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The Yellowstone Trail Across Washington State
I photographed the above scene in November, 1975, just east of Redmond, Washington. This scene shows part of the only unaltered remnant of the Yellowstone Trail automobile route in King County, Washington. This scene of the old Yellowstone Trail route is looking south down present-day 196th Avenue NE from near the present-day intersection with NE 61 Place. In 1983 the over one mile long brick road was designated a King County landmark and in 1989 was carefully restored to preserve the road as a Washington State centennial project. At present, the circa 1913 brick road looks much the same as it does in my 1975 photograph, but the countryside has been somewhat encroached upon by urban sprawl. The Yellowstone Trail route was established by the Yellowstone Trail Association, a grassroots organization that formed in October 1912 as an advocate for good roads. A slogan of the Yellowstone Trail Association, printed on route brochures, was “A Good Road From Plymouth Rock To Puget Sound”. The Yellowstone Trail route was pieced together, connecting from road to road, using the first existing good roads constructed across the northern part of the United States. Across Washington State, the Yellowstone Trail route originally was a circuitous route that was designated by about 1915, when an improved automobile route over Snoqualmie Pass was dedicated. Westward from Spokane, the Yellowstone Trail route originally followed the old Inland Empire Highway, which went through Rosalia, Colfax, Central Ferry, Dayton, Walla Walla, Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, Prosser, Grandview, Yakima, Selah, Wenas, and Ellensburg. Between Selah and Ellensburg, the Yellowstone Trail went nearly on the route of the historic old Durr toll-road up through the Wenas Valley and on up over Umptanum Ridge and down into the Kittitas Valley. From Ellensburg, the Yellowstone Trail route went through Cle Elum, and continued west on the route of the Sunset Highway. The Sunset Highway came from Spokane by way of Davenport, Wilbur, Waterville, and Wenatchee, and by the early 1920's was routed up over Blewett Pass. In 1925, after the route over Blewett Pass was improved, the Yellowstone Trail was designated as using the more direct Sunset Highway route from Spokane to Cle Elum. From Cle Elum, the Yellowstone Trail route went mainly on the Sunset Highway through Easton, Snoqualmie Pass, North Bend, and Snoqualmie, to Fall City. At Fall City the Yellowstone Trail route departed the original Sunset Highway route, which originally continued on through Preston, High Point, Issaquah, Renton, and then on around the south end of Lake Washington. From Fall City, the Yellowstone Trail route wound northwesterly generally on the route of the present-day Redmond-Falls City Road (SR 202) to present-day 196th Avenue NE. From the the Redmond-Falls City Road, the Yellowstone Trail route turned north for about 1¼ miles on the route of present-day 196th Avenue NE to present-day NE Union Hill Road. From the present-day intersection of 196th Avenue NE and NE Union Hill Road, the Yellowstone Trail route turned west and wound westerly generally on the route of present-day Union Hill Road and Avondale Way, and then on Cleveland Street through downtown Redmond. From downtown Redmond the Yellowstone Trail route continued on up the route of present-day Old Redmond Road and then continued on to an automobile ferry landing on the downtown Kirkland waterfront. The ferry Lincoln provided a connection across Lake Washington from Kirkland to the ferry landing at the foot of the east end of Madison Street, in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle. The ferry Lincoln was in service between Kirkland and Madison Park from 1915 until 1940, when the Lacey V. Murrow floating bridge across Lake Washington opened. Today Madison Street still angles diagonally across Seattle, running from the location of the old ferry landing on Lake Washington at Madison Park, directly to downtown Seattle and the Seattle waterfront on Puget Sound. |
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