History at Moncton, King County, Washington
The Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway was the original name for the Pacific Coast
extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, west of the Missouri River bridge at
Mobridge, South Dakota. Moncton, Washington was located 39.4 track miles from Union Station in
Seattle, on the lower western portion of the main line grade up over
Snoqualmie Pass. This scene was
photographed about 1911, during construction of the new Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound
Railway depot at Moncton. Some construction materials can be seen stacked along the base of the
wall inside the covered waiting area (porte cochere) and no train order semaphore signal has been
installed out front yet. The freight train shown is stopped with the back of the train by the new
unfinished Moncton depot, because the original Moncton depot that is just ahead by the front of the
train was probably still in service at that time. The new Moncton depot became the
Cedar Falls depot in the spring of 1912, as
listed in the timetable dated June 16, 1912. I remember well the
Cedar Falls depot from when I worked on the
Cedar River Watershed, in 1979, as a “Forest Guard” on a nine person initial attack
fire crew. The circa 1911 wooden depot was removed in the late 1980's.
This scene, photographed about 1911, shows the original Moncton depot that was a temporary portable
building used at Moncton, from about 1909 thru 1911, until the new depot shown at the top of this
page went into service. Shown from left to right is a coal bunker, a railroad baggage cart, a
standpipe water tank, a couple yard switches having kerosene switch lamps, a three-aspect semaphore
signal with both blades in the horizontal position, the 1909 Class D-2 depot, and a freight shed
having a sign for Wells Fargo & Co. Express.
This winter scene is looking eastbound in the Moncton railroad yard by the original depot. The man
on the right, closest to the freight shed, is Moncton station agent George Otto Davis. The middle
two photographs on this page were provided by a great-granddaughter of Moncton station agent George
Otto Davis, to help preserve the history.
This scene, photographed by about early 1915, shows the former town site of Moncton that in 1912
became part of the neighboring Seattle City Light company town of
Cedar Falls. Visible near the center of the
image are a hotel, a restaurant, and a store. Moncton School is visible on the right side of the
image, shown located on a leveled off slight rise on the outskirts of town. Moncton School was
constructed in 1911 as a 2½-story school, but a powerful snowstorm later collapsed the roof
and the top story of the school. After the damage from that snowstorm the school was then converted
into a 1½-story school. The former Moncton town site became flooded beginning in the spring
of 1915 and the town site was then abandoned. The town site is now part of the lakebed of
Rattlesnake Lake. When the lake level becomes low enough in the summer a few remnants of the town
become visible.
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