mileage
121.5 EVERETT Intermodal station, 3201 Smith Avenue. Elevation approximately 60 ft. This station was recently relocated from a location on the shore of Puget Sound, a couple miles further west. The city was named
after Everett Colby of New Jersey, the son of Charles Colby, an investor in the 1890 Everett Land Company.
Everett is probably best known as the site of the large Boeing production facility, through which public tours are offered. However, the town began as a center for the forest industry when it was settled in the 1890’s. After the Panic of 1893, timber
entrepreneur Frederick Weyerhaeuser established a sawmill around 1900, and after a few years, the area was a very productive
timber center. In 1916, labor disputes brought about the Everett Massacre, in which 7 men were killed and many more drowned.
Everett is also the home of the Firefighters Museum, the minor league Everett Aqua Sox, and the Snohomish County Museum and Historical
Association. In addition, the Mosquito Fleet offers wildlife cruises from downtown Everett to the outlying San Juan Islands,
which are visible in Puget Sound from town.
122 Enter a short tunnel beneath
downtown Everett, and reappear along the shore of Port Gardner Bay, a part of Puget Sound.
Mount Baker, and andesitic volcano which last erupted during the Pleistocene Epoch (?), is visible behind the train to the north.
125.5 Darlington. The cliffs above the railroad on the left (southbound) are thick eroded Pleistocene glacial deposits. The
islands visible from this point to the right are also composed of glacial deposits.
127 Mukilteo. The Point Elliott Treaty was signed here in 1855 by the local Indians, which relinquished control of the land previously
controlled by 22 Indian tribes, to the white settlers. The community was formerly called Point Elliott, named after Midshipman
Samuel Elliott of the 1841 Wilkes Survey. The present name for the town was suggested by the first postmaster, and named after
the Indian word “muckl-te-oh,” which means “good camping ground.”
Ferry service from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island (visible to the west) is available here. Mukilteo is also the home of Mukilteo
State Park, which features camping, picnicking, fishing, and scuba diving. The portion of Puget Sound visible here is known
as Possession Sound.
129 The bluffs above the railroad are composed of Pleistocene-aged
glacial deposits.
133.5 Pass Norma Beach on the right (southbound). Again, a view of Mt.
Baker can be had by looking behind the train.
134 Meadowdale. This town
was named in 1904 after it was thought that the land could be cleared to develop lush meadows.
138 EDMONDS station, 211 Railroad Avenue. Elevation approximately 6 ft. This city was incorporated in 1890 as a logging camp. It was most likely named after Sen. George Franklin Edmunds of Vermont; however, other accounts state that the area was originally
named Point Edmund by the Wilkes Expedition. One story states that logger George Brackett, who petitioned to establish
the town, added the names of his two oxen to the petition in order to get the required number of signatures!
The Olympic Mountains can now be seen across Puget Sound from Edmonds. Edmonds is the home of the Edmonds Underwater Park, which
features scuba diving. The Edmonds Historical Museum is also located here, and includes exhibits about the history of Snohomish
County, including a working model of a shingle mill.
139 The bluffs along the
tracks on the left (southbound) are composed of glacial deposits.
140.5 At Point Wells, enter KING
County. King County was established in 1852, from Thurston County. It was named after William Rufus King of Alabama, who
was Vice President to President Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1857. King was also Minister to France. King County is the
largest county in the State, and has the highest population. In 1985, the County Commission voted to change the namesake of
the county to the late Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Leader.
141 Pass
through Richmond Beach. The name of this beach community was suggested by John Spencer, and named in 1889. Spencer was
from Richmond, England, a suburb of London.
145.5 Cross Pipers Creek, which flows in a small valley
here through Carkeek Park. The valley walls are composed of Pleistocene glacial deposits.
147 There is a nice beach visible here on the right (southbound) at Meadow Point, which was named by the U.S. Coast Survey. The
community above the bluffs is named North Beach. There are several landslide deposits in this area.
148 Shilshole Bay Marina is visible on the right (southbound). Prior to the construction of the Chittenden Locks (see MP 149 below),
Shilshole bay was the outlet of Salmon Creek. Shilshole is from the Duwamish Indian word “Cil-col,” meaning “threading or inserting,”
as a thread through a bead. Bainbridge island is visible on the right (southbound), in Puget Sound.
149 Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are visible on the left (southbound), at the entrance to Salmon Bay, which is lined with marinas and shipping
ports.
To the right, across the bay, is
Discovery Park, a 534-acre park which contains the greatest diversity of plants and animals in the Seattle area. The Park is
also the home of Fort Lawton, where, during World War II, more than a million soldiers embarked to serve their country. Discovery
Park is also the home of the Daybreak Star Indian Arts center.
From this point, the famed Seattle Space Needle may be visible ahead of the train on the left (southbound).
152 We are again next to Puget Sound as we continue the last leg of the trip into downtown Seattle. The community on the left (southbound),
above the bluff on Queen Anne Hill, is Queen Anne. This community was named after the number of homes built by wealthy citizens
in the 1880’s, who built in the Queen Anne architectural style. The hill was previously called Galer Hill, and named after an early
settler, Jacob Galer.
153 Just left of the tracks (southbound) is the Seattle
Center, dominated by the 605-ft high Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. Seattle Center also contains the
Pacific Science Center, which hosts realistic moving animatronic dinosaurs, complete with dinosaur sounds, as well as a butterfly
garden with live butterflies. The Monorail, also built for the 1962 World’s Fair, connects Seattle Center with downtown
Seattle.
153.5 On the right (southbound) is Pier 70, the largest restored wooden building in the
United States. The pier formerly a warehouse full of Oriental teas and spices arriving in this country; however, today, it is
a structure which contains a wide variety of shops and restaurants.
154 Enter
the North Portal of the Seattle Downtown Tunnel, which is approximately ¾ of a mile long.
155 Depart the tunnel, and enter the SEATTLE King Street Station, 303 South Jackson Street. Elevation approximately 68. Seattle
was named after the Suquamish Indian Chief Seattle (Sealth). It is the largest city in the State of Washington, and was founded
in 1851 by the Denny party, a group of 2 dozen American settlers. In 1853, the Washington Territory was founded from what was
then Oregon Territory, and the first sawmill was established in the area by Henry Yesler, near what is now Pioneer Square. The
City was incorporated in 1865.
By the 1880’s,
the timber industry prospered in Seattle, and Seattle’s population skyrocketed from 3,553 to 42,837 as newcomers and immigrants hoped
to take part in the city’s prosperity. In 1883, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne Hill, and Madison Park were annexed to the city, followed
in 1891 by Green Lake, the University District, Magnolia, and Fremont. Seattle’s residential and industrial growth was slowed
by the national recession that began in 1893. But in July 1897, gold was discovered along the streams of Canada’s Yukon River,
and Seattle began a spectacular boom in the subsequent Klondike Gold Rush. Seattle marketed itself as the portal to the goldfields,
selling hopeful miners their outfits and their steamship tickets, as well as entertainment. As the gold strikes spread from
the Canadian territories to Alaska, Seattle continued to grow in wealth and population.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the economy of Seattle stumbled as it was hit by rising inflation, nationwide oil shortages,
and growing unemployment. During that time, many people left the city to look for work elsewhere, and the standing joke in the
city became “Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights.” Then in 1962, the City hosted the World’s Fair.