Most construction 

projects entail a lot 

of problem-solving. 

That problem 

solving might be 

done by the Project 

Engineer; by a 

contractor, subcontractor, or supplier; 

or by the designer 

before the contract 

is ever issued. 

The National Park 

Highway project 

began at Chinook 

Pass on the eastern 

boundary of Mt. 

Rainier National 

Park and headed 

down grade toward 

Naches and 

Yakima. The 

terrain was steep 

and in some places 

the highway 

perched precariously on the canyon 

walls. 

The work “was 

basically milling 

and paving,” 

Gary Hunter 

recalled, but if 

the potential 

problems were 

not immediately 

obvious when he 

took on the 

project in the 

summer of 1994, 

they soon began 

to present themselves. 

One of the not-so

-routine tasks on 

the job was 

undertaken to 

meet the special 

needs of a partner agency. 

There was a 6- 

or 7-acre borrow 

pit on the project, Gary said, 

that was “really 

ugly, and water 

had begun 

collecting at the 

bottom of it. The 

Forest Service 

wanted to have it 

turned into a nice 

scenic area with a 

fishing hole.” 

Chinook Pass (National Park 

Highway) 1994-95, Part I 

Compiled from 

Interviews, June 2013 

Regardless of who comes 

up with the solutions, it 

is ultimately the Project 

Engineer who is 

responsible for making 

sure that all problems 

are addressed and that 

the project is delivered to 

the customer’s 

specifications. 

Western 

Federal Lands 

Highway 

Division 

A Glimpse into 

an Earlier Era 

Article 49 

March 2014 

A hydroseed truck shoots a mixture of water, grass seed, 

fertilizer, and mulch over the topsoil on the reclaimed borrow pit. Photo courtesy Gary Hunter 
This requirement provided the 

designer with a problemsolving opportunity, and plans 

were drawn up for a pond 

surrounded by plantings. 

Topsoil would be placed on the 

re-contoured pit, grass seed 

would be broadcast over the 

surface, and bushes and young 

trees would be planted. 

“But those trees and shrubs 

and grasses,” Gary pointed 

out, “would require irrigation 

lines. So we designed an 

irrigation system with a 

sprinkler that would have 

about an 80-foot radius. 

“The contract stipulated that 

the lines must hold 80 pounds 

of pressure over a 24-hour 

period, and required tests be 

run to prove there were no 

leaks in the system.” Gary 

said. “The subcontractor for 

the irrigation system ran the 

test, but it wouldn’t hold 80 

pounds of pressure for even a 

half hour. They kept checking 

for leaks, running the test, but 

it wouldn’t hold the pressure.” 

Gary said the sub started 

thing and find a solution. 

The sub decided to bring in a 

retired superintendent – “who 

wanted to stay retired,” Gary 

noted – and they tried to 

sweet talk and cajole him into 

coming back for this project. 

Finally, Gary said, they 

“offered him enough money to 

get him to come back. 

“The superintendent started 

trying to track down this leak, 

and he ended up tearing up a 

lot of the underground line 

before he finally found (it).” 

Once the leak was repaired, 

the problem was solved and 

“the system would hold pressure as it was required to do.” 

Page 2 Chinook Pass (National Park Highway) 1994-95, Part I 

putting pressure on 

him to waive the 

requirement, but “I 

couldn’t do that. I 

couldn’t turn the 

project over to the 

Forest Service if this 

irrigation system 

wasn’t working 

properly. 

“I got a lot of arguments from him,” 

Gary said, but his steadfast 

refusal to compromise the 

integrity of the irrigation 

system finally compelled the 

subcontractor to do the right 

A subcontractor recontours the pit in anticipation of adding plants and topsoil. Photo courtesy Gary Hunter 

I couldn’t turn the project 

over to the Forest Service 

if this irrigation system 

wasn’t working properly. 

Repurposing a Borrow Pit 

The irrigation system in action. Inset: The subcontractor locates 

and repairs a leak. Photos courtesy Gary Hunter 

With the irrigation system working properly, the subcontractor 

places topsoil over the recontoured borrow pit. 
The designers of this project 

faced many other challenges 

as well. Gary explained that 

the design included “a lot of 

concrete guard wall, because 

there was a big drop off below 

the highway.” The original 

walls had been built of granite 

by the Civilian Conservation 

Corps when the road was built 

in the 1930’s. “These concrete 

walls were designed to simulate that look.”

However, Gary said, the 

contract also specified that 

where the public could get 

close enough to see the detail, 

“at several turnouts and 

overlooks,” the walls had to be 

built of granite and replicate 

the look of the original CCC 

stonework. 

The subcontractor in charge of 

those walls “was pretty renowned for his stonework,” 

Gary said. He had done some 

high-visibility projects in the 

Seattle area, including work 

on private 

residences for 

Microsoft’s Bill 

Gates and for 

the CEO of 

Boeing, and he 

had his own 

way of utilizing 

creative solutions. “He 

could not find 

qualified stonemasons anywhere in the 

U.S.,” Gary 

noted, so he 

made an offer 

overseas. 

Rhodes Masonry 

went to Ukraine 

to locate 

“master stonemasons who’d 

had years of 

rigorous training in stonemasonry.” He 

offered to sponsor them and move their 

families to the U.S. if they’d 

come to work for him. 

Jim Conquest also worked 

on the project, and, like Gary, 

he appreciated the craftsmanship and quality of work done 

by the 

Article 49 Page 3 

Ukrainian crew. When everything was still, Jim said, “you 

could hear this chink, chink. . . . 

like a bell ringing,” he said. 

They used a chisel with a special hammer that “looked more 

like a club. The head on it was 

round; it was a round, tapered 

cylinder. It looked like it probably weighed three pounds.” 

The native rock used on the 

project was quarried nearby, 

Jim recalled, “and they’d create 

just piles and piles of rock 

chips. They’d look at a hole 

they had to fill and grab a 

piece of that rock and make 

that thing fit in there. It 

was just so perfect and 

immaculate.” 

Jim recalled that the 

Ukrainian workers lived 

close to the job, possibly near 

the quarry, “in a kind of primitive plywood camp. . . I understand they used a 55 gallon 

drum or a plastic barrel for a 

shower.” That camp, he said, 

which was located on one of the 

service roads, was “where they 

Granite walls match original CCC design 

Ukrainian Stonemasons complete a wall. Stones in the foreground have not yet been shaped. Inset: Completed stone 

wall at Chinook Pass Overlook. Photos courtesy Gary Hunter 

When everything was 

still, you could hear this 

chink, chink. . . . like a 

bell ringing. 

A stonemason uses traditional tools to shape a stone. Inset: Stonemasons check their stringline. Photos courtesy Gary Hunter 
More of Gary Hunter’s and Jim Conquest’s 

remembrances of this project from will be shared in 

an upcoming article. 

For Jim Hall’s reflections on the Mather Memorial 

Parkway, see the story “Partnerships at Work: A 

Manager’s Perspective.” 

Stories in this series have been developed by Marili 

Reilly from interviews and correspondence. Retirees 

who would like to share their memories may email 

A Glimpse into an Earlier Era marili.reilly@dot.gov. 

610 East Fifth Street 

Vancouver, Washington 98661 

http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/about/history/

articles.htm 

Western Federal 

Lands Highway 

Division 

Continued from page 3 

never observed any issues 

with the crew. “They just did 

their work and did it well and 

went on. . . The integrity of 

their work and how attentive 

they were and how perfectionist,” Jim said, “that’s (what) 

sticks out in my mind.” 

Gary had the same impression. “They were just superb 

to watch, real nice. They were 

real artists. They didn’t know 

any English,” he said, but he 

enjoyed listening to them 

conversing quietly in their 

native tongue as they worked. 

“That was one of the pleasures 

of the job.”

ate, and lived, and everything... 

“You just don’t see people 

working as hard as they 

worked,” he added, producing 

“the quality of the work that 

they did, and the quantity.” 

They worked under their own 

foreman, and Jim said he 

Stonemasons fit the shaped stones together and apply mortar. 

Inset: Completed stone wall at Fife’s Peak Overlook. Photos courtesy Gary Hunter 

Ukrainian stonemasons, brought to the U.S. by subcontractor Rhodes Masonry, place a stone. Some of 

their tools rest in the foreground.