Dairy, poultry, and berry farming were the main staples grown in the area, and other foodstuffs were bought in Renton. With the influx of residents, farming became important to provide food for hungry miners, lumbermen, and their families. In 1926, students made up the name Tahoma for the High School, combining the first two letters of the three districts it served: Taylor, Hobart, and Maple Valley. A three-floored brick school was built in 1920. In 1910, a two-room school was built, but soon a larger school was needed. One of the first schools was built on pilings, which allowed impish school lads to bump it up and down using a plank as a lever. Within a few years, another hotel, store, and blacksmith would take up business.Įarly schools were shacks at best. By 1909, it had a general store, two hotels, a barber shop, restaurant, blacksmith shop, and two saloons. Maple Valley grew, but since industry was located some distance from its core, it retained a quiet, rural atmosphere. Cedar Mountain was mined as late as 1947. The mine never produced as much coal as did other mines in the area, but it averaged 90,000 tons per year and employed hundreds of men.
Cedar Mountain, located just north of town, was mined starting in 1884. Along with all this, the City of Seattle had chosen the Cedar river as its watershed, and much work was needed there.īlack Diamond was the hub of local coal mining activity to the south, but Maple Valley also had a stake in coal. More residents meant more lumber milling, which provided more jobs. The Northern Pacific Railroad, to the south, also had a need for rail workers. As the tracks were laid westward, workers moved into the area. In 1907, the Milwaukee Road pushed through the Cascades to a point just east of the town.
In 1885, trains began to haul coal over a narrow gauge track from the nearby mining town of Black Diamond. The communities of Hobart and Taylor sprang up nearby, but the railroad helped solidify Maple Valley as the centerpiece. In 1887, Russell laid out the town, now called Maple Valley, but it wasn't platted until 1890. Over time, the mill burned down twice, and though it was rebuilt, Ames eventually gave up and moved to Pacific City, near Auburn. Around 1882, Ames and Russell built a sawmill to process the lumber needed to build homes. In the early 1880s, settlers' cabins sparsely dotted land surrounding the creeks that fed the Cedar River. Later, Arthur Russell was born, providing the name Arthur to the precinct and the first post office, located originally in the Russell home. They also decided to name the voting precinct after the first child born in the new community. Vine Maple Valley received two out of the three votes, so they made it unanimous. They placed their choices on slips of paper, and placed them in a hat. Ames proposed Vine Maple Valley, but Russell thought Maple Ridge to be a better name. One of them suggested that they name the future community. The three were improving a trail before they brought their families in. The first settlers in what is now Maple Valley were George Ames, Henry Sidebotham, and C.O. Originally a hodgepodge of homesteader cabins, its growth can be attributed to the lumber industry, coal mining, railroads, watersheds, and highway development. Maple Valley, a King County community nestled 10 miles southeast of Renton within the sheer-cliffed Cedar River valley, grew from its outskirts inward toward its center.
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