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Gig Harbor Now and Then | A new Item of Mystery

The first Gig Harbor Now and Then Historical Item of Mystery — introduced at the end of Gig Harbor Now and Then No. 38, on Nov. 4, 2024 — is so mysterious that nobody figured out what it is. Well, except for Tonya Strickland, but the Gig Harbor Now and Then Item of Mystery Rules Committee disqualified her for being a Gig Harbor Now contributor.

Today, we introduce a new Item of Mystery, but this time someone other than Tonya will either figure it out or already know what it is. It will not remain a mystery for long. If nobody gets the right answer, I’ll reveal what it is after just a few clues. There will be no stringing it along month after month after month, like Item of Mystery No. 1.

Also unlike Item of Mystery No. 1, there will be no prize for the winning entry. I still have the 19 Marlboro filtered cigarettes offered for the correct identity of Item No. 1, but that is simply too rich a reward for today’s item.

That’s not to say Item No. 2 isn’t cool, because it is. It’s just that probably nothing could be as cool as Item No. 1.

Historical Item of Mystery #2

Gig Harbor Now and Then Item of Mystery #2 is this simple tool. Photo by Greg Spadoni.

It’s obviously a tool of some sort. It’s equally obvious that it is homemade. It’s 75 inches long, made of three pieces of increasing-diameter scrap steel pipe welded end-to-end, with a three-inch-wide, seven-inch-long scoop welded to the end of the smallest diameter piece. The tool had one, specific, use.

This is the business end of the homemade tool. Photo by Greg Spadoni.

Clues

One of the Spadoni Brothers built Item of Mystery No. 2 and used it in their road construction business on the Peninsula for years, from the 1940s to the 1960s.

It was not used daily. Not even weekly.

It’s made entirely of mild steel. Had it been factory-made, the scoop, at least, would have been made from hardened steel.

The multiple dings and bends in the shaft show that it was used as a handy pry bar for various tasks, none of which involved its primary purpose.

Holy smokes, those are good clues!

Question 1: Generically speaking, what is Gig Harbor Now and Then Historical Item of Mystery No. 2?

Question 2: What, specifically, was it used for?

Unfair confusion

It will probably confuse things to add this clue, but I will, because it’s absolutely true.

This tool, whatever it is, was rendered obsolete by Spadoni Brothers’ acquisition of a motorized tool in the 1960s.

I suppose that could be a third question.

Question 3: What was Spadoni Brothers’ motorized tool that rendered Item of Mystery No. 2 obsolete?

Yep, it was a third question, all right.

Note: Gig Harbor Now and Then Historical Item of Mystery #2 now belongs to the Harbor History Museum. Donated by John Spadoni in 2025, it is not currently on public display.

Great expectations

I’m expecting Item No. 2 to be identified pretty quickly, and if it isn’t, I’m spilling it within the next two columns. If you’d like to venture a guess, or outright know what it is, please post it on the Gig Harbor Now Facebook page.

Looking to the future through the past

Way back on Nov. 17, 2024, this column featured a look at future columns, both finished and planned. How did that work out? Let’s take a look.

Future columns mentioned were:

Gig Harbor’s first automobile dealerships. Status: posted on Feb. 4, 2025.

A look at the push a hundred years ago to replace high-maintenance wooden bridges with culverts and road fill, the exact opposite of what’s been happening in recent years to restore natural fish migration. Status: still pending.

Death and Burial on the Early Peninsula. Status: posted on Sept. 22, 2025.

The story of old-growth stumps. Status: still pending. The subject is SO fascinating that it’s worth a second look at the exact wording used in that Nov. 17, 2024 column:

Believe it or not — and like it or not — the old-growth stump shall commandeer an entire column. That’s a no-brainer, for what other subject could possibly generate more anticipatory excitement? (Typical reader reaction: “Stumps? WOW! I can’t wait to be delightfully entertained by tales of old-growth stumps!”)

A few accidental shootings. Status: pending.

A variety of retail stores, some that were successful, some that didn’t make it. Status: some have been mentioned, others are pending.

A variety of “Now and Then” photo comparisons. Status: both done and pending. The first comparison used stills from the Hollywood movie filmed in Gig Harbor in 1972. Another was in the brickyard story. There are quite a few more to come, though the premise will probably change from Now and Then to Then and Now. It just seems like a better order.

The very different route of the first public road through the west side of Gig Harbor. Status: pending. I’ve drawn the map, at least.

Garbage disposal before public dumps. We touched on that in Part 1 of the recent Gig Harbor brickyard story, but there will be more mentions of it.

The first airplane pilot on the Peninsula. Status: posted on Nov. 3, 2025.

Gig Harbor’s first few hospitals (there were several before St. Anthony). Status: pending. That story gets more complicated with the stories of the doctors who ran those early hospitals.

A terrible traffic accident. Status: finished and will probably be posted within the next couple months.

Herd laws. Status: nearly finished, and pending.

Various aspects of logging. Status: done and ongoing.

Murder. Status: pending

Prison. Status: in the can, and pending.

Double-clutching (believe it or not – but only as a lead-in to another subject). Status: finished and pending.

The first telephones on the Peninsula. Status: posted on Feb. 10, 2025.

Old buildings. Status: ongoing. The Little House in the Hayfield proved the general subject to be a popular one.

The revolution that was radio. Status: pending.

The maybe list

Maybe a story on some common recipes of the early days on the Peninsula that while delicious, helped people into an early grave. Status: pending.

Maybe a few whaling stories. Status: This one is no longer a maybe. It’s now an Almost Certainty. But pending.

Maybe a look back at the state Legislature in the 1980s. Status: finished, but waffling. Not sure it would play well today.

Maybe something about the only brick yard on the shores of Gig Harbor. Status: posted in three parts, One, Two, and Three.

Ready for publication

Columns that were already done at the time, but not yet run were:

A really cool column about what individual trees can tell us about the past. Status: posted on Jan. 27, 2025.

A passenger and freight railroad through Gig Harbor. Status: posted on April 7, 2025.

A look at the early Peninsula’s universal fuel. Status: still pending.

The convoluted story of Gig Harbor’s first cemetery. Status: still pending.

A column about Gig Harbor commercial fishing boats, waiting only for the right slot in the schedule. Status: posted on June 2, 2025.

More Gig Harbor Now and Then editorial opinions. Status: posted and ongoing, the best one, by far, being a brutally honest look at punctuation addiction. The next one, scheduled for March 9, is more of a sports commentary, taking to task a disturbing trend in professional sports.

A new maybe

Another maybe has made the list since I compiled the old one. Many Gig Harbor fishermen engaged in a nasty land dispute over a hundred years ago. The story reveals in no uncertain terms who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Two of the good guys have streets named after them today, but so do two of the bad guys. Who says crime doesn’t pay?

I think it’s a fascinating story.

The maybe status is due to the length of the piece. It would have to be a multi-part series. The jury’s still out on how The Gig Harbor Brick Company was received in three parts. (Let’s face it, the reception any subject receives in this column is just guesswork on my part.)

Next time

On March 9 we will likely have a reader’s correct answer for the Item of Mystery No. 2. But if nobody gets it right by then, we’ll spill it on March 23.

The new topic on March 9 will be an update on The Little House in the Hayfield. The column will also include the aforementioned sports commentary.

A parting observation

To remind us how far the average lifestyle has progressed over the past 50 or so years, we need only to look at any one of thousands of technological advances that make leaps in the quality of life practically routine. In recent years they’ve come so fast and frequent that we don’t even know about most of them until they’re in common usage. Today’s case in point is so subtle, it’s almost obscure. It was nearly a fluke that I even noticed it.

Printed in small font on the back of the packaging of a simple coat hook is a leap in linguistics technology that took me completely by surprise. With no knowledge of Spanish, I can actually read the Spanish installation instructions. They are as clear to me as the English instructions.

Bilingual ink even works online!

It must be the ink. The blue ink. Bilingual Blue.

That’s got to be it. I can’t understand the Spanish words printed in black above the instructions, so it must be the blue ink.

Bilingual ink is a fantastic invention. But it makes me wonder why they also printed it in Monolingual Black. Maybe the bilingualism fades with time?

Greg Spadoni, February 23, 2026