Latest Stories

A screen-print poster of a glacier tongue blanketed in dark rock at the foot of a white volcano, a pale milky river pouring from its snout down a valley of flat-ink firs, in slate, chalk white and rust.

Outdoors & River/September 25, 2026

The White River is white because the largest glacier in the lower 48 is grinding Mount Rainier into flour

The White River begins under the largest glacier in the lower 48 and moves 550,000 tonnes of sand and silt a year. Why it is milky, and why Pacific floods.

A screen-print poster of a black steam locomotive emerging from a stone tunnel portal in a mountainside, smoke curling up, firs on the slope, in charcoal, slate blue and cream inks.

Local Life/September 25, 2026

For thirteen years the Northern Pacific's main line ran through Enumclaw. Then it built a cutoff and left.

The Northern Pacific reached Enumclaw in 1885, opened the Stampede Tunnel in 1888 and rerouted through Auburn in 1900. The branch is now the Foothills Trail.

A screen-print poster of a covered wagon being lowered backward down a steep forested slope on a rope wrapped around a tree, men leaning back on the line, in forest green, ochre and rust inks.

Local Life/September 25, 2026

The first wagons over the Cascades came down the White River in 1853, and the road crew had already gone home

In 1853 the first wagons over the Cascades were roped down a cliff and came down the White River past Enumclaw. Four eyewitnesses, one hill, no agreement.

A screen-print poster of a small police station at night with one lit window, a patrol car at the curb, and a faint mountain behind, in navy, amber and cream inks.

Local Life/September 25, 2026

Enumclaw is one of the last small cities around that runs its own police, its own jail and its own 911 room

Enumclaw runs its own patrol, a 25-bed jail under the station and a 911 desk that covers Mount Rainier after hours. Who runs it, what it costs, what it earns.

A screen-print poster of a small house whose walls are divided into flat bands of color, the largest a schoolhouse yellow, a smaller red band, a thin green one, under a paper-cut Mount Rainier.

Local Life/September 25, 2026

Your Enumclaw tax rate has 22 lines in it, and the city wrote one of them

Enumclaw's 2026 rate is $9.58 per $1,000. Half goes to schools, a sixth to the fire district, 11 percent to the city. Every line, who set it, and what changes.

A 1960s brick fire station at dusk with a red engine pulling out of a lit bay onto a wet street.

Local Life/September 24, 2026

Call 911 in Enumclaw and the truck that comes is not the city's

Enumclaw's fire department is a separate county district with its own levy and one staffed station, built in 1968. Who answers 911, what it costs, what is next.

A cut-paper diorama of a pale sandstone quarry face with a small paper capitol dome resting on a freshly cut block in the foreground.

Outdoors & River/September 24, 2026

The State Capitol is built from a hill nine miles from Enumclaw, and the town says it was never paid

The Washington State Capitol is skinned in Wilkeson sandstone from a quarry nine miles from Enumclaw. The town says a 1925 bill was never paid. The whole story.

A cut-paper diorama of a large sawmill with a log pond, a flume on trestles and a small locomotive, with forest and a mountain behind.

Local Life/September 24, 2026

The mill that built Enumclaw burned twice, changed hands twice, and closed in the spring of 2003

Elijah Goss started Enumclaw's mill in 1889. The Hansons rebuilt it after two fires, Weyerhaeuser bought it in 1949 and closed it in 2003. What is there now.

A cut-paper map diorama of a river diverted by a low dam into a flume, across a plateau to a diked lake, and down penstocks to a powerhouse.

Outdoors & River/September 24, 2026

For 92 years, most of the White River took a detour through a lake

A Boston firm dammed the White River at Buckley in 1910 and ran most of it into Lake Tapps to make power. The plant closed in 2004. Who owns the detour now.

A cut-paper diorama of wind pouring through a notch in paper mountains onto a small plateau town while a paper city sits calm in the distance.

Local Life/September 24, 2026

Enumclaw is what stands on the other side of the lowest pass in the region

Enumclaw sits below the lowest pass in the region, Seattle's planners say. Cold air comes through at up to 120 mph. The 1983 storm, the 2024 cyclone, and why.

The white pillars and red brick of Enumclaw's 1922 Municipal Building on Griffin Avenue

Local Life/September 23, 2026

Enumclaw became a city on the second try, by a close vote, in the middle of winter

Enumclaw's first incorporation vote failed in 1912 over boundaries. In January 1913 a town of a thousand said yes and John Blake became mayor.

A cartoon of a 1970s indoor pool building being held up by voters, a golfer, a city accountant and a county official.

Local Life/September 23, 2026

Enumclaw's pool is a 1968 King County vote that never went away

Enumclaw's pool was built with Forward Thrust money in the early 1970s and handed to the city in 2003. How the town has paid for it since.

Latest Stories

The White River is white because the largest glacier in the lower 48 is grinding Mount Rainier into flour

For thirteen years the Northern Pacific's main line ran through Enumclaw. Then it built a cutoff and left.

The first wagons over the Cascades came down the White River in 1853, and the road crew had already gone home

Enumclaw is one of the last small cities around that runs its own police, its own jail and its own 911 room

Your Enumclaw tax rate has 22 lines in it, and the city wrote one of them

Call 911 in Enumclaw and the truck that comes is not the city's

The State Capitol is built from a hill nine miles from Enumclaw, and the town says it was never paid

The mill that built Enumclaw burned twice, changed hands twice, and closed in the spring of 2003

For 92 years, most of the White River took a detour through a lake

Enumclaw is what stands on the other side of the lowest pass in the region

Enumclaw became a city on the second try, by a close vote, in the middle of winter

Enumclaw's pool is a 1968 King County vote that never went away

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