Kennewick Snubbed on the Map
Local boosters clash with Pasco neighbors over the routing of a major automotive trail.
This paper has been taken to task for quoting E. C. Burlingame to the effect that the Yellowstone Trail pathfinder was met in Walla Walla by Pasco men who conducted him via the Snake River route through Pasco and across Timmerman’s ferry near Richland, thus leaving Kennewick off the map. In calling the editor's attention to the error, President A. J. Elrod of the Pasco Chamber of Commerce claims they were tasked to move the travelers from Wallula to Prosser with no time to waste. He asserts the visitors were rushed through Kennewick to outrun a storm, and that both Pasco and Kennewick are indeed on the map.
“But both Pasco and Kennewick are on the map, and neither more conspicuously than the other.”
In 1916, status was defined by whether a town appeared on the 'Automobile Blue Book' maps; today, towns still fight over the path of highways and tourism dollars. This rivalry between Kennewick and Pasco, two of the Tri-Cities, reflects the persistent regional tension over civic infrastructure and visibility.
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