Quirky tale #6: Shining light on a riverside petroglyph

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Quirky tale #6:
Shining light on a riverside petroglyph

THEN6: This 2020 view clearly shows a 40-inch salmon and nearby sun making up a petroglyph found near the Raging River. (Courtesy Fall City Historical Society)

South of Fall City, the Raging River sometimes sloshes at high levels, but not enough to obscure a mysterious marker carved onto a 5-by-6-foot piece of riverside granite. Depicting a salmon and the sun, the petroglyph sits flat, as if on a tabletop. When hikers stumble upon what seems like ancient art, they’re stunned. Shouldn’t it be highlighted on some guide map? Well, Fall City historians don’t like to disclose its precise locale. Best not to invite vandals, they say. So in obscurity, its legend lingers.

NOW6: Displaying the Raging River petroglyph are Fall City Historical Society leaders (from left) Marian Querrow, Donna Driver-Kummen, Cindy Parks, Gene Stevens (kneeling and pointing to salmon) and Rick Divers (kneeling and pointing to sun). (Clay Eals)

Yep, it’s there! Is it ancient? The earliest sighting was 27 years ago, says the Fall City Historical Society. But how long has it been there? Who carved it. and why? The historical society collectively shrugs. “We have no idea,” says the organization’s Donna Driver-Kummen. “That’s part of the magic.”

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Now & then here and now…