Issaquah exists on the lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, whose ancestors have lived here since time immemorial, although this story picks up where the white Euro-American settlers arrived in search of making a better life for their families.
Succinctly capturing the essence of the valley's early settlers, The Issaquah Press eloquently stated in their June 30, 1976 issue: "Pioneer families came seeking a good life, one of hard work, ingenious innovation, and endless days in order to survive.” And with that, Squak Valley went from wilderness to homestead.
Although Squak Valley’s population growth in the 1860s was modest, the pioneers who ventured here were determined to make their mark. Those who came meant business and most came to stay. The mountainous valley provided prairieland and fertile soil for agriculture, dense forest with towering firs, spruces, and cedars for building their homes, sheds, barns, and such, and a freshwater lake and streams for fishing and transportation. There was an abundance of bear, deer, wildcats, game, and plenty of birds. All that was needed for a self-sustaining pioneer town.
Early Land Claims & Settlers
The first recorded land claim was Lyman B. Andrews in 1862, who laid claim right where he’d found coal in Squak Creek while working as part of a survey team. Andrews, who’s claim was on the east side of Squak Mountain, went into business with William Perkins, who claimed the west side of the mountain.
Together they mined 350 tons of coal before shutting down the mine due to the high cost of getting it transported. David L. Maurer (said to have owned Seattle’s first public house) was another member of the survey team. Claim maps show his ownership further to the northwest (near what is now Tibbetts Creek); Maurer sold his land to another Seattleite, “Dutch” Ned Ohm. And bit by bit, Ohm sold off parcels. While these early ventures faced challenges, other pioneers continued to arrive and find their niche.
William and Abigail Casto arrived in 1863 and settled near the lake on a claim that was a mix of forest, meadow, and dense hazel bush growth. Using his many connections, Casto did good business after learning of the demand for hoop poles made from hazel. They had multiple uses, but the best known was as stiffeners in the voluminous ladies skirts of the day. Sadly, along with a cousin, John Halstead (who had settled nearby), all three died in a revenge killing in November 1864. A local Indian who worked with Casto heard the shots, reported the massacre, and killed one of the Indian attackers. The adjoining ranch was owned by John and Martha Bush – the first family to arrive in the valley – who fled with their family to Seattle until they deemed it safe to return.
In 1867, along with the Wold brothers (Lars, Peter, and Ingebright) who settled and planted their first half-acre of hops, came Jacob Jones (who grew his own tobacco). Their claims lay adjacent to Andrews and today those four claims form the north, east, south, and west corners of the intersection of Front Street and Sunset Way. Around this same time, William Pickering – who in 1861 had been appointed Governor of Washington Territory by his close friend, Abraham Lincoln – directed his son, William Jr, to establish the family homestead and start planting crops in Squak Valley (instead of the Snoqualmie area), as he had just purchased the former Casto property. William Sr, died before moving to the new homestead, although his family remained and continued developing the farm and acquiring land.
Economic Activities & Innovations
Trails were so rough and winding that a good walker could do about as well on horseback and early settlers in the valley found the forest difficult to clear. But the soil was good. Potatoes were raised for human food and turnips and rutabagas for feed. Stocks of oxen, cows, hogs, horses, and chickens increased as time went on, and by 1868, farmers were making small shipments of produce to Seattle by barge. By the 1870s, cattle were being driven over Snoqualmie Pass in the summers and arrived in the fall. They wintered in the valley and by early spring, were ready for the market in Seattle. A profitable plan – as they fed on the heavy farm crops which grew abundantly but could not be transported to market by canoe.
In the 1860s and 1870s – long before the days of steam power and mountain railroads – the evolving area was cleared by hand. The men who brought the giant fir, spruce, and cedar logs out of the woods had only animal power, water, and gravity to help them. Some of Squak Valley’s earliest settlers (the Wold brothers and Jacob Jones Sr), were among those who first worked the virgin timber to get the logs on their way. These early settlers depended on ingenuity and skill for a living, and coal and lumber were viewed on pretty even terms.
Over the years, the circle widened, and by the mid-1880s, Squak was a well-established – and growing – community. Will Vaughn and J.J. Eastlick were making their homes to the north, on the hill bearing Vaughn’s name. General George W. Tibbetts built his large hotel at the west edge of the valley, an area that later became known as Goode’s Corner (after his son-in-law). Pete McCloskey was gradually clearing a place for his family on the acres he acquired in 1879 (in what became the northeast section of town). Isaac Cooper walked over from Newcastle looking for land and according to the 1958 IHM Oral History of Jake Jones Jr. "he give my dad $50 for that acre – two $20 gold pieces and a $10 gold piece. There was no paper money… people didn’t want paper money then. Raw gold." And at that, Cooper built the town’s first business in 1887 at the corner of Front and Mill Streets (where the Issaquah Library stands today). A saloon called Cooper’s Roost. The Bellevue Hotel (with a bar) was built on the opposite corner in 1888, on land acquired from Ingebright Wold.
The Lumber Industry
Among the first sawmills was the Wold mill, near the present Tolle Anderson home site (Confluence Park), and the Donnelly mill on the west side of Lake Sammamish (which later moved across the lake to Monohon, in 1890-92). These mills were built in the late 1870s or early 1880s, but after the advent of the railroad in 1888, small planer, shingle, and sawmills sprang up quite rapidly. One was built by the railroad in 1888, to saw timber for the five big trestles in the district.
Lumber workers worked on hillsides, by rivers and lakes, and skidded the timber to the water where it could be floated to the mills springing up. It was a thriving local industry for the area. By the 1920s, big mechanized loggers who could afford to build railroads and buy heavy equipment moved in to clear whole sections of timber at a time. Taking it from here to large central mills at Hobart, Lake Sammamish, and Lake Washington.
Big water level operations depended on a steady flow of logs from the hills. According to those who lived around here then, “the whole lake was covered with logs” being stored or moved into place to feed them into the mills. Big outfits like these were scattered all over our part of the country and could use up timber at a tremendous rate, keeping full time crews busy just building and operating the rail lines needed to get it out.
From Wilderness to Homestead to More Development
“Railroads ran all over the place” around both sides of Lake Sammamish, on Tiger Mountain both south and east of Issaquah, up to Pine lake, and all over Cougar Mountain. Many Issaquah residents worked for the big logging outfits from the time of the first war up through the 1920s and by the late 1930s all the big trees were gone and the bare hills were ready for use by a growing, suburban population.
Today, the silent remnants of a busy era in Issaquah's valley remind us of the resilience and ingenuity of its early settlers. Their legacy continues to shape the community we know and love.
Resources:
Bagley, Clarence (1916) “History of Seattle – From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time”
IHM records and archives
IHM Oral History: Jake Jones, Jr
Squak Valley land claim map
The Issaquah Press articles
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