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A Milwaukee Road passenger train after leaving Seattle, on the former right-of-way circa 1925.

Iron Horse State Park, part of the Washington State Park System, is a 1,612-acre (7 km²) state park located in the Cascade Mountains and Yakima River Valley, between Cedar Falls on the west and the Columbia River on the east.

The park is a rail trail that crosses Snoqualmie Pass. The heritage park commemorating railroading was once in the right-of-way of the The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The right-of-way was acquired by the state after the railroad's bankruptcy in the 1980s and has been converted into 110 miles (177 km) of hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding trail. It is the developed portion of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, which continues to the Idaho border.^[1][2]

The trail west continues as the Snoqualmie Valley Trail of the King County Regional Trail System.^[3] The trail east along the old Milwaukee Road is also called John Wayne Pioneer Trail, though Europeans arrived by boat or by travelling north from The Oregon Trail (1840)^[4], or the railhead near south Puget Sound (1853 or c. 1872, respectively).^[5] Arrival to the Snoqualmie Cascades of the Great Northern Railway in 1910 and the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway in 1911 provided one of the means for development of the logging railroads and timber industry that eventually cut nearly all the Cascade Mountains forests.^[6] The park is part of the Mountains to Sound Greenway preserving the scenic corridor.^[7]

Recreation

Bridge across the Yakima River and the BNSF Railroad line at Lake Easton

Like most rails-to-trails projects, Iron Horse is popular with hikers and cyclists. There are many trail heads across the state, most with modern facilities, ample parking for a less common trail, and even a handful of campgrounds.^[8]

The trail passes through mostly woodland, along lakes and waterfalls, and goes directly through the divide at the old Snoqualmie Tunnel. The park is easily accessible from I-90.

Iron Horse seems to be more popular for its scenery than its history, although it is less well-known than other parks like the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area (which Iron Horse passes through) or Snoqualmie Falls.

The park trail continues through the Town of South Cle Elum where the preserved Milwaukee Road depot and substation, as well as the remains of the rail yard are located. The depot, substation, and rail yard are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There is a small museum in the depot. In Kittitas, the trail passes The Milwaukee Road depot and the ruins of the substation. That depot is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to these buildings, other infrastructure remains, such as tunnels and bridges.

See also

• List of rail trails
• Northwest Railway Museum
• Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway
• Snoqualmie Pass
• Hyak, Washington

References

1. ^ Long-Distance Trails of the Washington State Parks System
2. ^ ""Iron Horse"". Welcome to Washington State Parks. 2006. http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron+Horse. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
3. ^ ""Snoqualmie Valley Trail"". King County Regional Trail System. Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division. 2005-09-19 updated. http://www.metrokc.gov/parks/trails/svt.html. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
4. ^ Oldham
5. ^ (1) "In 1853 the Northern Pacific railroad line reached Puget Sound, linking the region to the other states.", Puget Sound # History, but no references provided.
   (2) Wilma
   (3) Prater
6. ^ MacIntosh
7. ^ ""History of the Greenway Landscape"". "Mountains to Sound Greenway: About the Greenway". 2006. http://www.mtsgreenway.org/about/history. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
8. ^ "Washington State Tour Planning and Bicycling Maps" (Web and PDF). Collection of maps and resources. WSDOT. 2006. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/Planning_Maps.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-03.  

Bibliography

• ""History of the Greenway Landscape"". "Mountains to Sound Greenway: About the Greenway". 2006. http://www.mtsgreenway.org/about/history. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
• "Iron Horse", "Welcome to Washington State Parks". 2006, retrieved 21 April 2006.
• Lange, Greg (1998-11-04). ""Road is completed over Snoqualmie Pass by October 7, 1867."". HistoryLink.org Essay 174. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=174. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
  Lange referenced Thomas W. Prosch, "A Chronological History of Seattle From 1850 to 1897," typescript dated 1900-1901, pp. 178-180, Northwest Collection, University of Washington Library, Seattle;
  Yvonne Prater, Snoqualmie Pass: From Indian Trail to Interstate (Seattle: The Mountaineers, 1981), 29-32;
  James Oliphant, "Cattle Trade Through Snoqualmie Pass", Pacific Northwest Quarterly Vol. 38 (July 1947), p. 195.
• MacIntosh, Heather (2000-01-01). ""King County Landmarks: Entwistle House (1912), Carnation"". "HistoryLink.org Essay 2369". http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2369. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
  MacIntosh referenced King County Landmarks and Heritage Commission.
• Oldham, Kit (18 February 2003). "Robert Newell and Joseph Meek reach Fort Walla Walla with the first wagons driven overland to the Columbia River in September 1840.", HistoryLink.org Essay 5235. Retrieved 21 April 2006. Oldham referenced Clinton A. Snowden, History of Washington (New York: The Century History Company, 1909), Vol. 2, pp. 5-7, 18, 23-25, 269, 274-75, 280-81.
• Prater, Yvonne (1981). Snoqualmie Pass: From Indian Trail to Interstate. Seattle: The Mountaineers. ISBN 0-89886-015-6.
• ""Snoqualmie Valley Trail"". King County Regional Trail System. Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Parks and Recreation Division. 2005-09-19 updated. http://www.metrokc.gov/parks/trails/trails/snoqv.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
• Wilma, David (2003-01-22). ""Northern Pacific Railroad establishes Tenino as a rail junction in 1872."". "HistoryLink.org Essay 5090". http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5090. Retrieved 2006-04-21.  
  Wilma referenced Gordon R. Newell, So Fair A Dwelling Place: A History of Olympia and Thurston County, Washington (Olympia: The Olympia News Publishing Co., 1950), p. 27.

External links

• "Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad through the Cascades" image, courtesy of MoHI (Museum of History and Industry).