Timeline

• 2.5 million to 12,000 BPE: Pleistocene Epoch, also known as the Ice Age, is a period of cooler temperatures and lower sea levels. The cooler temperatures trigger a glacial period that affects the Valley.

• 20,000 BPE to 14,000 BPE: Alpine Glaciers come down from the Cascade Mountains to the foothills, covering the Middle Fork in a 2100 feet deep sheet of ice. Its maximum is 20,000 years ago but retreats by 14,000 years ago.

• Prior to 12,500 BPE: Archaeology sites in Puget Sound region are characterized by sparse and highly mobile groups that primarily use terrestrial resources. Artifacts include large stone bifaces and bone technology.

• 13,000 BPE: Earliest discovered to date archaeological site in Valley created.

• 14,000 BPE- 12,500 BPE: The Continental Vashon Glacier from comes south from Canada covering the Valley with part of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice sheet. Its maximum is 14,000 years ago covering the Valley with between 2400 to 3300 feet of ice depending on the location.

• 12,500 to 6,400 years ago. Archaeology sites in Puget Sound region are characterized by generalized resource use. Artifacts include leaf-shaped bifaces, cobble and cobble-flake tools, and bone tools.

• 6,400 to 3,800 years ago: Archaeology sites in Puget Sound region are characterized by increased sedentism, and increased dependence on bone and antler tools. Artifacts include bone points, barbs, and harpoons, ground stone points and celts.

• 3,800 to 1,800–1,500 years ago. Archaeology sites in Puget Sound region are characterized by the first evidence of permanent social inequality, as well as a shifting emphasis to storage-based economy, intensification of salmon fishing, increase in the variety of bone and antler tools, and near modern art styling. Artifacts include artifacts from the Ebone points, barbs, and harpoons, ground stone points and celts, as well as plank house remains, wooden boxes, toggling harpoons, fish hooks, and fish rakes.
  

• 1,800–1,500 years ago to around 225 years ago. Archaeological sites are in Puget Sound region characterized by the emergence of extremely large houses, heavy-duty woodworking tools, and a decreased reliance on chipped stone tools.

• 1720s-1730s: sdukʷalbixʷ, Snoqualmie Tribe, begin using horses for travel and transportation across Snoqualmie Pass and throughout the region.

• 1770s: First of a series of smallpox epidemics hits Pacific Coast, killing between 50%-90% of the population in the region.

• 1792: Spain establishes the first non-Indian settlement in Washington at Neah Bay.

• 1833: Continuous contact between native groups and European Americans likely begins with the establishment of Fort Nisqually. The Hudson’s Bay Company, a British fur-trading outfit, established the fort to take advantage of the area’s untapped natural resources. The security of the fort eventually encourages the movement of missionaries and other settlers to the area.

• 1840s: Hudson’s Bay Co drives cattle over Cascade Mountains from Eastern Washington; some cattle are reported to be driven over Snoqualmie Pass or Yakima Pass.

• 1846: Oregon Treaty permanently establishes the 49^th Parallel as the boundary between the United States and British controlled North America to the Pacific Ocean. When established, the territory encompasses an area that includes the current states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana.

• 1849: Fort Steilacoom, near present-day Tacoma, is established in response to rising tensions between settlers and Native American groups.

• 1849-1851: Samuel Hancock visits Snoqualmie Valley and later creates first written description of area.

• 1850: Donation Land Act of Oregon of 1850 encourages more settlers to move into the area by granting homesteading rights to settlers in the Oregon Territory, an area that includes present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

• 1851: European-American R.H. Landsdale visits Snoqualmie Falls.

  September – The first US King County settlers on arrived near modern day Seattle. The party included the Collins Family.  The young daughter of the Collins is Lucinda, who would one day become the first European-American woman to settle in the Valley.

• 1854: United States Army orders Captain George McClellan and Lieutenant Abiel Tinkham to survey routes through Snoqualmie Pass.

• January 1855: The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855 signed. The 1855 Treaty creates a Government-to-Government relationship between the United States and signatory tribes, including the sdukʷalbixʷ. In return for the reservation and other benefits promised in the treaty by the United States government, the tribes’ exchange over 54,000 acres of their homeland.

• 1855-1858: European-American immigrants violate the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855, triggering a series of rebellions from 1855 to 1858 known as “the Indian War”, “Puget Sound War” and/or “Yakima War”.

• 1856: Five forts are created in Snoqualmie Valley by Washington State Militia to militarily occupy the strategic corridor between Eastern and Western Washington.

• 1858: Around a half dozen Washington State Militia members after being posted at forts, return to settle in the Valley including Kellogg brothers. Jeremiah Borst comes over the Cedar River trail on his way to join his sister Mrs. Collins. After dropping down into the Upper Valley, he decides to settle in Fort Alden on the Snoqualmie Prairie. The Snoqualmie Prairie is being traditionally farmed by the sdukʷalbixʷ. James Entwhistle comes up the Snohomish River and settles in Tolt.

• 1859: The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855 is ratified by Congress.

• 1860: US Federal Census taken for first time in Snoqualmie Valley. Four European American men are listed. sdukʷalbixʷ are not included.

• 1863: Road from Fall City to upper Valley on the south side of the river built.

• 1865: Arthur A. Denny, Jeremiah Borst and William Perkins consult with sdukʷalbixʷ Chief Saniwa about the route over Snoqualmie Pass. It is reported that Chief Saniwa instructs two younger men from his tribe to led the Seattle party through the pass. Denny claims that they left the trail at the summit and followed an alternate route along Lake Keechelus; thus locating the current route through the Pass.

  Matts Peterson homesteads on what today is downtown North Bend.

• 1865-1867: King County residents contributed money in fall of 1865 and crew starts road from Ranger’s Prairie (now North Bend) to Lake Keechelus. Work resumes again in the summer of 1867, with a road opening to the south end of Lake Keechelus that year. Wagon train emigrants used the route to reach Seattle.

• 1868: Jeremiah Borst marries Mina Kanim, granddaughter of an important sdukʷalbixʷ leader, after his first wife Sally (possible also a sdukʷalbixʷ tribe member) dies.

• 1869: Iron-ore claims staked near Snoqualmie Pass by Arthur A. Denny and Jeremiah Borst; mines never developed.

  December – M. S. Booth drives 200 head of cattle across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle. Even though three feet of snow covered the pass, Booth losses only four head of cattle.

  In the general election the Snoqualmie Valley has eight voters.

  Immigrants include James Taylor and Boham brothers who settle at Fall City.

• October 1870: It is reported that during the previous year more than 1,200 head of cattle are driven from Yakima Valley to Puget Sound. Most if not all of the cattle travel over Snoqualmie Pass.

• October 1871: Indian Appropriations Act passed. The Indian Appropriation Act directs that all Native Americans should be treated as individuals and legally designated “wards” of the federal government and no longer are any group of Native Americans to be recognized as an independent nation by the federal government. Before this bill was enacted, the federal government signed treaties with different Native American tribes, committing the tribes to land cessions, in exchange for specific lands designated to Native Americans for exclusive indigenous use as well as annual payments in the form of cash, livestock, supplies, and services. These treaties, which took much time and effort to finalize, ceased with the passage of the 1871 Indian Appropriation Act. 

• 1872: Post office established at present day Fall City. Watson-Allen Mill opens at mouth of Tokul Creek.

  Immigrants include Taylor/Moore extended family who settle in Fall City, the Rutherford family and Josiah Merritt who homesteads at the base of what is know called Mount Si.

• 1873: First European-American school built at Fall City.

• 1875: Jeremiah Borst buys Matts Peterson homestead when Peterson marries and moves to eastern Washington. Borst also buys out Boham brothers in Fall City.

• 1876: Mina Kanim Borst passes after birth of fifth child.

  Kenos Faro Branam family settles in Valley.

• 1879: Jeremiah Borst asks William Taylor to take over Matts Peterson homestead in lieu of payment for work previously done for Borst.

• 1880: Jeremiah Borst marries Kate Kanim Smith, the cousin of his second wife Mina and the granddaughter of an important sdukʷalbixʷ leader.

• 1882: Jeremiah Borst sells his lands in the upper Valley including the Snoqualmie Prairie to the Hop Growers Association who form the Snoqualmie Hop Ranch at what is now Meadowbrook Farm.

  Josiah Merritt dies.

• 1883: First wagon load of supplies brought to valley. Morgan O’Brian told how he brought the first wagon load of supplies from Newcastle to the Snoqualmie Hop Ranch leaving there January 6, 1883. He left the Prairie in the morning, stayed overnight at Newcastle and started out next morning with his load. He reached George Tibbetts’ place at Gilman, or sometimes would get as far as Fall City that night, reaching the Prairie the next day.

  The first sawmill in the upper Snoqualmie Valley opens at Snoqualmie Hop Ranch.

  Immigrants to the Snoqualmie Valley include Edgar Boalch, the William Gardiner family, the Robert Johnstone family and the William Renton family.

• 1884: Seattle business men form the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway with plans to build a railroad over Snoqualmie Pass.

  Immigrants to the Valley include the Cooper/Gardiner extended family, the Cribley/Damburat extended family and Fred Scheuchzer.

• July 27, 1887: Fall City platted by Jeremiah and Kate Borst.

  Immigrants to the Valley include the John Collingwood family, the Thompson family, the William Brown family and the Thomas Carlin family.

• 1888: Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway reaches Fall City.

  Immigrants include the James Liddle family, the Boxley/Joyner/Pulliam extended family, and the Richard Mueller family.

• 1889: February – North Bend platted as Snoqualmie Prairie by William Taylor.

  July – Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway reaches Snoqualmie and North Bend. The arrival of the railway allows mass migration into the Snoqualmie Valley, with the population increasing by 9 people for everyone person previously here over a 2 year period.

  August – Snoqualmie platted as Snoqualmie Falls by the Snoqualmie Land Improvement Co.

  November – Washington becomes the 42nd state of the United States of America.

• 1890: First doctors set up practices in Snoqualmie Valley including Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Richards.

  Jeremiah Borst dies.

  Road built on the north side of Falls Hill winding up the hill past the Falls from Fall City to upper Valley. Later the present highway was built higher up on the hillside.

• 1892: Hop-louse infestation wipes out major profitability of hop industry.

• 1893-1897: Panic of 1893, a serious economic depression, hits the Snoqualmie Valley and economies world wide. The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway is bankrupted by the Panic and many plans for industrial development in the Snoqualmie Valley are permanently destroyed including a smelting factory in present day North Bend and cannery in Fall City.

• 1897: Yukon Gold Rush, many valley residents leave for Alaska to try and make their fortune. Most return with new experiences but little gold.

  Snoqualmie Logging Co incorporated. Snoqualmie Mill Company known variously as Warren & Hardy Mill, Warren & Irving Mill, Snoqualmie Mill Co, Snoqualmie Logging Co and Snoqualmie Lumber Co operated from 1880s until it burned down in 1913; officially incorporating September 9, 1897 as Snoqualmie Logging Co. Although the Snoqualmie Hop Ranch had its own mill, this was the first significant mill run in the upper valley. It was located across the river from town, at the future Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co mill site. The mill pond was an old Snoqualmie River oxbow, later expanded by the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company in 1916.

• 1898: The Snoqualmie Falls hydroelectric power plant built as the first all underground power plant in the World. The plant pioneered use of Alternating Current (A/C) to replace Edison’s Direct Current (D/C). The construction of the power plant desecrates a sdukʷalbixʷ sacred site.

• 1900: Weyerhaeuser purchases land in the Snoqualmie Valley checker-boarded with Rockefeller timber holdings. The need for building material following the San Francisco 1906 earthquake and fire triggered purchase of the adjacent pieces of the checkerboard by the Grandin-Coast Lumber Co.

• 1902: Town of Tolt platted.

  Royal Neighbors of America organized in Snoqualmie.

• 1903: Town of Snoqualmie Incorporated.

  Snoqualmie Lodge 196, Independent Order of Oddfellows chartered. Mount Si Rebekah Lodge No. 150, Independent Order of Oddfellows of Snoqualmie instituted.

• 1904: Snoqualmie Hop Ranch sold and renamed Meadowbrook Farm. During this era, the farm transitions from hops to dairy.

• 1905: First automobile travels from Indianapolis to Seattle driving through Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. From the east side of the Cascades, it takes the car two days to reach Snoqualmie Pass from Kittitas Valley.

• 1906: The need for building material following the San Francisco 1906 earthquake and fire triggers the purchase by the Grandin-Coast Lumber Co of the properties adjacent to the property pieces of the checkerboard purchased in 1900 by Weyerhaeuser.

• 1907: Work begins on State Road No. 7, the precursor to the Sunset Highway, between Easton, east of Snoqualmie Pass, and North Bend to the west. State Road No. 7 is the first trans-mountain state highway built. 

  Tilacum Rebekah Lodge No. 185, Independent Order of Oddfellows instituted at North Bend.

• 1909: Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railroad (later the Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul) begin construction to bring a transcontinental railroad through the Valley.  With the coming of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, the Railroad agreed to move Cherry Valley homes and businesses to the present site of Duvall in order to continue the construction of a railroad line along the Snoqualmie River.

  Town of North Bend incorporated.

• 1910: Dr Burke starts first hospital in Valley located at North Bend.

• 1912: Town of Tolt incorporated.

  Cy Somers and Otto Reinig become the first documented automobile owners in the Valley.

  Masonic Unity Lodge #198 formed at North Bend.

• 1913: Town of Duvall incorporated.

• 1914: Weyerhaeuser and Grandin-Coast merge their properties purchased in 1900 and 1906 to incorporate the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company and build the second all-electric mill in the nation at Snoqualmie.

• 1915: Seattle City Light begins filling their new dam at Cedar Lake (now Chester Morse Lake); the water table begins to rise in the bowl that the town of Cedar Falls (earlier known as Moncton) is built in. Ensuing water forms Rattlesnake Lake and destroys town.

  Sunset Highway officially opens.

• 1916: Construction begins on Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co mill and mill town.

• 1917: Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co Mill 1, built to handle 11ft. in diameter Douglas fir, cut its first log.

  Snoqualmie Falls Y.M.C.A. program begins.

  First Camp Fire troop forms in the Snoqualmie Valley.

• 1918: Wood is a primary strategic material for WWI and ship’s timbers and airplane stock are the first items produced. The US Army recruits soldiers to work in the woods and the mill under the auspices of the Spruce Production Board. There are six squadrons stationed in the Valley including at North Bend Timber Co and Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co. Manpower and material shortages created by the war enable access for people previously not allowed in the work force opportunities at the newly opened Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co mill.  Women are hired for some jobs traditionally held by men and Japanese nationals are recruited to build the logging railroad.

  Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co Mill 2, sized for Western hemlock and Western redcedar, opens.

  A very rain season combined with Seattle City Light allowing their new dam to fill to it highest levels causes a complete saturation of one of the hillsides at the lake and it gives way. The ensuing flood of water and debris swept down Boxley Creek and wiped out the town of Edgewick and the North Bend Lumber Co Mill.

• 1919: Snoqualmie Falls Lodge opens at Snoqualmie Falls.

  American Legion David Renton Post No. 79 is chartered December 1919 at North Bend. It has as its jurisdiction the towns and vicinity of Cedar Falls, North Bend, and Snoqualmie. The Post is named for David Renton, a North Bend resident, who lost his life while serving in the U. S. Army during World War I.

• 1920: Snoqualmie Falls Hospital at Snoqualmie Falls mill town opens.

  American Legion Lester B. Pickering Post is chartered in Duvall. Its jurisdiction covers Duvall, Novelty, and Carnation. The Post is named for Lester Pickering, a Novelty resident, who lost his life while serving with the Engineers Corps. A little later this Post expands its territory to cover Fall City and Issaquah.

  Snoqualmie Falls Woman’s Club organized for the purpose of intellectual growth and promotion of friendship among its members.

  Snoqualmie Valley Sportsmen’s Association formed, includes the whole Valley: North Bend, the Summit, Carnation, Fall City, Snoqualmie Falls and Snoqualmie.

• 1922: Snoqualmie Falls Woman’s Club federated with National Federation of Women’s Clubs. Art and International Relations Departments created.

• 1923: Town of Meadowbrook platted next to site of Fort Alden on former Snoqualmie Prairie.

  First Boy Scout troops organize in the Valley.

• 1924: The David Renton and Lester Pickering American Legion posts merge. The names of both posts are retained, forming what is known today as Renton-Pickering Post No. 79. The original Methodist Church building, completed in 1892, is rolled across Maple Street on logs about 1924, to become the new Legion Hall.

• 1927: Mount Si Golf Course forms as Snoqualmie Falls Golf Course. A group of local stockholders forms a company and built a nine-hole golf course and club house.

• 1928: Inveralmie Garden Club formed. “Inver,” by the river, “almie,” the latter part of Snoqualmie. The membership was limited to 25, the meetings were held at members’ homes, all programs to be given by members in turn.

• 1929-1939: Great Depression Hits. Movie ticket sales dropped significantly, the lowest sales being in 1932. Theaters closed in Snoqualmie and North Bend. At the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company, mill workers went to a four-day work week with a 10% cut in wages (12.5% for management). The Civilian Conservation Corp develops multiple projects in the Valley to help sustain the economy including construction of what is now Preston Community Center, Si View Park, the North Bend Ranger Station and Camp Waskawitz.

• 1929: Independent Order of Oddfellows Tilacum Rebekah Lodge No. 185 consolidates with Mount Si Rebekah Lodge No. 150.

• 1930: Passenger service is discontinued on Milwaukee Railroad, but freight transportation is still important.

  Sallal Grange organized in the Moose Hall on the North Fork Road.

• 1931: Inveralmie Garden Club renamed Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club. Club expanded to include members from Snoqualmie, Meadowbrook, Snoqualmie Falls, and North Bend. Meetings were held in the various communities. In 1940, the membership was limited to 100.

  Snoqualmie Valley Music Club formed.

  William Taylor locates route for trail on Mount Si and helps build it.

• 1932: Mr. Emmett Jackson buys out Mount Si Golf Course from stockholders. He puts in many improvements: making it an eighteen-hole course, piping water to all the greens, and rebuilding the club house.

• 1933: A fuel truck hits the bridge at Snoqualmie Falls. In 1933, SR-202 was the I-90 of the day. Traffic from Seattle over the pass is re-routed on to what is now Mill Pond Road and detoured through the little town of Meadowbrook to reconnect with SR-202. Thus almost completely bypassing the mostly tourist financed town of Snoqualmie for 3.5 months during the middle of the Great Depression!

• 1934: Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co mill provides ten million board feet of lumber for the Coulee Dam.

  Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union Local #1845 chartered under the seal of the American Federation of Labor, as the Loggers and Sawmill Workers, Local #19361.

• 1936: Union Local #274 Ladies Auxiliary formed. Forty-two women signed the register as charter members.

• 1937: Efforts by the sdukʷalbixʷ, Snoqualmie Tribal government, to legally secure reservation lands in Tolt lead to plans for a 10,240 acre reservation for the Tribe which would be split between one location along the Tolt River and another section located on Puget Sound between Suquamish’s current reservation lands. Unfortunately, with the outbreak of World War II, the efforts to secure a reservation for sdukʷalbixʷ are suspended by the US Government.

• 1938: Kate Kanim Borst dies.

• 1939: Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum started in school after William Taylor donates his hat, knife and gun to start the collection at end of 50th Anniversary Pageant honoring the anniversaries of statehood and the platting of Snoqualmie and North Bend.

• 1940-1942: Sunset Highway is redeveloped as a new cross-state highway, it changes from the Sunset Highway to US-10.  It is widened and parts rerouted. A new floating bridge over Lake Washington is built, Fall City and Snoqualmie are bypassed and no longer on the primary highway east. Many businesses in North Bend are physically moved back 30 ft to allow for additional lanes; others are knocked down and rebuilt.

• 1941: United States enters World War II. United States is involved in World War II. Many local men and women from the Valley leave to fight in the war, while others were tasked with protecting the Valley from possible attacks.

  William Taylor dies.

• 1942: ALL local Japanese families are incarcerated and removed from the Valley.

• 1944: Snoqualmie, Fall City and North Bend school districts merge. North Bend High School and Fall City High School close. Snoqualmie High School is rebranded Mount Si High School and students from all three districts moved to one school.

• 1947: Last logging camp closes.

  Mount Si Post 9476 Veterans of Foreign Wars was instituted with 47 charter members.

  Mt. Si Fish and Game Club formed.

• 1948: Nelems Memorial Hospital opens and Snoqualmie Falls Hospital closes.

  Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co merges stock with Weyerhaeuser.

• 1953: Because the promised 10,240 acre reservation was never legally transferred to the Tribe, the sdukʷalbixʷ were considered a “landless tribe” and the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe. This causes the tribe to loose its Federal Recognition status when the Federal Government enacts a series of legislation known as the Termination Policy that removes recognition for tribes without a reservation.

  Mount Si Business and Professional Women’s Club chartered.

• 1954: New Mount Si High School building opens at Meadowbrook.

• 1958: Weyerhaeuser dissolves Snoqualmie Falls mill town. By the mid-1950’s the need for a company town has diminished considerably. People have their own automobiles and want home equity. The maintenance and taxes are increasing for Weyerhaeuser. Weyerhaesuer sells mill houses to employees – small for $100 and large for $150 and moved them across the river to the town of Snoqualmie; the bulk of the are moved over a temporary bridge to become the Williams Addition in Snoqualmie.

• 1959: A huge new plywood plant opens at the Weyerhaeuser mill. Plans began to build a new housing development in the remains of Meadowbrook Farm, this development never breaks ground.

• 1961: Snoqualmie Falls Weyerhaeuser Mill No. 2 closes.

• 1971: Snoqualmie Falls Community Hall closes.

• 1974: Rail service to Snoqualmie ceases.

• 1979: Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum moves into its current location.

• 1989: Snoqualmie Falls Weyerhaeuser Mill No. 1 closes. Snoqualmie Centennial Log Pavilion built.

• 1997: First Snoqualmie Ridge houses completed.

• 1999: Federal government formally re-recognizes the sdukʷalbixʷ, Snoqualmie tribe.

• 2003: Last log processed at Snoqualmie Falls Weyerhaeuser plant.

• 2005: Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union Local #1845 disbanded.

• 2006: The sdukʷalbixʷ purchase property for initial reservation base and apply to have the land placed in Trust Status as their Tribal Reservation.

• 2007: Sallal Grange disbanded and reformed.

• 2019: New Mount Si High School opens.

  sdukʷalbixʷ purchase Salish Lodge and 45 acres of land near Snoqualmie Falls.

*This timeline is not all inclusive but includes many key dates of events in the the Valley when that information is available. Please reach out to us if you know significant events that should be included and have the specific dates for them.