While it may not have been official city business, during public comment at last month’s Mossyrock City Council meeting, Mossyrock Area Historical Society member Buddy Rose announced the society is partnering with the Mossyrock Grange to republish the “Red Book.”
Officially called “Memories from Family Albums of School District #206,” Rose explained it was also known as the Red Book as it had a red cover.
The book was originally compiled by Mossyrock Grange members in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.
“And (School District) 206, in the history, went from Salkum to the former town of Nesika, the old highway across the Cowlitz (River) up there,” Rose said during the Feb. 18 Mossyrock City Council meeting.
The nearly-400 page book features the histories of the local churches, post offices and fire departments along with photos and East Lewis County family genealogical history.
One of the stories featured includes the tale of Daniel Shaner, a U.S. Civil War Union Army veteran who had made his way out west after the war.
Shaner was in Washington, D.C., on the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre.
In fact, he was assigned to guard the president and had just been relieved of his duty at 10 p.m. just before the assassination took place.
“He helped move Lincoln across the road, and he listed in his history, all of the people, him and the other guards, let in to see Lincoln,” Rose said.
Along with the other guards, Shaner listed the many Cabinet members who also came that night to bid farewell to the president. Shaner knew who Lincoln’s assassin was as well, as John Wilkes Booth’s brother was an actor at Ford’s Theatre. Shaner assisted with the manhunt to find Booth. He also witnessed the executions of Booth’s fellow conspirators.
“They’re all kind of like individual stories, you might say, and there’s almost 200 of these (family histories) put together. And they’re separated into seven (geographical) chapters,” Rose said. “There’s a chapter for Harmony and Silver Creek, and one for Mayfield and Winston, that area up there. There’s one for Mossyrock. There’s one for Ajlune and Swofford, and there’s one for Riffe and Nesika. Things like that.”
According to Rose, 1,000 original copies of the Red Book were printed in 1976. With America’s 250th birthday this year, Rose and other historical society members began talking last year about the possibility of reprinting the book.
They partnered with the grange, which agreed to help with the reprinting — with the books being sold and the proceeds benefiting both the historical society and grange.
Using Gorham Printing in Centralia, Rose figured out it would cost around $8,000 to get 300 new copies of the Red Book printed.
“We think they’re gonna sell for around $50 (per copy),” Rose added.
Should those initial 300 reprints sell out, more copies will be printed.
Rose added he has had people reach out wanting to have more information added into the reprints, but given the book is already around 400 pages long, he and the other historical society members would rather keep the new additional information for a whole second volume of the Red Book.
The book has yet to go on sale, but according to a post on the Mossyrock Grange’s Facebook page, Rose stated the current plan is to sell Red Book copies in person in Mossyrock and on the historical society’s website, https://www.mossyrockmuseum.com/.
For more information, message the grange on its Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/4xynhkfr.
