Schuepbach’s Gary Fisher helped Elliott wrangle some stubborn bolts.
Ken Elliott
Nancy Pavlenko
A square-headed variety bolt.
A rotted board.
“We’re going to be like brothers, this wheel and I,” said Ken Elliott, at left.
The two-story, 1920s M.F. Henderson wheel (the only remaining piece of a Columbia sternwheeler vessel) is the symbol of the museum, positioned as it is in front and visible from Interstate 84. Schuepbach Construction of Hood River will be on the job for the next two weeks or so, under the guidance of Elliott, an Underwood custom homebuilder.
For the symbol was sick: many of the boards have rotted (photo above right) and some had fallen off. For the sake of history, and safety, the museum has been raising $20,000 needed to repair the wheel, and that project is on. (Preservation steps were taken in 2006 — see Yesteryears for a photo.)
He and assistants are replacing each of the spokes, paddles and adjoining blocks and reattaching them to metal rings, through specially-cut holes, using stainless steel bolts to prevent the kind of rot that got the Henderson wheel into trouble in the first place.
To start the project, on Aug. 20 a group of community members, including Nancy Pavlenko, below, cleaned and painted the boards using marine paint pre-mixed with primer. Schuepbach’s Gary Fisher (photo at right) helped Elliott wrangle some stubborn bolts, of a square-headed variety you rarely see anymore.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for this,” Elliott said. “A lot of woodworkers are interested in this — it’s got to fit back together right.”
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