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2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Kittitas Gounty, Washington <br />Figure 3-1. Map of Kittitas County <br />3.1. KITTITAS COUNTY HISTORY <br />Kittitas County was part of the land ceded by the Yakama Tribe in 1855. Briefly part of Ferguson County <br />(now defunct), then Yakima County, Kittitas County was established on November 24,1883. The Kittitas <br />Valley became a stopping place for cowboys driving herds north to mining camps in Canada and <br />northwest to Seattle/Tacoma. By the late 1860s, cattle ranchers established land claims and cattle <br />became the area's foremost industry. Significant points in the County's history included the completion <br />of a wagon road over Snoqualmie Pass in 1867, the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1887, the <br />discovery of gold in Swauk Creek in 1873 and coal near Cle Elum in 1883, and the 1932 completion of <br />the Kittitas (irrigation) Project. Today, the main industries are agriculture (i.e., timothy hay to feed <br />racehorses), manufacturing (e.9., food processing, lumber, and wood products), and government (i.e., <br />employment at CWU). <br />lnterpretations of the meaning of the word Kittitas vary, but the name probably refers to the region's soil <br />composition. lf this is the case, Kittitas could mean shale rock, white chalk, or white clay. Another <br />interpretation is that the bread made from the root kous (grown in the Kittitas Valley) was called kittit <br />while "Tash" is generally accepted to mean "place of existence." <br />The first inhabitants of the Kittitas Valley were the Psch-wan-wap-pams (stony ground people), also <br />known as the Kittitas band of the Yakama or Upper Yakama. Although the Kittitas were distinct from the <br />Yakima (later renamed Yakama) Tribe, settlers and the Federal government (for treaty purposes) <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />,.. Krdr,rs <br />-, 1.q{ <br />i, <br />i-,..-."+' <br />1 <br />ft2a <br />/,/t. - <br />ati- ' <br />,) <br />,jrir <br />\'L' <br /> <br />':tiKlttitas <br />Eld--. - StateRoad fl5rqtuu_co_unty <br />County WA: Basemap <br />River ] Munlcipalitlss <br />- <br />fnler8tet6 7Z/. Ro!/lynweld3tgd <br />US HighwEy I L8k€s <br />HERE Gem6reB.oE. <br />Chapter 3: Community Profile 17