From Pack-Saddle to Pioneer Town
How a lone merchant’s log store over the Cascades sparked the settlement of the Kittitas Valley.
Years ago, a blunt and honest trader came across the Cascade Mountain range through the Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle with some pack animals laden with merchandise. On arriving at the east side, he found a great fertile valley spreading out on both sides of the Yakima River, about fifty miles north of this place. In the center of the valley, he built a small log house to sell goods. As the valley became more thickly settled, his business grew and prospered. Mechanics and other tradesmen came and bought small portions of his ground on which to erect buildings and carry on their business. The pack-saddle, as if by magic, has been transformed into a thriving, busy town. Indicative of the fact that beneath the blunt countenance of its founder dwelt those kind impulses that only flow from a true and chivalrous heart, the growing town was named in honor of his worthy and devoted wife.
“The dream of the blunt merchant is no longer a dream. His pack-saddle, as if by magic, has been transformed into a thriving, busy town.”
This reflects the classic 'booster' narrative of Washington's frontier towns, where individual merchants acted as the initial infrastructure for regional development. While Kittitas grew from this log cabin, today's challenges in the region focus on managing explosive growth and suburban expansion that would have been unrecognizable to that first trader.
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