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14 spurring the growth of the region’s commercial fruit industry. In 1911 the Kittitas Reclamation District (KRD) began preliminary surveys and cost analysis for what would become the High Line Canal, the Kittitas Valley’s largest irrigation project. Lack of funding caused the project to lie dormant until 1925 when the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) became involved in what was called the Kittitas Project. In 1926 construction on the canal (officially called the Kittitas Division of the Yakima Project) commenced. The canal was completed in 1932. The High Line Canal diverts water from the Yakima River just above the town of Easton and transports it into irrigation canals completely encircling the Kittitas Valley, terminating where Turbine Ditch spills into the Yakima River. Water storage reservoirs were created at Kachess in 1912, Keechelus in 1917, and Cle Elum in 1933. Once full irrigation became available, irrigated farmland began producing pea seed for commercial growers, sweet corn, potatoes, tree fruit, and hay. Wheat, however, continued to be largely dry land farmed. Beginning in the 1950s Kittitas-grown timothy hay (high protein grass-hay) was exported to other states, to Japan as horse and dairy feed, and to Europe as feed for thoroughbred racehorses. Timothy hay is now the largest single cash crop in Kittitas County. Towns along the Yakima River The logging industry in the Kittitas area began in the late 1870s concentrated in the western end of the county. Lake Keechelus, Lake Kachess, and Lake Cle Elum all had logging camps. The discovery of gold in Swauk Creek in 1873 prompted a gold rush, the creation of a mining district, and the growth of Liberty and Swauk. Placer-mined gold nuggets are the most common form of gold found in the region, but the Swauk Creek area is also one of the few locations in the world where crystalline gold wire has been found - a highly unusual formation valued not for its weight but for its delicate wire-like sprigs of filigreed gold. It is so rare that most specimens are in museum collections. Thorp, a quiet farming town 9 miles northwest of Ellensburg, was home to a gristmill, 2 sawmills, and a creamery. Thorp served as an important community hub for farmers throughout the county. Located at a traditional gathering spot for Indians and settlers alike, Ellensburg became the major town in the Kittitas region. The arrival of the Northern Pacific (NP) Railroad in 1886 and the establishment of the Washington State Normal School (now Central Washington University - CWU), a teacher’s college, in 1891 spurred growth in Ellensburg. Roslyn and Cle Elum prospered because of their large coal deposits. Coal mining in the Kittitas region was initially developed by the Northern Pacific (NP) Railroad in 1886 to fuel steam locomotives. The Northern Pacific (NP) owned the Roslyn town site and many area mines. Easton, originally a sawmill town, was the last station for the Northern Pacific (NP) Railroad before it crossed the Cascades through Stampede Tunnel and the last stop for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul (CM&SP) Railroad before it crossed Snoqualmie Pass to Puget Sound. Trails, roads, and rails The main Indian routes into the Kittitas Valley were the Squaw Creek Trail (up Selah Canyon and over Selah Mountain, entering the Kittitas Valley at the head of Badger Pocket, then across the Valley) and the Snoqualmie Trail, heavily used by Indians traveling east to west across the mountains. Indians used a lower trail over Snoqualmie Pass for foot traffic and a higher trail over Yakima Pass for horse traffic. Before 1867 all supplies to the Kittitas area came by wagon from The Dalles, Oregon. A wagon road between Seattle and Ellensburg across Snoqualmie Pass was completed in 1867. Once goods could be shipped by rail, the wagon route over Snoqualmie pass fell into disuse until it was improved in the early 1900s to accommodate cars.