During our first week in Issaquah, WA, heavy rains from three atmospheric rivers battered the PNW (Pacific North West). Needless to say, we were going “stir crazy” from being hunkered down inside under the constant drone of rain pelting our aluminum Airstream. We went for a therapeutic drive to check out nearby Snoqualmie, WA and inadvertantly discovered Snoqualmie Falls only 4.8 miles from our campsite. The Falls are the second most visited attraction in the state, boastiong over 1 million annually.
The Snoqualmie River drops with a roar and sky obscuring mist 268′ into a 60′ deep pool. Despite the weather not cooperating, I captured a few interesting pictures during our short visit, in part thanks to brilliant Fall colors. We visited the on-property Gift Shop & Visitor Center primarily because they had a custom-coffee bar. We were just learning about the history of this sacred native site when the employees announced it was closing time. We knew we’d be back.
Before returning to the Falls, I did some research. Native Americans referred to as Sduk-al-bixw, “strong people of status,” have lived off the flora and fauna of the Snoqualmie River Valley (both above and below the falls) for about 13,000 years. The Snoqualmie are a sub-tribe of the Southern Coast Salish people. They speak Lushootseed and English, currently number 650 members, purchased land in Snoqualmie for their reservation in 1999, opened their casino on the reservation in 2008, and successfully pursue a mission to “provide traditional, social, cultural, economic, and natural resources for all Snoqualmie people.” They’ve also donated over $16 million to various local charities since 2010.
The Snoqualmie Tribe regards the Falls as its birthplace. Their tribal legend of “Moon the Transformer” recounts how all the area rivers and the tribes living on them were created. They believe the spirits of various natural resources of the Snoqualmie River valley and of the upstream Snoqualmie prairie meet at the falls, and create a sacred site of spiritual power, a site worthy of protection from possible destructive threats. And there have been threats!
The first came in the 1890’s when a 23-year old Civil Engineer, Charles H. Baker, conceived of, designed, and funded the first completely underground hydro-electric power plant at the Falls. With financial help from his wealthy family, Baker created the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company, bought the falls and surrounding land, and contracted the construction of Plant 1, which began generating power in 1899. A vertical shaft was drilled into the left rock bank to a cavern, which housed the turbine generators, and a new weir spanned the river upstream from the falls to increase the river depth and divert needed flow to the power plant. In 1905, the new owner, Seattle-Tacoma Power Company (Puget Sound Energy today), built a second conventional plant, which was expanded in 1957.
In 1989, Puget Sound Energy applied to the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) for a 40-year license renewal, new turbine installations, and rights to increased river water diversion. The application deeply offended the Snoqualmie Tribe. For 90 years, they had already been tolerating the desecration of the land, accepting activities they viewed as sacrilegious, and enduring a consistent disregard by public companies, developers, tourists, and government agencies of the fall’s spiritual and cultural significance. In response, the Tribe formed the SFFP (Snoqualmie Falls Preservation Project) and proposed the power plants be decommissioned and a “Spirit of the Falls Sanctuary Park” be pursued. The FERC rejected the tribal proposal but renewed the lease for Puget Sound Energy. Since then, the SFFP has continued an activist/educational campaign to preserve Snoqualmie Falls in a natural state.
The next major threat came when the Weyerhauser and Puget Western corporations proposed the Falls Crossing Project. This project included a multi-use housing, retail, and office complex on 182 acres next to the Falls. The SFFP initiated an opposition campaign, and as a result, the Cascade Land Conservancy, King County, and City of Snoqualmie governments established the Snoqualmie Preservation Initiative. As part of the initiative, the Weyerhauser Real Estate Company (owners of most of the land in the area) was asked to negotiate on preserving Snoqualmie Falls and the valley and consider measures that would appeal to the interests of businesses, environmentalists, and native people; and create a blueprint for future planning. In January 2001, the Cascade Land Conservancy, funded by the city and county, purchased 145 acres of land adjacent to the Falls. Three months later, the Metropolitan King County Council unanimously approved the Snoqualmie Preservation Initiative to permanently protect the Falls, the river watershed, and the immediate area, as well as, prohibit development on 9,000 acres of forest around the Falls.
The latest threat began in 2007 when Washington’s Muckleshoot Tribe bought the Salish Lodge & Spa, which are adjacent to the Falls, and propsed building a large hotel and conference center. Again, the Snoqualmie Tribe opposed this plan and began actions to prevent it. Finally on 1 November 2019, the tribe paid $145 million for 45 acres around the Falls, which included the lodge and spa. While this was a major victory in their 120-year struggle to preserve their sacred land and heritage, their efforts were by no means ended. In the words of tribal leaders, “It’s hard to pay the descendants of the people who stole your land to get your land back…But it does give our voice more weight in talking to them in what matters to us.”
We returned to the Falls recently on a day with sunshine. I asked MFI to pull in, so I could take some fair-weather photos.
I also took this video so readers could experience the roar of the Falls.
We left the parking lot and were headed to Falls City when I saw a sign pointing to the “Lower Falls.” We had no idea this existed and turned to go check it out. We drove about a mile to the Snoqualmie Falls City Park. From the parking lot there were two short treks: a boardwalk past Plant 2 to a platform on the river with an upward view of the Falls, and the other a staircase down to a spot where we could see the river and outfall from Plant 2.
The riparian areas along the river were alive with lush flora, and we could only imagine the breadth of wildlife being supported. There is a common type of moss (pictured), which to the naked-eye appears to magically glow throughout the PNW forests. Unfortunately, neither photos nor videos can capture this natural glow.
The City built a small park out of Plant 2 replacement parts. These playground parts weren’t just for young kids.
In my research of the Snoqualmie tribal history, I learned that approximately 90% of the river flow is diverted to the two power plants. (We’ve seen impressive historic pictures of the Falls when under full flow, and the increased width was indeed impressive.) The current diversion vastly reduces the amount of mist rising from the falls. Since tribal members believe it is the mist, which carries their prayers to the creator, this adds to native opposition to the negative impacts of the power plants. Given that the two plants generate only 1% of Puget Sound Energy’s total electrical production, we appreciated the tribe’s position.
Credits: The winter picture above is courtesy of a local photographer whose works are displayed in and sold from “The Bindlestick” coffeeshop and cafe in historic downtown Snoqualmie. My account of the Snoqualmie tribal efforts to preserve the falls and their lands was cobbled from a number of online sites covering this subject.
