Thirty teachers from Educational Service District (ESD) 101 in Northeast Washington toured the Roslyn Museum June 25, 2010. They were participants in the "Teaching American History Grant," a year-long program awarding 10 graduate credits upon completion.

Touring Roslyn was Project Director Nancy Comstock's idea. Comstock is the daughter of Bill Spaet who worked for Russell Gillette in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and lived in South Cle Elum.  Comstock was familiar Roslyn's rich history, but it took some convincing to sell her associates. "What's in Roslyn, they asked?"

Elementary school teacher Shelley Moffit (left) and middle school teacher Sarah Olson (right) were fascinated with an old math book from the Roslyn School District. At its peak in the early 1900s, Roslyn School District educated approximately 1,000 students and prided themselves with keeping abreast of the latest in educational innovation.

Eastern Washington University Professor Liping Zhu, author of A Chinaman's Chance: The Chinese on the Rocky Mountain Mining Frontier models a "Bull of the Woods" hat, part of the Roslyn Museum collection. The hat was reserved for a logging camp's head logger, reminiscent of American folk lore surrounding Paul Bunyon and his blue ox, Babe. The hat's "perfect" fit is admired by Courtney Burnett, a middle school teacher from Kettle Falls.

Museum volunteer, Tad Riste (right), demonstrates the stereograph to Freeman Elementary's fifth grade teacher, Dwayne Gady (left) and North Pines Junior High teacher Jerad Mendenhall (center).  The stereograph was an educational tool with an adjustable double image viewed through double lenses to give a 3-D effect. This turn-of-the-century innovation was a forerunner of the film strip with pertinent information on the back of each slide. The Roslyn School District owned two stereographs and an accompanying oak cabinet that held dozens of slides covering a myriad of subjects.

Today, former South Cle Elumite, Nancy Spaet Comstock is a teacher trainer for ESD 101 in Northwest Washington and helped organize the tour of the Roslyn Museum. She stands next to a vintage saddle owned by one of the seven engineers sent by the Northwest Improvement Company in 1886 to scout possible coal mine sites in upper Kittitas County. Their discoveries led to the opening of several mines and the establishment of Roslyn later that year.

Marsha Rooney (right), Curator of History of Eastern Washington State Historical Society and Dick Watts (left), President of the Roslyn Cemetery Commission, in front of an underground map of the Roslyn Coal Field. The map shows the intricate weave of coal mine shafts between Ronald and Cle Elum, some nearly a mile below ground.  After the museum tour, the group loaded back into their bus for a tour of the cemetery led by Watts.

What's next? Scouts scan their scavenger hunt list with parent Jerry Talton as they continue their search for items in the Roslyn Museum.