Snoqualmie Falls Postcard with a Photo by John Marshall – #10021

This past year, I’ve been presenting postcards from the “Real Twin Peaks” of Snoqualmie Valley, WA. Many of these images feature the beautiful Snoqualmie Falls, a 268-foot waterfall that is seen by more than two-million visitors annually. I recently acquired an postcard printed by Impact Northwest from Woodinville, WA contianing a photo from notable Pacific Northwest photographer John Marshall.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS POSTCARD | PHOTO BY JOHN MARSHALL – #10021

This Snoqualmie Falls postcard was taken as the base of the majestic waterfall. There is a rainbow seen from the cascading water along with people fishing from an oversized rock. Perched above the waterfall sits Snoqualmie Falls Lodge known today as Salish Lodge & Spa. This means the photo was taken before the 1988 renovation which expanded the lodge from an eight-room roadside stop to a 91-room luxury resort.

The back of the postcard contains some important publishing details. It has a catalog number of #10021 / G-2058 and was printed by Impact Northwest from Woodinville, Washington in 1990. It’s great having a publishing date and a street address for the now defunct postcard printing company.

The caption reads: “Snoqualmie Falls has a drop of 268 feet, and at times, powers an underground power plant.”

The photographer credited for the image is John Marshall.

Impact Northwest also printed postcards with photos by Craig Tuttle previously discussed on Twin Peaks Blog. At the time, I found little information about this company other than I thought they may have been based in Olympia, Washington. Eventually, they might have become Impact International, which produced restaurant items for soda beverages and more.

Using the address printed on this postcard, I found the nondescript warehouse-like building in Woodinville. Yet I’ve still been unable to find any definitive answer about the company. Woodinville is approximately 50 minutes from Snoqualmie. Most likely, this was a local print shop that sourced photos from Pacific Northwest photographs to create souvenirs for Salish Lodge and other businesses.

WHO IS PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN MARSHALL?

While I didn’t find information about Impact Northwest, I was thrilled to find extensive history about photographer John Marshall. According to his website, he was born in Nevada in 1951 and moved to Harney County, Oregon in 1955. His father was the late David B. Marshall, a celebrated biologist who worked at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

At the age of 12, John received his first 35mm camera as a birthday gift. By the time he attended Oregon State University, he was a rather skilled photographer. He would earn a degree in Fishery Science at OSU and later a masters in Wildlife Resources from the University of Idaho.

Upon graduation, Marshall worked as a research technician for Weyerhaeuser Company. While the job wasn’t for him, it did take him to the southern Washington Cascades including the Mt. St. Helens back country. In 1980, National Geographic Magazine hired Marshall to cover the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

In 1985, he moved to the east side of the Cascades in Washington State where he lived among sawmill workers and farmers. When wildfire broke out on the Wenatchee National Forest in 1994, Marshall took it upon himself to document the fire and the plant growth that followed the flames. According to a Seattle Times article from Dec. 1, 2023, he’s spent three decades documenting the forest’s recovery by “returning repeatedly to photograph more than 60 sites.”

I was happy to find more photos he took of Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge on his website – JFMarshall.com – where he provides details on how to purchase his prints or hire him for work.

For many years, Marshall worked with a 4×5 field camera and a Pentax 645 medium format camera, only resorting to 35mm for wildlife and human interest pictures. He expanded his photo toolbox to include drone photography. I also noticed he uses Canon cameras which makes him a kindred spirit as I’ve been shooting with Canon for 25 years.

Today, John lives with his wife Leslie on the outskirts of Wenatchee. His family life includes six children, who are all young adults.

His companion website – WildLandNw.net – states he has an “enduring interest in conservation of our public lands, and wishes to contribute by sharing what he has learned through his university training and many years of exploring and photographing.”

I’m thankful to find people like him who not only documenting nature but educating future generations.

You can download high-resolution images of many postcards on my Flickr account – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720331531617