Snoqualmie ( ) is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington, United States. It is east of Seattle. Snoqualmie city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was 10,670 at the 2010 census and an estimated 13,622 in 2019.
Many of the exterior shots for David Lynch's Twin Peaks television series and movie (Fire Walk with Me) were filmed in Snoqualmie and in the neighboring towns of North Bend and Fall City. Movie actress Ella Raines was born on August 6, 1920, in Snoqualmie Falls, a mill town across the Snoqualmie River that is now part of Snoqualmie.
Etymology
The name "Snoqualmie" comes from the name of the indigenous people of the same name. It is an Anglicization of the Lushootseed name sdukʷalbixʷ, which means "people of the moon".
History
The second written record of the exploration of the Snoqualmie Valley comes from the notes of Samuel Hancock, who ventured up-river with the Snoqualmie tribe in 1851 in search of coal. Near the current location of Meadowbrook Bridge, Hancock was told by his guides that the land was known as Hyas Kloshe Illahee, or "good/productive land". Hancock took this useful information back with him to the area now known as Tacoma. The area that is now Snoqualmie had been continuously occupied by members of the Snoqualmie Tribe and their ancestors for at least 13,000 years.
During the 1850s, tensions were very high between the native populations and the new settlers claiming the land as their own. In 1856, in response to these tensions, Fort Alden was built near a Snoqualmie village, in the area that would become Snoqualmie. After the Treaty War ended, Fort Alden was abandoned (along with other forts built around this time).
The most successful early pioneer in the Valley was Jeremiah Borst, who arrived in the spring of 1858 over the Cedar River trail from the eastern side of the mountains. He settled in the area that formerly held Fort Alden, and used his sales of pigs and apples in Seattle to buy out much of the surrounding land from other settlers.
As successful as farming was, other settlers had different methods of working the land. The very first lumber mill in the Snoqualmie Valley was established at the mouth of Tokul Creek around 1872 by Watson Allen. Within five years, there were 12 logging operations on the Snoqualmie River, providing lumber to the entire Seattle region. Within 15 years, logging and mill work was employing 140 men and sending millions of board feet of logs down the river.
In 1882, the Hop Growers Association was founded by three Puget Sound partners, who used land purchased on Snoqualmie Prairie from Jeremiah Borst to create a farm that would eventually cover , of which was devoted solely to hops. This extremely successful venture (billed as "The Largest Hop Ranch in the World") would fall prey to a combination of market and pest factors, and fell into relative obscurity by the end of the 1890s.
By the late 19th century, the Puget Sound region was growing, but bypassed by the major railways. In response, a group of Seattle entrepreneurs funded and built their own railway in an attempt to cross the Cascade Range. The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway opened up the natural resources of the Snoqualmie Valley to the markets of the world, and brought in tourists to enjoy the natural beauty of the area and to marvel at the Falls.
The increased interest in the area led to a marked increase in speculation. Originally, the area that would become North Bend was platted as "Snoqualmie Prairie" in February 1889 by Will Taylor. The area that is currently Snoqualmie was platted in August of that same year as "Snoqualmie Falls" by investors from Seattle. The oral history of the area places the first residents of Snoqualmie as Edmund and Louisa Kinsey, who established the first hotel, livery, general store, dance hall, post office, and meat market – in addition to helping build the very first church in the town. Two of their sons (out of six children) are most famous for their photography documenting the early timber works in the region.
The Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric Plant, the first power plant at the Falls, was built in the late 1890s by Charles Baker, an investor from Seattle who had assisted in the platting of the city. This development provided both power and jobs to the region, and a small company town grew up near the falls to house the workers. More than 100 years later, Baker's original generators are still in use by Puget Sound Energy.