The Heroic History of Harrington

This week's readings were really interesting to read for the most part until it came to the Harrington 100 Years. I think the information the writers used was valuable but way it was displayed was not helpful at all. The authors kept going back and forth between the past tense and the present tense, making it hard to keep up. I kept thinking, was the author alive back in the 1880's or what? I also laughed when I saw who compiled the information, the Harrington High School Cheerleaders. Why would cheerleaders be compiling information, was it for a class or for fun or what? I also laughed when I got to page 19 and the author stated "...the keeping of pigs within the city limits is prohibited," because as we were driving up to the the Hotel Harrington on Saturday, there they were about 8 pigs in an enclosure right outside the school district building. Oh how times change I guess.

I do think a lot of the information presented in this book was not important like slowing of gas sales in the 1920's. The history of where things were and who owned them was really interesting but I do think there should have been some diagrams to give frame of reference of where those buildings were to outsides who don't know the family names and don't know the street layout of the town. The pictures that were used were good for the most part but needed better descriptions (page 18 and the telegraph operators, who is who, there are 3 women in the center of the picture.)

or they were really hard to see what was happening (page 31 , building destroyed by fire.)

However, I did catch myself spending extra time looking for the Hotel Harrington/ Lincoln Hotel/ Electric Hotel just to see what it looked like 'back in the day.' I've fairly certain I spend more time looking for the Hotel than absorbing the facts the author was telling me. This book also needs to be updated, the information is over 30 years old and many things have changed and it would be interesting to see what has happened since then.

I really like reading The Story of Lincoln County Washington: 1909 because of the way the author wrote. He has a very eliquent way of writing that makes the book more enjoyable. For example, he writes or all the glories of California, "..tumbling torrents teeming with sock-eyed salmon.." This book is just interesting to read and gives information that is helpful understanding formation of the town. The book is signed to the Governor and it is apparent that the book is written mainly for him but it also gives good insight for us now. I love his use of pros as well as facts.