Eastside Stories

Much of the construction of the road through Snoqualmie Pass was driven by money. Originally a desire of local citizens, the project would eventually attract federal funding. Economic opportunities convinced private citizens early on of the need for an easily traveled road, but the US government’s reasons hinged on military defense.

As early settlers sought to attract both travelers and those hoping to set up residence, finding funds for the project was of utmost importance. The Seattle area settlers hoped to attract more people to the region and capitalize on those traveling to other parts of the west. Still, finding funds required creative thinking and patience as the project experienced several setbacks.

After Governor Steven’s two exploratory parties, The Puget Sound War of 1855 both halted construction and encouraged further exploration of the region. Although the war interrupted its construction, in the end it would be a driving force for federal funding. Major J.J.H. Van Bokkelen felt that to deter attacks from Native American groups to the east of the Seattle area on the growing population of the Seattle area a military highway was needed. He documented topographical information himself to locate strategic sites for the establishment of military encampments.

After the war military desires and a new economic opportunity further encouraged the Snoqualmie Pass project. In 1859 the Gold Rush inspired many to come west seeking fortune and the construction of a road by Snohomish county settlers across Cady pass just a little north of Stevens Pass. This is also the year that Seattle used $1,050 to appoint a superintendent of roads and started again on their project to build a road across Snoqualmie Pass. Fortunately for them soon after this Bokkelen’s ideas made it to Washington. Congress secured funds in 1860-1861 to build a road through the Cascades for military movements. They gave $75,000 for the project, but the Civil War soon interrupted the construction yet again.

Photo (above) :Snoqualmie Pass Road - planked or corduroy road through the woods. Photographed by King County Public Works.

Still desiring a road that would route settlers towards Seattle, in 1875 Seattle businessmen lobbied for legislature to allow them to hold a “grand lottery”. The group would sell 5-dollar tickets to raffle off Henry Yesler’s $100,000 sawmill. Unable to sell their goal of 60,000 tickets the lottery dragged on until it was declared illegal by the courts. It is thought the promoters of the lottery profited more than the road and construction remained slow.

Finally, citizens collected $2,500 to start again and construct a 25 mile road. W. W. Perkings worked from July till November with 20 men to open road. Workers labored manually and were constantly foiled by falling trees and other obstacles. Cutting brush and other debris by hand, bridges were also constructed by brute force with cedar planks. The first party that built the road with hard labor named Rattlesnake Prairie for the Camas seed pods that rattled there in the wind. They were also the first to report seeing chunks of coal in the pass which would inspire later entrepreneurs. The early work done by these 20 men would allow travel time to be cut from days to minutes as the road progressed to what it is today. From beginning to end the construction of Snoqualmie pass roads and eventually highway has been fueled by economic concerns.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

Eastside Stories

The pressures which created the first road through Snoqualmie Pass hinged on the increase in population seen as the Seattle area’s population grew. Even as the project was beginning though, some maintained that it was too dangerous to travel by land. Explorers, fur traders and the eventual colonial settlers that arrived on the Eastside avoided the Cascades for a long time because of the danger posed by terrain and weather. Early arrivals traveled by water and through Oregon to avoid the formidable Cascade Range. The first road was proposed to bring more settlers quickly through the mountains.

The first route, Naches Pass to the south of Snoqualmie Pass, was one of the routes shown to European explores by Native Americans. White settlers took advantage of this indigenous knowledge as they carved out the first wagon road there. One of the first parties to cross through Naches Pass is said to have lowered its wagons by leather ropes down a 1,000-foot drop above Pyramid Creek. This party, known as the James Longmire and James Biles party, comprised over 100 people and came through the mountains short of food and bedraggled. In order to limit the hardship and endangerment of people traveling to the region, territorial leaders made building a better road a priority.

In 1853 Territorial Governor Issac Stevens was appointed by President Pierce to survey potential transcontinental railroad routes between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. Stevens sent Captain George McClellan to find a route through the Cascades. McClellan traveled the native people’s horse route over Yakima Pass west of Lake Keechelus and just south of the pass we know today as Snoqualmie Pass. (It took a while for the newcomers to the region to figure out that the native people used two routes over the mountains. The one across what we know as Snoqualmie Pass was a foot path, the route over Yakima Pass a horse trail.) He reported that too much snow and geographic barriers made the route unusable. Not taking no for an answer, Stevens sent Lieutenant Abiel Tinkham two years later to survey a route. Tinkham set out in September with several native guides and struggled through deep snow over Yakima Pass. Not until 1856 did a party under the command of Major J. H. H. VanBokkelen successfully travel east through Snoqualmie Pass as part of an expedition to scout possible locations for forts during the so-called Indian Wars (1855-56). [article continues below]

Photo (above) :Snoqualmie Pass Wagon Road photographed in 1910.

The conflicts between colonizing groups who had settled in the Seattle area and the indigenous population had originally caused these settlers to stick close to their towns and take routes over water rather than land. It wasn’t until these conflicts escalated to include the US military in the Puget Sound War of 1855-56 that the land to the east seemed to open for European settlers.

The Puget Sound War encouraged the US federal government to look for funding to create a military highway as defense of the region proved difficult. Although a bill was passed into Congress for funding not much came of it. The Civil War interrupted Federal attempts to build a road as the focus of the nation moved elsewhere.

New laws in the 1850s and 60s encouraged people to migrate to the Puget Sound region and may have inspired the cutting of roads through the Cascades. The original wagon road was built over Snoqualmie Pass in 1868, proving a path less formidable than Naches Pass. It seems the geography of the Cascade Mountains can both help and hinder roads through the range. High peaks and sometimes uneven terrain are offset by flat bottom valleys created by Ice Age glaciers which made making a road through Snoqualmie pass much easier than it could have been.

Resources

Eastside Heritage Center Archives

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

A History of Snoqualmie: Finding Funds for a Road by Lobbying, Taxing, and Swindling

A History of Snoqualmie Part 3: Conceiving the First Roads Through the Cascades