“It was just a ghost town,” said Sue Price.

“Now there’s nothing left for the ghosts.”

Price spoke of the logging hamlet of Sappho and the burned-out Sappho Junction cafe, store and gas station, destroyed in an early morning fire on Monday.

Beaver-area firefighters battled the blaze, which already had engulfed the building by 12:45 a.m., and called for aid from Forks.

Forks Fire Chief Gary Arbeiter said the structure was a total loss — but could not immediately set the loss in dollars.

Located at U.S. Highway 101 and state Route 113, it was owned by Sam Gaydeski of Beaver. Gaydeski was not immediately available for comment about the fire.

Arbeiter also said he didn’t know the cause of the fire — but he called in fire investigators from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department.

They inspected the scene Monday afternoon.