Nachess Pass
Nachess Pass, also spelled Naches, is located in the
Cascade Range in Washington State at an elevation of 4.988 feet. The pass, which has also been
referred to as the “Walla Walla to Steilacoom Citizens Trail” and the “Cascade Emigrant
Road,” extends into the
Yakima Valley.
When explorers first entered the north end of the
Columbia River, they found a
network
of Indigenous trails which were connected through the mountains. Nachess Pass was
one of these trails which explorers/settlers developed in order to do trade with various
Indigenous groups. In
1841, an expedition group led by
Charles Wilkes entered
Puget Sound, except for Lieutenant Johnson and his party who continued his journey over Nachess
Pass towards the Columbia Basin.
Although Nachess Pass had been mentioned by the
Hudson's Bay Company, Johnson's party was the first to officially document the route. In
July 1853, the territorial citizens committee, led by Edward Allen, were beginning to convert
Nachess Pass into a rough road. However, due to the pass's
heightened cliffs and scant forage
on the upper segments, it was not a popular choice for crossing.
In
1854, Richard Arnold re-surveyed the pass and found it could function as a wagon road.
And, during the “Indian War” of
1855-57, Nachess Pass received much use by Indigenous Peoples and the military. By the early
1860s, cattle drives were going from
Yakima through the Nachess Pass to
Puget Sound, this continued until
1880. The pass lost its appeal from
1890-1920 when it was nearly forgotten and used primarily for sheep grazing.
- 1. Mike Hiler, A history of Naches Pass, Signpost for Northwest Trails, (July 1989), 1 ; Elva Cooper Magnusson, Naches Pass, Washington Journals, (1934), 171.
- 2. Hiler, A history of Naches Pass, 1.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid., 1-2.
- 5. Ibid., 2-4.