Snoqualmie Pass Travelers #2 Traditional Geocache

Take a break from the freeway with a series of caches that will show you some of the older routes across the pass. The cache is about 20 feet North of the road.

Over the years several routes have crossed Snoqualmie Pass. Trails gave way to roads and roads were replaced with freeways but, in places, the old still remains. Between the Denny Creek exit and the Pass an old road runs up the valley just as it has for many years. Take a few minutes to slow down and enjoy what used to be the latest thing.

Almost as soon as whites settled in the state the importance of creating a cross mountain route was realized. Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens in 1853 sent Capt. George McClellan to look for the easiest railroad and wagon routes across the Cascade Mountains. McClellan's Butte east of North Bend and south of I-90 is named for him. McClellan didn't find anything to his liking at Naches Pass, Yakima Pass or Snoqualmie Pass, declaring them impassable and "practicable on foot with the greatest difficulty". He apparently never made it to Snoqualmie Pass but based his report on information he obtained from his native guides.

McClellan's report didn't set will with Governor Stevens who then sent railroad surveyor Abiel Tinkham to take a look. In January 1854 Tinkham snowshoed across the Cascades somewhere near Yakima Pass from east to west, making the journey on to Seattle. Abiel and Tinkham Peaks, south of Snoqualmie Pass, are named for him. Meanwhile the Governor had again sent McClellan back to the Cascades, this time from the west to explore the Snoqualmie Pass route. He ended up near Yakima Pass again and turned back when a few inches of snow on the trail blocked his goal.

Finally in August of 1855 Frederick Lander's railroad surveying party crossed Snoqualmie Pass. Arthur Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and for whom Denny Mtn just north of Snoqualmie Pass is named, was very interested in making a road over the pass, recruiting Lander's brother Edward and Hillory Butler to join him in a trip over the pass that fall. The outbreak of hostilities with the Natives on the east side of the mountains ended the trip before they reached the pass.

Concern that the Natives might cross the pass and attack Seattle lead to the 1856 trip of Maj. J. H. H. Van Bokkelen. He scouted spots to build forts to protect the settlers from possible attacks across the pass. While concern about possible attacks outwayed interest in commerce, progress on a road was stopped.

GCRM