Roadside Attraction

On a sign nearby, this explanation:

“Big Cedar Stump: This famous stump remains as evidence of the giant trees which once forested this area. Over 20 feet in diameter and 200 feet tall, the huge “Western Red Cedar” is believed to have been more than 1,000 years old. Discovered by early settlers of the area, the following is a resume of its recorded history:
1893 - The stump was killed by a fire which started in its hollow base.

1916 - After the top was removed, Paul Wangsmo and Ole Rodway cut and chopped three spines from the core and cut archways through the stump.

1922 - After cutting the stump off at its base, Ole Reinseth and Slim Husby used horse teams to drag it north 150 yards where it was set on a concrete base.

1939 - The stump, by now cracked, was taken apart and pieced back together just north of Portage Creek, alongside U.S. 99 (highway). On May 27, Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha of Norway drove through the stump.

1971 The stump’s final move brought it here.”

And “here” is about 40 miles north of Seattle, Washington.

U.S. 99 used to be known as the Golden State Highway which ran from the Calexico at the Mexican border to Blaine, Washington, at the Canadian Border. It was designated in 1926 and replaced with Interstate 5 in 1964.

Then there was Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, established in 1926. It originated in Chicago, Illinois, and ran 2,448 miles west to Santa Monica, California. It was a major path for western migration, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Back in the days before interstate highways, road trips were slower but much more entertaining, especially for a kid. There were dozens of these historical markers to stop and look at (if you could convince your parents to stop). Some were quite uninteresting, i.e. “Joe Smith caught a 5 pound trout in the creek over there”, but most imparted a bit of knowledge like the Big Cedar Stump.

And for sheer entertainment there was the advertising genius of Burma Shave, an American brand of brushless shaving cream introduced in 1925. It became famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs:

“If you dislike/big traffic fines/slow down/til you/can read these signs/Burma Shave”

“Your shaving brush/has had its day/so why not/shave the modern way/Burma Shave”

“Past/Schoolhouses/take it slow and/let the little shavers grow/Burma Shave”

“Don’t take/a curve/at 60 per/we hate to lose/a customer/Burma Shave”

I know it would probably seem quite boring to today's young traveler who has DVDs to watch, among other electronic entertainment, but back in the 40s and 50s it was whopping good fun when everybody in the car spotted Burma Shave signs and recited the rhyme in unison on the way by.