Ran across these pictures from several years past. There was an old general store and Stihl dealer/repair in a tiny burg way up on the Mountain Highway to Mt. Rainier. The surrounding area is all timber company, state and national forest. We hunt deer, elk and mushrooms up that way and always stopped at the store for a soda and such on the way home. The owner ran the saw shop and I always wandered back and talked shop for a bit. Most of his business was with local firewood and brush cutters and gyppo loggers as the big boys traded elsewhere. Sadly, he has closed the saw shop mostly because his trade was long on repair and shy on the new saw sales. This didn't fit Stihl's business model and he could no longer maintain a franchise. He had quite a collection of logging tackle from hard hats and lunch buckets to saws and even an old skidder or two rusting outside. These little collections of history are fast disappearing.
That’s really neat! I’ve been to Mount Rainier a few times back in the 90’s. In theory, may have driven by this place.
The little town is Elbe Washington at the head of Alder reservoir. If you can from the Tacoma/Olympia area you almost certainly passed through it. Randle and Morton are to the south about 20ish miles. If you turned north at Morton you would go through Elbe to get to MR but just up the highway from the store. The area has been my stomping grounds for years. Check Elbe out on Google Earth.
Sounds like it was a great little place. Personally I’d be more apt to buy a saw from a gentleman like that than at some large modern building with heavy traffic.
These types of businesses are precisely the kind that I seek out wherever we are. Agree that they are fast disappearing. We have a privately owned hardware store that I will ALWAYS go to even though I know I’m paying considerably more than at Lowe’s or Home Despot. They speak to you when you come in, ask what you’re looking for and walk you right to it whether you need them to or not. It’s a pleasure to do business there!
