Sunday, July 12, 2009

Looking for a book...


I'm looking for a book. A specific book, entitled, "A History of Wenatchee, the Apple Capital of the World". The problem is, it's a pretty rare book, and usually goes for around $85 to 100 dollars.
I was able to check out a copy of it in Seattle, and it's a pretty detailed history of my hometown. If you see a copy for cheap, lemme know :)

One of the things the book mentions is the old Spanish Castle along the Columbia River. When I went home for hunting season last year my uncle Rick and my Dad told me stories of visiting the Spanish Castle when they were kids. Apparently this guy built it for his wife, then they put in a dam and it was buried underwater. They told me of the guy's son who flew an airplane there and they used to play in it. At least I think that's how the story goes. I wish I knew more about it. This picture is of the foundation of the Spanish Castle.

After some more Googling, I found this about the castle:

"TRINIDAD -- The development being proposed for the Columbia River, four miles west of Trinidad, is across the river and slightly north from where a cattle baron built a large home, known as the Spanish Castle, 89 years ago.
Construction of Spanish Castle was completed in 1918 at a cost of more than $20,000 by Lester Coffin, according to reports in The Wenatchee Daily World.
Coffin and his brother were Yakima-based cattlemen and "lords of the Tarpiscan range who counted their horses, cattle and sheep by the thousands," according to a May 21, 1927 World article.
Coffin dreamed for years of having a home along the Columbia River, resembling the residence of a Mexican president of the early 1900s.
The location he chose, on the river at the mouth of Tarpiscan Creek, was two miles into Kittitas County from the Kittitas-Chelan County line. It was remote and almost inaccessible.
An earlier rock house at the site had burned. Construction materials for the new house were hauled in over the rough Colockum Pass Road in covered wagons. Some materials were brought in from across the river.
The house had 13 to 17 rooms, including a spacious entrance hall, a reception room, living room, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and an indoor pool. Coffin didn't get to enjoy it. Just a few days after it was done, he died in a Wenatchee hospital.

2 comments:

Marleyfan said...

I did a little searching, and couldn't find anything more. I thought I heard our family has a picture of the castle. I'll let you know if I hear more.
-G-

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