- North Bend is a town in King County’s upper Snoqualmie Valley, the ancestral home of the Snoqualmie Tribe. The site, on the banks of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, was astride the old Indian trails over the Cascade passes. The first non-Indian settler arrived in the Snoqualmie Valley in 1858. The townsite was platted in 1889 by William H. Taylor (1853-1941) when he learned that a Seattle railroad wanted to establish a station on his farmland. The townsite’s original name was Snoqualmie, but the railroad asked Taylor to change it because another town just four miles away had the name Snoqualmie Falls. So the name was changed first to Mountain View and finally to North Bend, since it was on a bend in the river. North Bend became an agricultural and logging center and was incorporated in 1909. From the beginning, the town attracted tourists because of its spectacular setting at the foot of massive Mt. Si. It has long been a key stop for motorists on the way to and from Snoqualmie Pass, first on the Sunset Highway and today on Interstate 90. North Bend has recently evolved into a prosperous bedroom community for Seattle and its eastside suburbs. As of 2010, the population of North Bend was 5,731.
- Klickitat County — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Klickitat County, located in south central Washington, has a geographic area of 1,880 square miles and ranks 16th in size among Washington’s 39 counties. The area was once home to the Klickitat and Wishram tribes, both of which ceded the land to the U.S. government in 1855. Bordering Klickitat County are Skamania County to the west, Yakima County to the north, and Benton County to the east. The Columbia River forms the southern border. The southernmost portion of the Yakama Indian Reservation extends into northern Klickitat County. The Klickitat and White Salmon rivers, both tributaries of the Columbia, flow through Klickitat County. The county’s economy has been based on sheep and cattle raising, wheat, orchards, timber, and aluminum, and the county is home to the Maryhill Museum. Goldendale, population 3,760, is the largest town and county seat. As of 2000, Klickitat County’s population is 19,161, two-thirds of whom live in unincorporated portions of the county.