A short scenic walk near a park. Bring the kids and a picnic lunch!
The frontier town of Eatonville was established in 1889 by Thomas Van Eaton, who chose its location based on the recommendation of "Indian Henry," who proclaimed, "This good place. Not much snow." Van Eaton and his fellow settlers set up a trading post, a rough stage trail, and a school. In 1902, the Tacoma Eastern Railroad arrived, and soon afterward, several small timber mills. The largest of these was the Eatonville Lumber Company, founded in 1909, which sat astride the rail line on the east side of town.
The lumber company fueled the earliest boom in Eatonville's economy and culture. Company houses sprang up around the mill, many of them occupied by Japanese millworkers and their families.
The mill closed in 1954, but its legacy can be seen all over town, from the logging mural on the west side of the Mill Village Motel to the "Eatonville Cruisers" logo on the high school bleachers. The old mill property stands vacant and overgrown by blackberries, and the old, rusting teepee burner finally collapsed during a storm in December 2006.
The mill pond now sits on the edge of a brand new public park, featuring a playground, picnic tables, public restrooms, a skate park, and a paved trail wandering through the blackberries along the pond to the edge of the Mashell River. The historic T.C. Van Eaton cabin, on the west side of the park, is now a museum.
To find this cache, park near the playground, and follow the scenic trail a short distance to the cache coordinates. If the weather is clear, look for a view of Mount Rainier in the distance over the old mill property, and enjoy the scenery and history of a town no longer on the edge of the frontier.