300512 - Mt. Baker - Bellingham

On May 12, 1930, Empire Builders presented a radio play about a young couple who travelled to Bellingham, Washington, and nearby Mount Baker. I have conflicting information about who actually wrote the story. One source says it was George Redman. Another source credits W.O. Cooper. Both sources were put out by the Great Northern Railway, so I don’t know which to believe – it’s certainly possible both men contributed to the story. It’s my understanding that collaboration of that kind happened more often than not.



Antique postcard view of the Great Northern Express on the causeway across the north end of Chuckanut Bay, just south of Bellingham.
Author's collection

Here’s what was published about this broadcast in the GN’s own Goat magazine for May, 1930:

The second, or May 12^th, program will have its locale on the heavily forested slopes of Mt. Baker. It will be a program of vacation joys in northwestern Washington and the neighboring city of Bellingham will be represented. The author was George Redmond.  [sic – his name was actually Redman]

The GN’s Advertising and Publicity Department put out small pamphlets advising ticket agents and other friends of the railroad about upcoming programs. This was the write-up for the Mount Baker – Bellingham story:

Another of the Pacific Northwest’s beautiful glacier-crowned peaks will be the setting for the second May program. This is Mt. Baker, known to the Indians as the “Great White Watcher” and its nearest city – Bellingham – will also be represented. This story was written by W. O. Cooper.

Great Northern Railway route map, circa 1931, showing Mt. Baker National Forest in relation to GN lines.
Author's collection

The story unfolded with a Great Northern train approaching Bellingham. Among those onboard were passengers Harry and Alice Evans, Phillip and Elvira Trotter, and the Old Timer. As Harry and Alice were gathering their bags to detrain, the two revisited a discussion that apparently had been a running theme for them on this train ride. Harry and Alice both agreed the Trotters were annoying, but Harry insisted they were genuine Brits, whereas Alice swore they weren’t from England at all. Harry made the discussion more interesting by wagering with Alice that he was correct. Alice let Harry know that if she was right, she expected him to buy her a concert grand piano. Harry agreed, but said when he was proven correct, she would buy him a “sport runabout” (a stylish speedboat, if I’m not mistaken – probably made by Chris Craft).

After the train arrived in Bellingham, everyone climbed into a taxi they shared to take them to the Leopold Hotel. This was to be a stepping off point to get transportation up to the lodge at Mount Baker. The Leopold was a real hotel, named for Leopold Schmidt, who owned the Olympia Brewery. The building still remains in Bellingham, but is now a retirement facility.

Upon arrival at the Leopold Hotel, the Old Timer and a man named Bert Huntoon spotted each other and greeted one another as the old friends they were. The Old Timer introduced Huntoon to the others as manager of the Mount Baker Development Company, and “the father of the whole Mount Baker National Forest.” Huntoon chatted with the out-of-towners briefly, and then offered them a lift up to the lodge. He had a driver just leaving to go there, and there was ample room for the five travelers.

This is a photo of Berton Waldron Huntoon (1869-1947), a tireless promoter of the Mount Baker National Forest region, and an accomplished photographer whose work is still regarded as among the best at representing the area's scenic beauty. As the real-life manager of the Mount Baker Development Company, Huntoon had offices in the Leopold Hotel. He may have spoken his own lines in this radio broadcast, but I have no documentation at this time to confirm it.

As the little group of explorers set off to Mount Baker Lodge, the Old Timer explained the local flowering bulb industry to the Evans’ and the Trotters. Conversation then switched to the mountains in view off in the distance. The Trotters responded disdainfully to every new comment on the local area with a comparison to some vastly superior locale they had recently visited in Europe – Holland, the Mediterranean, Italy, the Swiss Alps. The constant barrage of condescension was rapidly wearing thin, for both the Evans couple and the Old Timer. The degree of exasperation became increasingly evident after Alice Evans asked their driver how far away the mountains were.

DAVIS:           ‘Bout sixty miles, Mrs. Evans. They’re all up along the Canadian border. You’ll get a good view of Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan too, pretty soon.

TROTTER:     Rather like the Route National, just below Muxelle, isn’t it, where the Alps suddenly appear through the forest?

HARRY:         (sotto) If this keeps on much longer, I’m going to borrow a gun, and shoot ‘em in their sleep! I said they were English!

ALICE:           (Sotto)  And I say they aren’t! Don’t forget our bet!

DAVIS:           (Sotto)  Anyhow, Mr. Evans, guns aren’t allowed in National Forests. You wait awhile! They’ll change their tune yet.

PIONEER:      (Sotto)  I sure hope so. I’m a-gettin’ fed up myself.

Cover of a Great Northern Railway tourist brochure promoting the Bellingham and Mount Baker areas.
Author's collection

Between the Old Timer and their driver, the Evans couple and the Trotters were regaled with numerous descriptions of the natural beauties and the industries of Whatcom County in the northwestern portion of the state of Washington. When Mr. Trotter commented on how old some trees were that they saw in India, the Old Timer pointed out the trees they were viewing along the way to the lodge all averaged about a thousand years old. Trotter challenged the Old Timer on how that could be determined. Davis piped in that the Forest Service had it figured out.

MR. T:            My word! We must remember this, Elvira.

MRS. T:          Yes, indeed, Phillip. Do tell us some more. It’s so instructive and delightful. What is the name of that little river we’re running along?

DAVIS:           Why, that’s the Nooksack River, Mrs. Trotter. It starts up here near Mount Baker, an’ rambles around till it comes out into Puget Sound right near Bellingham.

MR. T:            I say! What odd names you have for these rivers and mountains! Nooksack! Shuksan! What in the world are they – Chinese? Sound a bit like Mandarin, I’d say. I speak a little Mandarin myself, you know.

PIONEER:      Those names are all pure American, Mr. Trotter. Most of ‘em are from the Lummi Indian language – the original inhabitants of this part of the country. They called Mount Baker Koma Kulshan – The Great White Watcher.

The group arrived at the Mount Baker Lodge, where they entered and enjoyed the music being performed by a small orchestral group.

HARRY:         Well, old girl, how do you like it so far?

ALICE:           It’s really wonderful, Harry. I never knew anything could be so perfect. We’ve only been here at the Lodge for five hours, but I’ve never been more at home anywhere in my life. Just look at the moon rising over there behind Mount Shuksan! I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

(ORCHESTRA UP AND CONCLUDE.  APPLAUSE)

Just then, an unnamed man approached Alice and said they had heard that she sings. He asked if she would mind entertaining them with a song. Alice was only too happy to oblige. [No specific list of casting assignments is available for this broadcast, but again I suspect it was Virginia Gardiner who played this role.]

ALICE:           This is just an old English ballad. You probably all know it.

                        (SINGS TO PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT)  (APPLAUSE)

MAN:              Thank you a thousand times, Mrs. Evans. We won’t let you off with only one song next time.

ALICE:           (LAUGHS) One is enough for tonight, thank you.

PIONEER:      Alice, these mountains sure seem to inspire you. I never heard you sing better.

ALICE:           Thank you, old timer. Perhaps you’re right.

MRS. T:          (Bustling up) Oh, Mrs. Evans, your song was simp-ly di-vine! You should be on the concert stage!

ALICE:           Thank you so much, Mrs. Trotter. As a matter of fact – I am. You see, my professional name is Alice Cartwright.

MRS. T:          Are you Alice Cartwright?! Philip! My dear! Mrs. Evans is Alice Cartwright!

MR. T:            Fancy that!

MRS. T:          Just fancy! Why, we’ve dozens of your records at home in – er – well, at home. We’re great admirers, aren’t we, Philip?

Now, bit by bit, the Trotters were beginning to let slip little hints that they might not actually be the English couple they said they were. After Alice’s singing, the group all bid their farewells and went separate ways for the night. The Old Timer and the Evans couple agreed to meet early the next morning for a hike. The Trotters, meanwhile, conspired to show up in the morning and innocently “happen upon” the Old Timer and his friends, Harry and Alice. Phillip Trotter seemed used to the game they were attempting, but it was clear he was more of a night owl type than an early bird.

MR. T:            (Yawns) Darn it, Elvira, it’s nigh onto the middle of the night! You would get up, and drag me out walking just because that singin’ girl and that old coot are going! I declare, sometimes I think you’re not quite bright!

MRS. T:          You hush you mouth Phil Trotter and hist yourself out of that! Don’t you see we’ve just got to cultivate that girl? I only hope we can get some snapshots of me alongside of her to show to the folks back home in Peoria! Why – she’s famous!

MR. T:            Yes, and so was that French count in Besancon that turned out to be a perfume peddler, and that Chinese Mandarin of yours that ended up breakin’ rocks on the Soochow Road! Cussit! This is all just foolishness! Besides they must have gone. We’ve been waiting here for twenty-five minutes now.

MRS. T:          That old man said six-thirty, and here it is seven-thirty! Come on! We’re going to start.

MR. T:            Which way are we going?

MRS. T:          I heard them say they were going to Kulshan Ridge. There’s a sign over there that points the way. Come along now, pa!

Well, now – the truth of the matter revealed itself. Prim and proper, in a phony English accent, the Trotters put on quite a display. Knock ‘em a little out of their comfort zone, however, and it’s all Hicksville colloquialisms and unrefined phraseology. The Trotters were soon feeling a mite peckish, and it was discovered that neither one of them had remembered to bring along their lunches. At the sound of a barking dog, they realized the Evans couple and the Old Timer – with his hound dog, January – must be coming nearer. The Trotters realized their quarry had already been up to the ridgeline, and were now descending the trail back toward the lodge. Elvira Trotter made out that the Old Timer and the Evans couple were wearing ordinary clothes, which caused her and her husband to feel quite silly in their lederhosen and carrying alpenstocks. Elvira’s first thought was to try to hide from the others, but Phillip’s stomach did his thinking for him.

MR. T:            Hide, my eye! Maybe they’ve got something to eat. (Calls) Hey, there! Hey, you folks!

ALICE:           (Off) Oh, hello you. Doing a little mountain climbing?

MRS. T:          Oh yes, just a bit, you know. Jolly fun, don’t you think?

MR. T:            (SOTTO) Be yourself, ma, be yourself! This is serious! (UP) You people ain’t got anything to eat, have you?

MRS. T:          (SOTTO) Phillip! What’ll they think?

MR. T:            (SOTTO) Think we’re hungry!

HARRY:         (Coming up) We sure have. We took along enough for six people. Time for lunch – eh?

MR. T:            Whatcha got?

HARRY:         Oh, fried chicken, and a couple of thermos bottles of hot coffee, and sandwiches, and …

MR. T:            Praise heaven! Man, I’m that hungry. Let’s eat!

MRS. T:          (In weak protest) Oh – Philip!

MR. T:            Lemme ‘lone! I’m hungry, and I don’t care who knows it!

No longer even attempting to sound like a British toff, Phillip Trotter completely dropped his guard in deference to wheedling a bite to eat. The happy hikers broke out the chow and had a delightful lunch. At that point, Alice asked the Old Timer if he had his camera with him.

MRS. T:          Oh, I wonder if you’d take a picture of us all up here, with Mount Baker for a background?! I’d just love to have it to show to the folks back home in Peoria. .. Oh!

HARRY:         Peoria? I thought you were English, Mrs. Trotter!

MR. T:            Shucks, no! Peoria is the home town. We been all around the world though, since I sold out my factory – Trotter Tractor Works – ever hear of ‘em?

PIONEER:      Hear of ‘em? Well I should say so!

Alice immediately laid into Harry about the concert grand piano she was expecting to be delivered in the very near future. For his part, the Old Timer realized he had a little something in common with Phillip Trotter – and a reason to pick his brain some.

PIONEER:      … Say, Mr. Trotter, I’ve got two of your 40-60 tractors out on my ranch in Montana. Darn good tractors too but, you know that little gadget that goes next to the big bull gear?

MR. T:            You mean the Trotter Patented Gear Release? Invented by myself!

PIONEER:      Well, I broke one of them, an’ when I wrote the factory, they said they didn’t make ‘em any more …

MR. T:            Didn’t make it? Well, gosh darn their hides! They’d better be makin’ it! You just wait till I get back to Peoria! Say, Elvira, did you hear that? They ain’t makin’ my patented gear release any more. I’ll see about that!

PIONEER:      Well, you see if you can dig up one for me.

Modern image of an antique 40-60 hp "Oil Pull" tractor, probably not unlike the style that the Old Timer talked about with Phillip Trotter in the radio play.

Everyone gathered into a bunch while the Old Timer took a group photo. Even January got into the picture.

The announcer, John S. Young, wrapped things up, but at this time I don’t know exactly how. My copy of the continuity is missing the closing announcement. Perhaps at a later time it will surface.

So until next week, keep your dial tuned to Empire Builders!