It has been 118 years since Luke McRedmond and Warren Perrigo homesteaded in what was then the peaceful and isolated Squak Valley. Today Redmond is a city of more than 30,000 - home to a growing high technology industry, a bustling commercial center and a festive annual Bike Derby.

It took pluck and determination to get from there to here. Pioneers braving the unknown staked out claims in the wilderness, carving out homes among giant cedar trees 10 feet in diameter and 200 feet tall. Loggers came to tame the cedars and hastened the development of a frontier town, incorporated in 1912 solely so that it could legally serve liquor in its saloons.