A History of Snoqualmie Pass: Tourists, Recreationists, and Environmentalists

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

By Angeline Nesbit

The creation of the highway through Snoqualmie Pass has a history of over 6,000 years starting with the first indigenous peoples who traveled it on foot. That history continues to be made as we expand and change the highway to be more efficient, stable, and safe for travelers. Conquering the geographic elements which once were considered too formidable a barrier for people to cross regularly, people now engage in many recreational activities in the surrounding area of the pass.

Opening this space for hikers, hunters, and tourists also has its own history. Preserving the forests and history around the pass is an environmental concern which has attracted several projects and land purchases. Converting spaces that were apart of historical industries and routes through the mountains into places for recreation is the next step in human interest in the Snoqualmie Pass area.

An early project embarked on by the Boy Scouts of America and the Forest Service before the 1980s was to hack away the brush and open part to the wagon road built in 1868. They preserved what was left of some of the early trail for hikers to enjoy. This 1-mile stretch was the original foot and horse trail of Native Americans which was widened to a wagon road. This trail can be accessed near Denny Creek Campground.

Encouraging more hikers, in September 1994 the Snoqualmie tunnel built by Milwaukee Road railways 80 years before, opened to hikers and mountain bikers. The Milwaukee Road railways were some of the first electrified trains which traveled westward through their own protected tunnels. The tunnel was built with the help of 2,500 men whose labor, along with blasting materials, broke through 12,000 feet of solid rock. Two teams met in the middle to complete the large project. Massive wooden doors protect the entrance to the tunnel which railroad employees stood by to open for approaching trains. This kept icicles from forming in the very cold and damp tunnel. A cold wind emits from the tunnel strong enough to rustle clothing. The Snoqualmie Tunnel is the longest hiking tunnel in the US at 2.3 miles long. It runs over the county line between King and Kittitas counties, creating a link in the Iron Horse Trail to the west and Hyak trail to the east.

A few years later, in a huge land deal the company known as Weyerhaeuser sold over 100,000 acres of forested land they used as a tree farm to a trust which guaranteed it’ preservation permanently. This was a $185 million-dollar deal with the Evergreen Forest Trust, who has long been attempting the protection of the land. “Evergreen Forest” at Snoqualmie was acquired in 2002. At the time it was already being used by recreationalists with a fee to the Weyerhaeuser company. This site is home to old growth trees and rich wildlife making it an ideal recreation area.

Surrounded by national parks, including Mount Baker National Forest, Mount Rainier National Park, and Okanagan-Wenatchee National Forest the land around Snoqualmie Pass is beautifully preserved. Despite the many people who speed through each year the Cascades remain a haven of natural beauty which inspires people to slow down and enjoy the view. Next time you travel the pass leave time to stop and enjoy the natural world which surrounds this human made structure.

Photo (above): On a motor trip to Snoqualmie Summit this photograph shows group of people standing in front of cars, in front of long buildings.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

“Snoqualmie Pass: From Indian Trail to Interstate” by Yvonne Prater

A History of Snoqualmie: Transportation Across the Cascades

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

By Angeline Nesbit

The Snoqualmie Pass road project was first conceptualized in the 1840s, but construction of the road stopped and started with the political and economic concerns of the region and country. The road didn’t reach a point where it resembled a real highway until about 1895. Constructed with Cedar planks to help keep the road even and drivable, cars began to travel the route although often having to adapt to weather changes quickly.

Automobiles are just the most recent form of travel through the Cascades though. Native Americans walked across the mountains for thousands of years before a large road was cut out. Using a slightly different route than Snoqualmie Pass follows today, indigenous peoples were able to maintain trade routes between east and west. With the introduction of the horse these routes were even more readily traveled. Today one mile of the original route, which also laid groundwork for European colonizer’s eventual road, is preserved near Denny’s creek.

Early European and American settlers came in wagons and on horseback as well across the route, but they remained partial to travel by water until the road began to be more established in the late 1800s. Still freight wagons bringing goods out west used the road readily. In 1909 the Alaska-Yukon Exposition created a reason to improve the road as people flocked to attend the event.

Photo (above): Men with car on Snoqualmie Pass highway, probably near North Bend, taken in 1916.

This along with automobiles and tourists are sometimes credited with the final push to create a truly viable pass at Snoqualmie. US route 10, Sunset highway opened in 1915, a greatly improved road to allow easy travel for motorists. Still, the road was often perilous, and motorists were sometimes inclined to park their cars on railway flatbeds and take the train through the pass in inclement weather.

The Milwaukee Road was one of these railways. Building railroads and tunnels through the pass they transported goods, people, and other items. Milwaukee Road used some of the first electrified trains which traveled westward through their own protected tunnels to speed travel. Their train, The Olympian, was the first passenger train to go through the Snoqualmie tunnel in January 1915.

Dramatic changes in transportation are a part of what has shaped the Eastside. Without roads like the Snoqualmie Pass highway (known as I-90) our region of eastern King County would find travel to the east extremely difficult. Developing the road to allow for the safe travel of cars and trucks made the large community we live in today possible.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives