
The Kjelstads came to Ohop Valley in 1889.
The Eatonville Dispatch printed the following 70 years later, in 1959:
Henry Kjelstad settled in Ohop Valley and married Marie Hansen’s (Mrs. Herman Anderson) younger sister, Olava Hansen. Olava had come to this country with her sister and the two older Anderson children from Norway.
Mrs. Kjelstad is pictured on the front porch of her valley home. Her son Matteus is standing on the rail, while the little girls are, left to right Edith Swanson who lived with the family and the Kjlestad daughter Martha.
Photo courtesy of the Kjelstad and Burwash family.
Click on image to enlarge.
That hand rail would not pass building code today !! the spindles have to be no more than 4″ apart, so a little kid can’t fall through, or get his head stuck in between them. HOW did these pioneer children ever survive ?? (Sarcastic sneer) I sure liked the architecture of the old farm houses, and so many of them are still standing today, even though they were built without county permits and engineered plans (Another sarcastic sneer !!)
And the stairs are too steep !!
I try to imagine people with bad hips or knees trying to get up those steps. Must not have been an issue back then.
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