construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, he built the auto garage shown here behind the truck. It is now the site of a defunct restaurant (see the "now" photo), the location of a Jack in the Box for many years.

Before the lake was lowered by 8.8 feet, this spot was in the very shallows of Juanita Bay. So we know this photo had to have been taken between 1916 and Harry's passing in 1927. But we can narrow the date even more. Another photo exists of the same spot and a very similar scene, with the same truck but a different old-growth log. And Harry looks markedly older.

It must have taken Harry at least a year to get the garage built after the lake was lowered, and in the other photo Harry must have been at least three years older, so I'm going to say this picture was taken between 1917 and 1924.

Not much is known about Harry, but it was said he would offer credit at the store to fellow residents during tough times. He obviously quickly grasped the importance of the internal combustion motor, not only operating a very early garage and gas station, but also driving a very early log truck. Note the wooden spokes and hard rubber tires.

He was a merchant, of course, and a logger. If he was still around, the stories he could tell would be priceless.

I also love this photo because of that log. Often while wandering the forests of Finn Hill and the rest of Kirkland, I wonder what it must have been like when it all was virgin, ancient forest. I wonder where that tree was cut. It might not have been in Kirkland, but it probably wasn't far away.

You can get a sense of  what the old forests were like today just some two miles away from this very spot, among the aged trees of .