| Naches Pass | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 4,920 feet (1,500 m) |
| Location | Washington,  United States |
| Range | Cascades |
| Coordinates | |
Naches Pass (elevation 4,920 feet (1,500 m)) is a mountain pass of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. In topography a summit is a point on a surface which is higher in Elevation than all points immediately adjacent to Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A mountain range is a chain of Mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. In a range of hills or especially of mountains, a pass (also gap, notch, col, saddle, bwlch, A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about 50 miles (80 km) east of Tacoma and about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Yakima, near the headwaters of tributary streams of the Naches River on the east and the Greenwater River on the west. The Naches River is a Tributary of the Yakima River in central Washington in the United States. The Greenwater River is a River in the US state of Washington. The boundaries of Pierce, King, Kittitas, and Yakima counties come together precisely at Naches Pass. Pierce County is the second most populous county in the US state of Washington. King County is located in the US state of Washington. The population in the 2000 census was 1737034 and in 2006 was an estimated 1835300 Kittitas County is a County located in the US state of Washington. Yakima County is a County located in the US state of Washington. The pass lies on the boundary between the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Wenatchee national forests, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Mount Rainier National Park. The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington extends more than along the western slopes of the Cascade Range from the Canadian border to the northern Wenatchee National Forest is a US National Forest located in Washington. Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington In the 1850s the pass was used by pioneers as a wagon road over the mountains.
History
The initial record of this pass is found in early summer of 1841, when Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition directed Lieutenant Robert E. Charles Wilkes ( April 3, 1798 &ndash February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer and explorer. The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean ("the Southern Seas" conducted by the United States Navy from Johnson to proceed east over the Cascades via the Naches Pass. The expedition followed an existing Indian trail around the northern flank of Mount Rainier and over the pass. Mount Rainier is an active Stratovolcano (also known as a composite volcano in Pierce County Washington, located southeast of Seattle, Washington They proceeded to Fort Colville and Fort Okanogan east of the mountains. The trade center Fort Colville, also Fort Colvile) was built by the Hudson's Bay Company at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River a few miles west of Fort Okanogan (also spelled Fort Okanagan) was founded as a Fur trade outpost by John Jacob Astor ’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811 [1]
In 1850, M. T. Simmons, an early American settler on Puget Sound, led a group to prepare a road over Naches Pass, but the heavy forest and steep ridges made the effort difficult and the attempt failed. [1]
Settlements in the Puget Sound area were slow to develop in part due to the lack of wagon roads. Puget Sound (ˈpjuːʤᵻt is an arm of the Pacific Ocean, connected to the rest of the Pacific by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the Pacific Northwest Emigrants using the Oregon Trail who wished to reach Puget Sound had to first travel to Portland then up the Cowlitz River and overland to the southern end of Puget Sound. Pioneers traveled across the Oregon Trail, one of the main overland migration routes on the North American Continent, in wagons in order to settle new parts of the Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the Confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers The Cowlitz River is a River in the state of Washington in the United States, a Tributary of the Columbia River. One of the first tasks taken up by Washington Territory when it was separated from Oregon Territory was to build a wagon road over the Cascades. The Washington Territory was a historic Organized territory of the United States that was formed in February 8, 1853 from the portion of the The Oregon Territory is the name applied both to the unorganized Oregon Country claimed by both the United States and Britain (but normally referred to
In 1853 Captain George B. McClellan was put in charge of surveying and building the wagon road, as well as searching for possible passes appropriate for railroads. George Brinton McClellan ( December 3 1826 October 29 1885) was a major general during the American Civil War. McClellan considered Naches Pass impracticable for a railroad, but supported building a wagon road over Naches. The road was to be finished in time for a wagon train led by James Longmire, which was to arrive at Fort Walla Walla in August of 1853.
As it became clear that McClellan would not finish the road on time, the people of the Puget Sound area took it upon themselves to finish it. Two teams were organized and worked on the road during the summer of 1853. One team, led by Edward J. Allen, worked east from the Puyallup valley to Naches Pass. A second team was to work west, finishing the road between Yakima and the pass, but this team, having heard a false report that no wagon train was coming after all, quit working.
James Longmire's wagon train arrived at Fort Walla Walla in August, with plans to continue to Puget Sound. Persuaded to take the new "People's Road" over Naches Pass, they followed McClellan's road up the Yakima and Naches rivers to the mountains, arriving on September 15, only to discover that the road ended and only a rough Indian trail continued. They pressed on, cutting a road as they went, and reached Naches Pass in early October. Before reaching the road built by Allen's team, Longmire's party encountered severe difficulties in descending the precipitous western slopes, but finally reached Fort Steilacoom in mid-October. For the adjacent park see Fort Steilacoom Park Fort Steilacoom was founded by the U [2]
Another wagon train crossed the pass only three weeks later following the Longmire route. The Naches wagon road was established, but it never became popular. In addition to grades almost impossible for wagons, it required over 60 crossings of the Naches River east of the pass. [3]
In 1854 and 1855, Lieutenant Arnold was detailed to complete the road. [1] But by this time the Puget Sound War and Yakima War preoccupied settlers and prevented the use of Naches Pass. The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict that took place in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington in 1855 &ndash 56, between the The Yakima War was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama people a Sahaptian -speaking people on the Northwest Plateau then Washington In addition, McClellan's replacement, Lieutenant Abiel Tinkham, reported on the superiority of Snoqualmie Pass in early 1854. Snoqualmie Pass is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. Due to these factors, and the poor road quality, the Naches Pass route felt into disuse. [4] A proposed road through the pass was added to the state highway system in 1943, and is still in state statutes as State Route 168, but has never been built. State Route 168 is a proposed highway that would be an alternate route across the Cascade Range.
References
- ^ a b c Mount Rainier: Its Human History Associations, National Park Service
- ^ Information on the 1853 road and Longmire's wagon train from: Dorpat, Paul; Genevieve McCoy (1998). Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works. Tartu Publications, pp. 65-66, 70. ISBN 0-9614357-9-8.
- ^ Dorpat, Paul; Genevieve McCoy (1998). Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works. Tartu Publications, p. 66. ISBN 0-9614357-9-8.
- ^ Dorpat, Paul; Genevieve McCoy (1998). Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works. Tartu Publications, p. 70. ISBN 0-9614357-9-8.
External links
- Naches Pass is at coordinates Coordinates:
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