Pre-Contact
About 5,000 years ago, soon after the glaciers receded, humans first came to our Valley. The glaciers left a fertile plain and a magnificent 300 foot waterfall. The river had been moved from its ancient bed by the glacier and could not seek its natural level because of the bedrock encountered at the lip of what we now call Snoqualmie Falls. Mountain goat were plentiful on the crags; deer, edible bulbs, bracken fern roots and berries were abundant on the prairie. Without salmon there was little to draw a permanent year-round population above the falls, but as trade between the Native Americans on the coast and those inland increased, the prairie of the Upper Snoqualmie became a traditional seasonal rendezvous area. To preserve the prairie productivity the Snoqualmie’s periodically burned off competition, keeping the valley floor clear. It was these cleared and fertile prairies that first drew white settlers to the area.
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