Historical research help needed... Fall City, Snoqualmie Valley, WA

This is a shot in the dark, but sometimes shots in the dark will hit something.

I am a member of the Fall City Historical Society and we are researching the origin of the name of our unincorporated town. The generally accepted idea is that we are named for the nearby Snoqualmie Falls. However a local retired teacher used to teach two different origins for our name,

The other story comes from a book by Edwin Meany, The Origin of Washington Geographical Names, published in 1923. Here is the passage;

Fall City is on the Snoqualmie River northeast of Issaquah in north central King County . It was named for a man named Fall, who established a ferry and road house at a point where there is a concrete bridge He was once a foreman on cattle drives over Snoqualmie Pass for the Wadley & Phelps Company. Earlier names were The Landing and Mountain View . (Meany, p. 83).

The ferry was replaced long ago and the Roadhouse we have now is not the same as the one referenced in the quote. Obviously the cattle firm of Wadley & Phelps is also long gone. However if anyone knows anything about this, or can point me to a likely place to look your help would be greatly appreciated.

I have contacted the WA State Archive, The WA State Historical Society, the Snoqualmie Historical Society and the pertinent RR Historical Society and I am in the process of checking census, tax, and land records.. The papers of Edwin Meany are in fact on hand in Tacoma at the UW and I plan to go there as soon as I get a day off.

Anyone have any other ideas?

My ex has a kitchen match holder from about 1925 and it has Fall City gold leafed on it. I bought several things there from estates but that is the only marked item so it came before then.

The 1865 map shows nothing but the 1896 map shows the old road came from Gilman or what is now issaquah and went north and came downs to snoqualamie falls. The next town going east is called Sallal Prarie. Funny its not spelled different like the plant.

In 1896 the road stopped there. Further East was by river North, Middle or South forks. Middle is sometimes called Taylor River. It looks like the area was platted as indian reservation but its not marked.

I placer mine the whole area so I know the mts and woods far better than the towns.

At first I thought you were talking about Snoqualmie, which is an Indian tribe, obviously. Then I reread and you actually said you were talking about Falls City. Hmmm...whooops! I used to live in Tacoma and Woodland, but have no idea otherwise! I'll look around online anyways, as my curiosity is peaked, maybe theres something..

There is one township marked but with no name. Its about two townships north of snoq falls. I would assume the cattle came from there as the rest of the region is marked as heavily forested and the cascades with no roads were marked unknown mineral resources.

Those are the state resource maps and the later was used for controlling immigrants, mainly the Chinese who built the railroads, and mined the coal.


You need to probably spring for the set of state maps that has all of the abandoned towns and ghost towns. It runs about $12 and can be picked up from most mining supply outlets.

reply to post by Shadowalker


Good call man, hadn't thought of that. See, I knew I would get something from ATS on this.