An Afternoon in the White River Valley
A journey through the bustling hop farms and changing landscape of the valley in 1883.
It was informed in the depot that a train would leave for Renton at one o'clock, but the program had been changed. We boarded a train to the race track instead, witnessing the exciting races won by Dexter and Forest King. Afterward, we set out for the White River valley. The station at Black River consisted of a small house, a dwelling, a bridge, and a camp for the Puget Sound Short Line Railroad surveyors. We 'hoofed it' ten miles in the hot sun. As we proceeded, we saw farms with large barns and meadows of luxuriant timothy. Hop culture is fast becoming one of the chief industries here. At Maddooksville, there is a four-foot sidewalk, a store, a church, and a schoolhouse. Further on, we reached a cheese factory and the farm of Mr. T. H. Alvord, who has lived there twenty-three years—having arrived originally by canoe. Now, a railroad is being built which will afford easy communication with the outside world. Mr. Alvord’s farm is the largest in the county, featuring a barn that can stable 100 head of cattle, with total accommodations for 300 head.
“They arrived there in a canoe, no other means of travel being then afforded. Now there is a regular train at their door.”
The White River valley, once a rural agricultural heartland, was radically reshaped by the 1906 river diversion and subsequent urban development. The 'hop culture' described has long since vanished, replaced by the sprawl of suburban Renton and Kent, yet the struggle to balance agricultural land with the demands of rapid rail and urban growth remains a core theme in King County politics.
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