Talk:Index, Washington/GA1

GA review

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Nominator: SounderBruce (talk · contribs) 07:43, 4 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Reviewer: Mz7 (talk · contribs) 19:14, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This looks like an interesting article! I would be happy to read it starting tonight and into the weekend. Mz7 (talk) 19:14, 8 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nits

I am always so impressed when Wikipedia editors are able to find so much well-sourced, encyclopedic information about these topics like this one, a town of only 150-some people. In my view, this article already satisfies the good article criteria. I have a few suggestions to improve the article, but they are all relatively minor nitpicks that do not block this article from passing GAN right away.

Overall

Index Town Wall: the article first mentions the Index Town Wall in the lead section and the "Post-mining era" section, but it's not really clear what it is until the "Geography" section, which finally explains the "Town Walls are a series of granite cliffs ...". It might be good to add some explanatory text to the lead and to the first mention in the History section to explain what the Index Town Wall is.
- Added to the History section.
I'm so used to a comma being mandatory when separating two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction [1], but it looks like WP:MOS is silent about that, so I don't know if Wikipedia has a standardized recommendation here.
- Index was assigned a post office in November 1891 and Amos Gunn served as postmaster → Index was assigned a post office in November 1891, and Amos Gunn served as postmaster or perhaps Index was assigned a post office in November 1891, where Amos Gunn served as postmaster
- The railroad across Stevens Pass had been completed in January 1893 and a stagecoach road was opened from Index to Galena within a few years
- The local high school was closed in 1942 and students were moved to Sultan Senior High School
- The original railroad depot in the town was also demolished and the lone grade crossing was made steeper
- its original courtyard was later replaced with an indoor computer lab and the entire building was renovated in 2019
  - Made these changes and will look out for them before I take this article up to FAC.
Is there enough information out there to potentially add a "Climate" section? Especially given how often wildfires and flooding have been mentioned in the History section, I suspect there might be enough discussion about the town's climate for a section. I don't think the absence of such a section blocks this from being a GA, though.
- Unfortunately, the only weather station in Index stopped recording daily observations in the 1940s, and there isn't much other material to work with. I thumbed through a few potential sources (NOAA reports, Cliff Mass's book, newspaper archives) and couldn't even find a more modern snowfall count, let alone detailed climate information.

Early 20th century

Index was officially incorporated as a fourth-class city ... – "fourth-class city" might be a little too technical. It might be good to link to some article that explains Washington state city classes, or perhaps omit the "fourth-class" part
- Added a link.
The enwiki MOS does not discourage using the passive voice like a lot of style guides do (and in fact encourages it in a few places, see note (y) of WP:MOS), but I feel like this article uses it quite a bit in places where the active voice might flow better or impart relevant information, e.g. The granite quarry closed permanently after its warehouse was destroyed by a fire in May 1932 → The granite quarry closed permanently after a fire destroyed its warehouse in May 1932
- Will look for a few more examples of these as well.

Post-mining era

If there's space on the right side, it might be cool to include a picture of the no longer existing Red Men Hall (Index, Washington) in the "Post-mining era" section or the "Culture" section: File:Index, WA. (1702484342).jpg. In both places, the article mentions it as being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so it seems like it was one of the more significant buildings in town.
- Added to the History section; looking to also get some new photos to pepper into the article on my next trip out that way (which could be as soon as this weekend, if the weather cooperates).

Transition to recreation economy

It was named Forks of the Sky State Park and the Town Wall was donated to expand the park in 2010. - It might be good to expand this with a bit more of the story of how the Washington Climbers Association basically rescued the Town Wall from being turned into a quarry. According to the two cited sources [2][3] plus this one I found [4], the Washington Climbers Association pooled together $115,000 to buy it from a landowner named Patricia Murphy, and then shortly afterwards, they donated it to the state to make it a part of the park. That's pretty cool.
- Added a bit, totally missed the quarry story.
... published plans to construct a fish hatchery near Sunset Falls in 2021. → published plans in 2021 to construct a fish hatchery near Sunset Falls – to remove ambiguity (currently reads that the plans were to do the construction in 2021, but the intended meaning is that the publishing of the plans happened in 2021)
- Fixed.
The cliffs are also home to nests for peregrine falcons, which necessitate occasional closures to climbing for protection. The peregrine falcon is my favorite animal.
- They're neat birds (unlike the European starlings who are trying to nest in my house). Quite a few have nests in some odd places locally (such as the Ship Canal Bridge), but I'm glad to see them thriving.

Education

It has a single combined elementary–middle school with an enrollment of 28 students and three full-time teachers as of 2020 – the reference for this [5] points to the Snohomish School District and not the Index School. We should probably replace the link with this one: [6]. Also, it's showing 23 students and "2.81" teachers as of now.
- Nice catch, I have fixed the link and updated accordingly.

Transportation

the relocated bridge was also closed entirely for several days in October to prepare for flood control measures – would be good to specify October 1998 or maybe October of the same year for clarity
- Fixed.

Final review

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
See above.
It is factually accurate and verifiable, as shown by a source spot-check.
a (reference section): b (inline citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):
This is a really well-referenced article. Excellent work finding all of these sources—many of which are not readily accessible from the open Internet—about such a niche topic. Since I do not have immediate access to some of the books you used, I am WP:AGFing on much of the article. The Geography and Demographics sections are a bit heavy on WP:PRIMARY sources like maps and government reports, but it looks like all the claims sourced to primary sources are pretty straightforward and not contentious, so I think this is not problematic. I haven't reviewed articles about Places before, but I suspect the use of primary sources for this kind of stuff is pretty common practice. Earwig is squeaky clean.
Indeed, it is common practice to rely heavily on U.S. Census Bureau sources for these sections. Most articles still use the blurbs generated by Ram-Man and Rambot 23 years ago.
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

I think I will let this GAN sit for another day or so in case the nominator or anyone else has any questions or further suggestions, and then I will fill out the paperwork to pass this article tomorrow. Mz7 (talk) 05:55, 13 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Mz7: Thanks for the thorough review. I am hoping to eventually take this one up to FAC, so having a more detailed review at this stage is very helpful. I'm glad you enjoyed the article, it was a labor of love that required some very deep digging (including calling up several people in the town). Sounder Bruce 06:21, 13 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]