Original names don't necessarily reflect history: How Issaquah, Sammamish and other places got their names

by Eric Erickson

(This article originally appeared in the Winter 2002 edition of "Issaquah Living", a quarterly publication of the Issaquah Press.  It was submitted to this web site directly by Mr. Erickson)

Over the past century and a half, since written and recorded history began in the greater Issaquah area, the origin of many of the current and past names has been lost or forgotten.

Beginning in 1854, when George Gibbs was exploring the Puget Sound area to find the most practicable route for a railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast, he noted the following in the Pacific Railroad Report of 1855: "Samamish (Skagit: samena, 'hunter'), a Salish division on Samamish and Dwamish lakes, numbering about 101 in 1854.

Gibbs classified these Native American as of the Dwamish connection, not to be confused with the Sawamish of Trotten Inlet or Samish on the river and bay of the same name in Washington (now near Bellingham).

From this early beginning we now know Dwamish Lake as Lake Washington, even though it was called Big Lake for some period of time. Dwamish itself has now been changed to Duwamish.

The question then arises, how did we get from Samamish Lake to Squak Lake to Lake Sammamish as it is currently known?

The Indian Treaties of 1873 listed the pronunciation/spelling as Sama'bmish, while another pronunciation/spelling by the Indian affairs representative, Starling, listed it as Say-hay-mon-mish.

Over the years there have been numerous opinions, but the first official name Squak first shows up in the election of 1869 when seven votes were cast in Squak. The post office name came into being on May 20, 1870, with the appointment of William Pickering Jr. as postmaster of the Squak post office. Squak Lake appeared on maps about the same time, but was replaced in the late 1880's by the name Lake Sammamish.

It is probable that Squak was derived from an Indian name for the area. But today, the only local references remaining are Squak Valley and Squak Mountain.

The Squak post office was renamed Olney on Feb. 19, 1889, following a denial of a request to use Gilman (the name of the railway station at Squak), because another post office within the Washington Territory had a similar name. The origin of Olney is now a matter of lost history.

The renaming of Squak Creek to Issaquah Creek first shows up on a state survey map adopted Feb. 23, 1893.

This may also be the first official use of the name Issaquah. The town site first platted in 1887 as the town of Englewood but was never incorporated officially. The first official incorporation was in 1892 when the town was named Gilman, after Daniel Hunt Gilman, one of the backers of the railway. In 1889 the name was changed to Issaquah to reflect the new name of the post office as of July 15, 1895.

Many versions of the origin of Issaquah have been put forth.

One version, proffered in 1903 by Col. William Farrand Prosser, ex-president of the Washington State Historical Society, in his book, "A History of the Puget Sound Country," is as follows:

The name Squak or Sqwak, as I should spell it, is a corruption of the Indian name Squowh, or, as some would think to hear the Indians speak it, might be properly written Isaquowh."

The fact is that Issaquah is the anglicized version of the Native American pronunciation of Squak.

Other landmark names

Tiger Mountain is another name that has lost its roots.

To the west of Issaquah is Cougar Mountain and old timers reflect that Tiger was named after the tiger lilies, which some people confuse with the trilliums that grow on the mountain.

And what ever happened to "Mount Issaquah," the former name for West Tiger Mountain?

What about the lake that was not a lake? Today there is Round Lake on the Tiger Mountain plateau east of the Issaquah City limits.

Prior to 1900 Patrick Joseph Donlan operated a sawmill on his father's land, where the Mormon church now stands at 1100 Sixth Ave. S. E.

When he had finished cutting the timber in the valley part of his father's land, he moved the mill up west of Lake Tradition. In need of a place to store logs so they would not dry out and split before cutting, he dug a large, round millpond. Today the mill is long gone, but the pond remains and is now called Round Lake.

The other mystery is about the origin of Lake Tradition, a name that dates back to the 1890s' perhaps earlier.

Over the years many people fished, rafted and ice skated on Lake Tradition. But what tradition generated its name?

What about Pine Lake? Considering pine trees are not native to the area, perhaps there was a lonesome pine in the middle of all the large Western red cedar trees surrounding the lake.

Have you heard of Meadow and Loon Lakes? Meadow Lake is now Lake Kathleen, and Loon Lake is now Lake McDonald.

Place names also come to mind. High Point reportedly received its name because the new shingle mill, built in 1905, was at the high point in the railway grade east of Issaquah. The railway grade continued in an uphill manner until it reached Preston, then called Saint Louis in 1896. So why wasn't it called High Point, when it wasn't. and why did Saint Louis become Preston.

Issaquah Historical Society Photo #94.40.2
High Point Mill built in 1905, was at the high point in the railway grade east of Issaquah

Street names change

Consider Vaughan's Hill Road, Martin Monohon Road, Donlan Road. Woodson Road, Wold Road, Sammamish-Naches Highway, Issaquah-Hobart Revision Road, Renton-Issaquah Road, Coalfield-Issaquah Road, Banderet Road, Cemetery Road, Washington Street, Mill Street and many others. Most of these streets still exist but have been renamed.

With the changing of many road names, a piece of history is gone. Mill Street was named in 1910, reflecting the mills at each end of the street, but its name changed to Sunset Way reflecting the Sunset Highway, as it was later called.

When you head west on Sunset you are going into the sunset. So why was East Sunset named East Sunset instead of East Sunrise?