Edwin & Betty Weilep

In the Fall of 1948, I arrived in Headquarters on the Clearwater Stage line.  That evening, I went  out to Camp 55 on Alder Creek.  Walt McLeod was the driver.  The Speeder that we rode in had a flat wheel on it and it bounced around quite a little and the fact that the PFI railroad track was not too smooth; did not make the rider any smoother.  It seemed as though we rode for many miles, but I don't think that the distance was greater than 5 or 6 miles cross country from Camp 55 to Headquarters.
Camp 55 was a railroad camp and in those days a railroad camp was quite mobile.  The cookhouse, office and wash weer built there, but the bunkhouses were old box cars that had been converted to sleeping quarters. There were 8 men in a bunkhouse.
The next morning, about 5 a.m., I woke to the sound of a steam locomotive coming down the tracks. From the sound of it, it was traveling at the speed of at least 75 miles and hour.  I decided I had better get up before the train would derail and destroy the bunkhouse that I was in.  The bunkhouses in the old railroad camps were setting on a spur line that had been installed just for that purpose.  I went outside and pretty soon the train came in sight.  It was moving at least 5 mph, even though it sounded like 75.  It was my first time of seeing a Hysler or Shay locomotive.--Edwin

Winters storms at Headquarters could be pretty severe, but our boxcar cabins at Townsite 4 were snug and could withstand a lot. 
One thing, however that caused a lot of grief was electrical outages, which we had a lot of during storms.  One evening, just shortly after supper, the electricity went off.  I lit the kerosene lamp and got the kids into bed, two toddlers and a 2 month old.  My husband, Ed, was out at Camp T.  Since the two year old boy was afraid to sleep in the dark, I lit a candle and put it in the kid's room, than put the lamp in the bathroom while I indulged in a nice warm bath.
From the tub I could see the flickering refection from the candle and it finally dawned on me that suddenly it was awfully bright.  I jumped out of the tub and grabbed a towel and there I was, dripping wet and naked as a jaybird, using the towel to beat out the flames form the dresser top where the candle had ignited some children's books and coloring paper.
The kids slept through the whole episode.  No real damage was done, but it ran through my mind more than once how embarrassed I would have been if the neighbors had noticed and come to my aid. and me without a stitch on-Betty