Good Scouts Wanted

THIS WEEK we give you an opportunity to win that Scout's merit badge you meant to work on before you were distracted by the common lures of adolescence. Here is Bainbridge Island's Camp Yeomalt Log Cabin under construction in 1935 and again under restoration 70 years later in 2005.

For most of its life, the cabin was a destination for Scout retreats. One may imagine the decades of songs and stories those logs could sing and tell.

According to island heritage stalwart Gerald "Jerry" Elfendahl, it was built during the Great Depression by 24 otherwise unemployed craftsmen. Another of those many Works Progress Administration projects that added so much of enduring value to our built environment, the cabin also put bread on the table of those who built it out of indigenous materials and with hand tools.

Yet this log cabin was almost razed — recently. In 2005 the Washington National Trust included it on a list of the state's "most endangered historic properties." Team Yeomalt mobilized to save the cabin, and part of the effectiveness of the members' diverse efforts can be glimpsed behind the fence in the "now" view.

Here's where readers may earn that merit badge by helping with the restoration and/or recollections. For instance Team Yeomalt needs logs to replace a few that have gone bad. Or, they ask, who was the "prominent Seattle architect" that Major M.J. Hopkins, founder of Bainbridge Island Scouting, describes in a letter as responsible for designing the cabin? To get involved, call Team Yeomalt at 206-842-4164, or visit. At the corner of Yeomalt Drive and Park Avenue, the cabin is a little more than one mile from the Winslow ferry terminal.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.