This is the frontier town of Rosyln under Eastern Washington's skies. Things are a little dry as we have the worst drought in 24 years.

Interest in Roslyn is to be increasing. Population is currently about 1000 people. Many of those are kids, this years K-12 school population is about 960 students from the 3 adjacent towns of Roslyn, Ronald and Cle Elum. Another 3rd are elderly and retired. The peak population was 4,000 in 1910 with mine production of nearly 2 million tons of coal a year. People of over 20 ethnic groups came to work as coal miners to supply coal to the Northern Pacific Railroad. Roslyn was a true "company town." The city was platted by the Northwestern Improvement Company (NWI), a division of Northern Pacific in 1886. Most all of the town's 500 some homes were built in the 1920's on land owned by the railroad. The company store still stands at the corner of First and Pennsylvania, a National Landmark. Coal trains were soon replaced with diesel and the mines began to shut down in the 1920's. The last mine in the area closed in 1963. Logging, on the was the next big employer, recently recreation and tourism have taken the economic fore front. Films have also assisted Roslyn. "The Runner Stumbles" was filmed here in 1978. We found a copy of the film at Scarecrow Video. The movie was about a preist and nun at the Immaculant Conception church up on the hill. More recently the television series Northern Exposure use Roslyn for much of the onsite filming. I never saw any of these, but there seem to be quite a few Northern Exposure relics around. People are constantly taking pictures while standing in front of the Roslyn Cafe sign. Camels in Roslyn?

Currently there are about 49 businesses in town, though I should get a phonebook and confirm that. (I did ;) They cater to the local population and the tourists. Horses in the summer, lots of snowmobiles out in the winter. The business community has worked to bring in more people through hosting annual festivals. There is the Manly Man festival in June, Pioneer Day Picnics, Moose Festival, Coal Miner's Days and Winterfest. Though for 2002 the City of Roslyn imposed a $360 festival fee that some find hard to add to their budgets.

Nearby there is a recreational resort just beginning, Mountain Star. They are obtaining water rights now and expect to begin construction this year. Golf courses, hotel, time shares, 6,200 acres of the usual stuff. Haven't we seen this before? Roslyn reminds me of Sisters, Oregon when we camped at Camp Sherman as kids. You should see that now, more traffic and dime stores.

Check out the rest of the site using the links below. I have info on the house and general info on Roslyn. Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see!