Keeping the Pass Open in Winter
A bold effort to keep the Snoqualmie Pass trail clear for cattle drivers sets a new precedent for Cascade mountain travel.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is quite a feather in the Snoqualmie Pass cap to have it known that the Pass, by only the rudest, simplest and cheapest of means, can be kept open in midwinter and all winter. It is the only Cascade mountain pass in the Territory ever so kept open. Mr. Gene Smith, of the firm of Smith Bros. & Co., came down from Lake Keechelus on the Snoqualmie Pass Sunday evening, and reports ten feet of snow. This gentleman has a new way of keeping the trail open across the pass, for the purpose of driving cattle to the Sound market, and intends to start home soon. They have 1,000 head being stall fed on the East side. It is estimated that the cost of driving by the way of Portland will be $3 per head. They think they can keep the trail open for less money and deliver in better condition.
“It is quite a feather in the Snoqualmie Pass cap to have it known that the Pass, by only the rudest, simplest and cheapest of means, can be kept open in midwinter.”
The quest for all-weather access across the Cascades has been a century-long preoccupation for Seattle, from early cattle drives to modern I-90 infrastructure. The economic motivation to bypass Portland transit remains a persistent theme in Washington State history.
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